SouthernCross
When God makes the way
Judy Adamson
How frustrating it must be if you want to read the Bible but can’t do it. Not because it isn’t in a language you understand, but because you can’t read.
Not many years ago, this was the experience of Terrence Lennon, an Indigenous man from the Wirangu and Mirning tribes, who – in just under a month – will finish a Diploma of Ministry at Youthworks College.
“I’ve learned so much,” he says. “I’ve learned to study about God, but I’ve learned how important it is to keep our faith. Someone said you can learn about God, but you need to have a relationship with him. That’s so important. You can do your assignments but not read your Bible!
“To me it’s about learning to read the word and understanding it well. First thing in the morning I’ll read my Bible for the sake of it – if I open up the word randomly, I’ll read the psalms – then, later on, I read to learn.”
Originally from Ceduna, a remote South Australian town dubbed “the gateway to the Nullarbor”, Mr Lennon had a range of health problems in childhood that resulted in patchy school attendance and ongoing
reading difficulties. He also lost his mum in his mid-teens, and his father a few years later.
“I didn’t finish high school,” he says. “I had two weeks left, and I felt like I’d learned nothing throughout my high school years. They told me how much I had to get done, and I thought, ‘I’m way behind – I can’t even read – and they want me to graduate Year 12? And they’re coming to me and talking about university? I can’t go to university!’”
Mr Lennon eventually began working as a labourer but was smoking and drinking a good deal and his health was suffering so, at 21, he chose a complete change – jumping in his beaten-up old car to start a new life in Adelaide.
Within a couple of weeks, a cousin invited him to the Aboriginal Berean Community Church in Port Adelaide
“I always knew who Christ was, but I didn’t go to youth groups... I wanted to hang out with the ‘bad’ kids, who were also my neighbours and members of my family,” he says. “But he invited me, and I respect him, so I said, ‘I’ll come’.”
His cousin’s family were
members of the church, and Mr Lennon remembers being convicted by the sermon of Pastor Donald Hayward, but didn’t go forward at the altar call.
“I was too worried about what they were going to think of me,” he admits. “Most Indigenous kids are very easily shamed, and I was that little kid.”
However, he kept visiting the church, and on a trip to Ceduna a couple of years later, attended a gospel event run by a group of visiting Aboriginal and Fijian Christians. He doesn’t remember the passage preached or the content of the sermon. All he remembers is the centrality of Jesus, and this time everything fell into place. He gave his life to Christ then and there.
“It was so amazing – all the pain, the suffering, just left me,” he says. “I’ve never felt joy like that. I was truly happy, and it was a different kind of happiness I’d never felt before.”
NEW LIFE, NEW START
Addictions and some severe health episodes were still stumbling blocks, but with God’s help Mr Lennon persevered, was able to turn his back on the smokes and alcohol and began volunteering at his Port Adelaide church.
What he describes as his “literacy journey” started at about the same time, which involved elements of a university prep program focused on English and academic literacy, plus a year spent at an Aboriginal college slogging away to master the building blocks of the written language.
“In the past, I’d always learned by memory,” he says. “I learned how to pray by listening to other people and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s how you pronounce that word!’.
“I loved the Old Testament stories, but other people knew what to read – I just learned about the stories. I did get
SHARIN G STORIES OF FAITH LOV E AN D HOPE
cover: Terrence Lennon at Youthworks College.
Joy in faith: Terrence Lennon in front of a First Nations map at college.
1 Peter 5:2a
frustrated a lot! [After I became a Christian] I really had a sense of urgency to do it, and I never let go of it until I learned how to read.”
The desire to study theology also grew over time, and while Sydney was never on Mr Lennon’s radar God had a different plan – bringing a ministry member of his church who had worked with Bush Church Aid across the path of the director of Evangelism and New Churches, the Rev Phil Wheeler.
After Mr Wheeler and his wife flew to Adelaide to meet and get to know Mr Lennon, an MTS placement was set up at Living Water Church in Redfern, followed by study at Youthworks College.
GOD’S PROVISION AT COLLEGE
“I prayed for years about where and when [to study], and the only reason I made the decision to come here was because of the peace in my heart,” Mr Lennon says. “When the doors opened for me, I saw it as an opportunity from God.”
Youthworks College principal the Rev Mike Dicker says Mr Lennon “slotted in” to college life right from the outset.
“We weren’t sure how he would feel about being in Sydney and studying with lots of people, but he’s been very open and giving of himself and generous towards others... and from a
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guy who really only learned to read and write a few years ago to now being able to read and write and complete assessments is just brilliant. It’s been one of the most encouraging stories of our college life.
“He did a preaching unit with us over the summer because that was something he really wanted to work on. We feel confident about his ability to read the word and preach it faithfully, and he’s got those pastoral skills of interacting with people as well.”
Mr Dicker adds that God has provided every step of the way – from bringing another student to the college who specialised in working with Indigenous people and became Mr Lennon’s tutor, to a gift from All Saints’, Petersham to assist with his education that turned out to be the exact amount needed.
“Talk about God’s provision!” he says. “We’re hoping he’ll be the first of many... that other Indigenous young people will be able to see that Terrence did it and that maybe it’s possible for them to do it as well.”
“I’VE
GOT TO SHOW THEM CHRIST”
Outside college, Mr Lennon has preached a few times at Living Water Church, leads services and singing and runs a young adults Bible study. He is also well known to the Indigenous youth
of Redfern and Glebe, having slowly earned their trust and respect.
“Working with Indigenous kids, I go where they are and take them in a bus to the beach or somewhere like that, feed them, then give a five-minute Bible talk,” he says.
“It’s a learning process... if you come in with the mentality of bringing them into a Bible study, you’ll lose them. They’re so used to the street life. Most of them don’t even live with their parents.
“They’re kids, but that’s souls I’m looking after, and I’ve got to take that seriously. I’ve got to be careful with what I teach and how I approach them with the gospel. If we don’t get to them, the world will get to them, and the enemy is part of the world, with alcohol, drugs – all that. I’ve gotten to love these kids and I want to share the gospel with them.”
Although Mr Lennon has grown in learning and ministry skills during his time in Sydney, his heart has always remained in Adelaide, where a job at his old church is waiting for him.
“My main focus is discipling, and we need to do it correctly and rightly with the word of God,” he says. “If you don’t get discipled, you’re going to be unteachable.
“That’s my main goal, but if my pastor says, ‘I want you to preach for the next couple of weeks’, I’ll do that. And if he says, ‘I need you to go to Murray Bridge [30 minutes’ drive away] and do some work for a couple of days, I’ll do that.
“I believe that I’ve got to show them Christ – that Christ is real, and that he is someone they can believe in and rely on.
“When I was growing up in a small town, you stuck with your own people and there was a bitter divide between a lot of Aboriginal and white people. But the Bible can help us because everything else is stripped away so that Jesus can come into our lives.”
A desire to teach and disciple well: Terrence spends time in the word.
Chaplaincy care on the sand
More than 6000 athletes, family members and supporters gathered in Manly for the NSW State Surf Lifesaving Championships in March –and amid the sunscreen, surf and competition, a small team of chaplains quietly offered spiritual support, a listening ear and the message of Jesus.
For 12 days, chaplains from the northern beaches – including the Rev Mark Gilbert from St Matt’s, Manly, the Rev Rich Wenden from Seaforth and Andrea Bohm from Freshwater –set up a chaplaincy tent, offering care to anyone in need.
Spiritual
man from a Catholic background who acknowledged the gospel made sense, possibly for the first time.
The chaplains also cared for those deeply affected by tragedy.
“[We] provided pastoral support for people from a local lifesaving club who have been impacted by the drowning death of a teenager on Christmas Eve, and the recent
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loss of the parent of a junior competitor,” Mr Gilbert says.
One particularly moving interaction was supporting a competitor who needed transfer to hospital after a serious injury. And, in a hopeful turn, chaplains had a warm, open conversation with an executive from Alcoholics Anonymous –sparking possibilities for future
This is the fourth consecutive year the event has been held in Manly, and gospel highlights from the week included giving away 20 New Testaments and plenty of good conversations, particularly one with an older Support
partnerships in pastoral care across surf lifesaving more broadly.
The chaplaincy tent also drew the appreciation of the NSW Lifesaving leadership.
By the end of the event, chaplains had engaged in more than 100 pastoral conversations and deepened relationships among the local clubs. SC
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support: the Rev Mark Gilbert (left) at Freshwater Beach with patrolling lifesaver David Parker.
On the road for Jesus
TWO HOURS TO CHURCH?
Mr Daymond is tremendously grateful for people like Mr and Mrs Williams, who are helping make his goal of knocking on every parish door a reality.
He says there are always difficulties in helping people take the next step towards faith, and it’s hard to get them into a church – whether it’s two hours away or just up the road.
“When do people from Katoomba come to St Andrew’s Cathedral?” he adds with a laugh. “I suppose some might do it on the train… but it’s very different to someone just travelling across their suburb!
Judy Adamson
When Geoff and Julia Williams take a road trip with their caravan, their itinerary isn’t focused on the best views or most exciting destinations. Rather, any holiday is planned around where they can support Bush Church Aid field staff.
One of these locations is Cobar – a mining town about three hours west of Dubbo. It’s home to BCA-supported priest-incharge the Rev James Daymond and his wife Brittany, who hope to reach everyone in their 45,000-square-kilometre parish with the gospel.
When Mr Daymond wants to do what he calls “outreach visiting”, he needs to have others with him. That’s for safe ministry reasons but also, he says, because it’s “really important from the wisdom point of view to go out two by two to encourage each other –and that’s what Jesus had his disciples do”.
Given the size of Cobar Shire and parish (the usual description is that it’s two-thirds the size of Tasmania), there’s also wisdom in not spending hours alone at the wheel every time you want to call on someone.
This is where people like Geoff and Julia Williams come in. The couple attend St Thomas’, North Sydney and are BCA Nomads –a group mainly comprised of retirees who purposely include volunteer ministry support in their travels. This can include anything from looking after kids at the BCA field staff conference to getting on the tools or taking field staff out for a meal.
EVANGELISM & THE LOST
Mr and Mrs Williams have been doing this for more than 12 years, and they love it.
“We really have a passion for evangelism and the lost, which is what we do in our own church as well, so working with James is great!” Mrs Williams says.
“James wants to make sure he’s had every opportunity to meet people at every station –no matter how remote – and in the township, the businesses and the people who are living there, to talk to them about Jesus.”
Town visiting isn’t complicated, but stations can be up to 250 kilometres away. That calls for a packed lunch, folding chairs, snacks and coffee – plus plenty of driving time to chat before
arriving at someone’s home, where they always pray before knocking on the door.
On the couple’s most recent visit in March, they travelled with Mr Daymond to an area in the south of the parish. They had a memorable conversation with a man unable to work since a serious accident some years before, who admitted that on some days he was glad to be alive, while on others he wasn’t.
Says Mr Williams: “James got into the gospel and the hope of life. We had a conversation for about 15 minutes and then I said, ‘Would you be interested in having a Bible?’ and he said, ‘Yes’. He hadn’t read a Bible in 40 years! James also offered his ministry card... and he took one.
“Giving [that man] a Bible was the best part of the visit for me, and also just knowing that you’re an encouragement to James with his vision for the gospel.”
Adds Mrs Williams: “The thing for both of us is having some purpose in what we do. We’re not just travelling for our own benefit. Spending time with James or other field staff families gives so much more meaning and purpose to travelling”.
“In evangelism, you don’t expect kingdom values while you’re still trying to bring people into the kingdom. We’re trying to provide practical alternatives... putting things such as sermons on Facebook, which people can access on remote properties. We also refer them to other resources such as Bible apps.”
While Mr Daymond works to support people who are far away, there are also encouraging stories closer to home.
“I visited a lady in town last winter, who has started coming to church with her children,” he says. “She was already reading the Bible but had never been to church.
“We had that privilege of being the first people to welcome her. Then you realise it was the first Bible reading she’d heard in church, the first sermon, the first Christian songs she had ever sung. It was just such a privilege.
“The people are out there –we’re just creating a bridge to meet them... Could you imagine if every parish in the world did this? Every church doing this in a methodical way over a period of years, and then going around a second time and a third time. There’d be no part of the Earth that wouldn’t be covered!” SC
Mr Daymond would love to hear from Christians interested in helping with outreach visiting: j.daymond@ bushchurchaid.com.au
Outreach visit: the Rev James Daymond (left), with Geoff and Julia Williams in a far-flung corner of the Cobar parish.
How BCA Nomads support field staff around
Neville Naden retires from BCA
When the Rev Neville Naden (right) and his wife Kathie began working with Bush Church Aid 18 years ago as church planters in Broken Hill, they were the only Aboriginal people on staff.
But as he prepares to retire from BCA, after a decade as a church planter and more than eight years as Indigenous Ministry Officer, there are now four Aboriginal field staff couples, an Indigenous member of the board and two Aboriginal bursary students at Bible college.
Mr Naden has also been instrumental in encouraging the creation of a chaplaincy program at Indigenous training centre Nungalinya College, as well as supporting the implementation of mobile ministry training.
“The biggest issue that we have is finding the Aboriginal people who want to seek training to work in this space,” he says.
“They are as scarce as hen’s teeth! I think if we found the people, the Lord would provide the funds. We are totally confident in that.”
When Bush Church Aid was founded in 1919, Mr Naden says Aboriginal people were viewed as a mission field: a group to whom the gospel could be taken.
Over he and his wife’s years with BCA, “We tried to turn that on its head and get the executive and staff to see Aboriginal
people as a mission force – them having the potential to take the gospel to their own people. BCA is serious about doing that. To empower Indigenous people to minister in the Indigenous space.”
For the national director of BCA, the Rev Canon Greg Harris, there is sadness at Mr Naden’s retirement and gratitude for what has been accomplished.
“It has been a joy to work alongside Neville and to learn from his wisdom and experience,” he says.
“Neville and Kathie developed cultural awareness training, aimed to assist ministers, clergy and other mission workers in ministering to and alongside Indigenous peoples. They brought their personal insights and experiences, as well as valuable knowledge and skills...
“This training was rolled out to all BCA field staff and among
other organisations, theological colleges... and various other contexts all around Australia.
“Another of Neville’s key accomplishments was BCA’s acknowledgement of country and reconciliation action plan. Both these documents, prayerfully and carefully crafted, have become key parts of BCA’s commitment to Indigenous ministry.”
Mr Naden finishes up on June 30, but he and Mrs Naden plan to make final visits to all their partner churches over the next few months. “Some of them have walked with us over the past 18 years,” he says.
“I would like to encourage all our supporters to continue to provide the resources necessary for BCA to continue to raise up Indigenous Christian workers. If that can be done, that would please my heart no end.” SC
CBS celebrates its half century
the
Judy Adamson
One lunchtime in March 1975, a group of 12 students met to study the Bible with the Rev Phillip Jensen in an old army hut at the University of NSW that doubled as the chaplain’s office. This was the first meeting of Campus Bible Study.
thanks to God overflowed as almost a thousand people filled the Sir John Clancy Auditorium for a day-long celebration of ministry to, with and among students at UNSW.
“Having been there from 9am and having talked continuously
STUDY & GROW
home at 6pm, completely and absolutely exhausted, but in a delightful way!” Mr Jensen said. “It was one lovely conversation after another, all day.”
UNSW’s current chaplain, the Rev Carl Matthei, says fomer students who returned for the
foundations and purpose of CBS remained the same. “CBS hasn’t changed – it still has the same focus on God’s work, on teaching and on training people to teach the word, and on sending people into the world to teach the word.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
When Mr Jensen began as chaplain in 1975, he expected to be at the university for four years (he was there for the best part of 30), and UNSW had 15,000 students (it now has 50,000 at Kensington). That initial lunchtime Bible study of 12 became 20 a week later, and it continued to grow as members invited others along.
“The strategy has always remained the same: prayerful, Bible-teaching evangelism,” he says. “But the tactics changed from year to year – sometimes week to week. If we couldn’t get the lecture theatres for a few weeks, okay, we’ll move... we even did [talks] in the open air for a couple of weeks, although
Giving thanks:
founder of Campus Bible Study, the Rev Phillip Jensen, at the anniversary celebration.
under the helicopter route to the hospital!”
Long-term missionary to Nepal, Gordon Russell, began his engineering degree at UNSW in 1974, and was there in the earliest days of CBS.
“It was so encouraging to meet with other Christians on campus, because I didn’t know any Christians in my civil engineering cohort – although I did have friends from church doing other courses,” he says.
“At the time, there was no signal as to what [CBS] would grow into... I’m just full of thankfulness to God that it has become such an influential and pervasive ministry over the years, replicated in other unis and in many other countries.”
Adds Mr Jensen: “What people can see and count are those who’ve gone on into paid Christian ministry. What they don’t see is the five to 10 times greater number of laypeople who’ve gone on into active Christian ministry as laypeople in church. That’s not as visible”.
“LAW, COMMERCE AND CBS”
Rebecca Lui, who was at UNSW from 2003-2007, jokes that she did three degrees: “Law, Commerce and CBS”.
“We had [lunchtime] meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, and I was also leading a Bible study. I met up with my MTSers and then met up one-on-one with two first years.
“I probably spent more time at CBS than on my Commerce degree,” she laughs. “I went to everything… by fifth-year Law, most people work three days a week and try and squeeze all
Dean of Residents at Macquarie University’s Robert Menzies College. “[At CBS] you acquired the skills for the sake of God’s kingdom and where I’m at now I’m applying all that.”
THE 2020S AND BEYOND
One of the things people at the celebration were encouraged to do is give to Project 50, which is seeking to raise $1 million to support training scholarships for 50 ministry trainees at CBS.
their Law classes into two days. I was at uni four days a week... but I just did Law and CBS.”
Mrs Lui came to university thinking she was Christian but, when she attended a Bible talk by then-chaplain the Rev Paul Grimmond in second year, she realised how wrong she was.
“I thought, ‘Oh, wow , this is the real Jesus – not the Jesus I’ve been making up to appease everyone in my life. The Jesus of the Bible is real and so much better than my imagination!’”
She says CBS is “100 per cent” the reason she now works as
“There’s nothing more CBS than training up gospel workers!”
Mr Matthei says. “I encouraged people to do it in their churches and partner with us to do it at UNSW, and in God’s kindness we’re a third of the way there.
“We’d be getting close to 500 trainees [since 1975] – there have been 100 in the past nine years alone. Those who’ve come to faith would be in the thousands... and that’s beautiful, isn’t it? God has been so kind to us.” SC Those interested in supporting Project 50 can go to https:// campusbiblestudy.org/project50/
Who can you spot?: Mid-Year Conference, 1976 – Gordon Russell far right.
Cranmer’s theology and the modern church
Judy Adamson
If 16 th -century English archbishop Thomas Cranmer had walked into St Philip’s, Church Hill on March 21, he’d have felt right at home. Not just thanks to the familiar church surroundings, but because the service followed the order within the 1552 Book of Common Prayer that Cranmer compiled. The service was also livestreamed – which would have boggled Cranmer’s mind – but the Prayer Book Society of NSW wanted those who attended to see some of the possibilities of using the old to enhance the new in Anglican services.
“As authentic Anglicans, we stand in the English Reformation tradition [in Australia], and we’ve so many rich and wonderful biblical principles from the past that can be used in contemporary ministry and mission contexts,” said the Rev Dr Mark Earngey, the head of Church History at Moore College and new chairman of the Prayer Book Society.
“There are many churches that are keen to do a little bit better in helping their people to love Jesus through what they do in their gatherings, and there are plenty of younger Christians who have a real interest in some of the riches of the Anglican tradition for church services.”
Before the event, Dr Earngey said that much of the interest had been from young people, adding: “I’ve had a number of ministry staff I know say, ‘There’s a group of young people coming from my church [to your event]’. That’s really interesting to me”.
On the night, more than 170 people filled the pews at Church Hill and he estimated that about
half were 30 or younger.
“It exceeded any expectations we had – we were blown away by the number of those who came and the kinds of people who came,” he said. “There’s something about the biblical, evangelical and Reformed theology of the Prayer Book that is definitely of interest to many.
“I think people found it refreshing to have the Bible, the preaching and the Lord’s Supper done in deeply moving and reverent ways – that’s my summary of the kinds of comments I received.
“One comment in particular stuck with me… about the way the service captured so many spiritual truths that didn’t require exuberant responses, but allowed for really meaningful reflection and rejoicing.”
CRANMER’S GOSPEL PRINCIPLES
After the service, Dr Earngey and Dr Stephen Tong discussed Archbishop Cranmer’s gospel principles and how these informed the shape and content of the Prayer Book.
“If we conceive of the church as a spiritual reality that we enter into by faith... we can be here in Sydney, in Germany, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, [but] if we believe in Christ – that he’s died for you through faith and you’re accepted by grace – we are part of the true church,” Dr Tong said. “It’s not dependent on your location or time.
“How do you take that idea and make it a physical reality? Those were the questions being faced by Cranmer and co, particularly in 1547.
“How do you make the invisible, visible? How do you take the spiritual and make that a
tangible, embodied experience each Sunday?”
By way of example, Dr Earngey noted that Prayer Book services are “packed” with Scripture, and that the 1552 publication is the only iteration that contains the option of a congregation member leading the gathering in a confession of sins, plus a service the Lord’s Supper where the communion table is turned 90 degrees and the minister stands to one side.
Dr Tong explained that Cranmer gave “a lot of leeway” to churches in how things were done in order that God’s honour and glory would be uppermost, along with encouraging “holy and godly living without error or superstition”.
“In 1552 it might be totally appropriate, culturally, to turn that table and change things because it sends a particular message at that time,” he said.
“In terms of the Communion service – or as the Catholics
called it, the Mass – before the Reformation the priest would be standing [with] his back to the congregation, and it was as though he was re-enacting the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. But once we turn around, the minister is now much more part of the congregation. It’s not us versus them… it’s re-emphasising that we are one flock together.”
Dr Earngey added that all the Reformed features Cranmer put in each service were included because of his theology.
“How we say our confession of sins, where we stand, how we think about the minister and the ministry… right back there in the 16th century we see great aspects of gospel-driven and word-based ministry in there.”
On the same night, Dr Peter Jensen launched a book that grew out of Dr Tong’s PhD study on the topic, titled Building the Church of England: The Book of Common Prayer and the Edwardian
Minister on the side: the Rev Justin Moffatt does Communion like it’s 1552.
Win-win on housing and ministry
Ministry spaces, social infrastructure, affordable homes: artist’s impressions of planned developments at Regents Park (left) and Bankstown.
Russell Powell
More than 250 affordable homes and critical ministry infrastructure are set to be developed in Bankstown and Regents Park, providing a muchneeded boost for west and southwest Sydney.
The projects secured funding under the Federal Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).
“We’ve been looking for more innovative ways to use the properties we’ve been provided with by generations past to minister to and serve the communities of which we are part,” says the CEO of Sydney Anglican Property, Ross Jones.
“Our two sites, Bankstown and Regents Park, will provide integrated social infrastructure comprising church space, preschools, some limited cafe and retail space and, importantly, about 260 social and affordable apartments.”
The contracts came after
months of hard work and prayer, and now work can progress on development applications.
Beyond the social and affordable housing to address the significant shortage, the Bankstown project encompasses:
• a new church and ministry centre for worship and community use with seating for up to 500 on the current site of St Paul’s church;
• 185 social and affordable housing units for essential workers, seniors and women over 55;
• a preschool to support young families;
• retail spaces in a vibrant new local hub;
• housing for ministry staff.
“St Paul’s has been a part of Bankstown for over 100 years, and we’re committed to remaining here for generations to come,” says Bankstown’s senior minister the Rev Peter Ko.
“Our current facilities are no longer fit for purpose, but this redevelopment ensures we can continue serving the local community while also helping address Sydney’s housing crisis.
“We’re incredibly grateful for this opportunity.”
At Regents Park, the former church site on Edwin Street and Kingsland Road will be transformed into:
• 74 social housing units – 100 per cent of housing onsite dedicated to those in need;
• shared community spaces to foster connection among residents and the option for church activities.
The Rev Mike Doyle, rector of St James’, Berala (which oversees Regents Park), sees the project as a new way to care for the community.
“With the Regents Park site no longer used for gatherings, we wanted to ensure it remained a
blessing to the community,” he says. “And what better way to do that than by providing homes for those who need them most? I can’t wait for the day when new residents move in – we’ll be ready to welcome them into a neighbourhood we love to call home.”
The projects have been created in a partnership between Sydney Anglican Property, the Sustainable Development Group and Anglicare Sydney, with Anglicare serving as operator and service provider.
“We have been blessed with properties across Greater Sydney, provided through the faithfulness of previous generations,” Mr Jones says.
“We now have an opportunity to activate these properties through the provision of social and affordable housing, along with concurrent upgrading of church facilities to cater for the needs of modern churches.”
Doctors’ conscience protection under threat
Russell Powell
The NSW Parliament is considering a Bill that would force medical practitioners to facilitate abortions, against their conscience.
As the law currently stands, doctors can object and not take part in referring patients for abortion.
However, the Greens party has put forward a Bill that would scrap that protection for doctors and force them to refer women for an abortion in violation of their conscience.
The Bill is designed to expand access to abortions, especially in rural and regional areas.
As Southern Cross went to press, the Bill was set to be further considered by the Upper House, before being passed down to the Legislative Assembly.
Christians have been voicing their concerns about the Bill to MPs.
The Archbishop of Sydney and the Social Issues Committee of the Diocese (SIC) have expressed strong objections to Premier Chris Minns and the Opposition Leader, Mark Speakman.
The letter from the SIC, signed by its chairman, Dean Sandy Grant, said many would find the proposed measures “morally compromising”.
“Should these amendments be passed into law, many Christian health practitioners, services, organisations and hospitals may feel forced either to break the law, or to act against their Christian convictions, or else to leave their job to avoid both
of those two alternatives,” the letter says.
“No government should put any of its citizens in a position where they are required to make such a decision.
“Furthermore, the proposed expansion of the categories of people eligible to perform abortions up to 22 weeks to
include nurses and midwives will increase the number of individuals likely to be faced with such an unjust moral dilemma.” SC
Speaking out: two medical professionals share their concerns about the proposed changes (see page 21)
A PRAYER FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN
Heavenly Father, Lord of life, we thank you and praise you that you are the author and sustainer of life, and that every person is created in your image and precious in your sight. We pray today knowing that our Parliament is considering changes to abortion law in this state, to make abortion more available and to force doctors to go against their conscience. Father, we pray for those among us for whom this is a very personal issue and a source of deep distress. Strengthen and uphold those who grieve the loss of their child. May the love, forgiveness and hope found through Christ be their comfort. As a Christian community, give us compassion and understanding for any among us who have faced this situation. We pray for our politicians, as they come to vote on this issue. May they show courage and commitment to the dignity and sanctity of each human life. May they allow doctors to practice medicine to uphold human life and not violate their consciences.
Help us to speak with grace and sensitivity to one another, among our friends and neighbours and with our local MPs. Help us to be courageous and wise in defending unborn children. Help us not to shy away from our convictions, but boldly stand firm in the truth that all life comes from you and is precious in your sight.
For Christ’s sake and in his name we pray, Amen.
McCrindle Research finds surprises in the statistics.
Australia’s new relationship with Christianity
One in 10 Australians who said they were non-religious in the 2016 Census said they were Christian five years later.
That’s not a statistic we heard in media reporting of the Census results, which, if it mentioned religion at all, focused on the “no religion” category.
However, research company McCrindle has taken a deeper look at the official statistics as well as its own research in a report titled An Undercurrent of Faith: Australia’s Renewed Relationship with Christianity
FINDING 1: ONE IN 10 WITH “NO RELIGION” SWITCH TO CHRISTIANITY
“We have used a little-known data set that’s produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics called the Australian Census Longitudinal Data Set,” explains McCrindle’s Grant Dusting.
“It was pointed out to us that… people’s responses to [the] religion question would also be tracked over time. To our knowledge no one had done analysis on it.”
Despite the overall decline in Christian affiliation in the most recent Census, Mr Dusting says a major finding was that more than 784,000 Australians who ticked “no religion” in the 2016 Census ticked the “Christian” box in 2021.
“We often hear a particular narrative in the media and public discussion,” he says. “It’s a topic that doesn’t get a lot of nuance, but what that headline figure means is one in 10 Australians who in the 2016 Census said that they were non-religious said that they were Christian five years later.
“That’s a lot of people!... So, we wanted to understand who those people are and what is happening.”
FINDING 2: THEY ARE NOT WHO YOU THINK THEY ARE
As they dug deeper, results from the Census data and McCrindle’s research showed the Australians declaring faith in Christ may not be who people expect.
AGAINST THE TREND
Fewer Australians are identifying with Christianity but church attendance is remaining steady.
Movement away from Christianity is driven by dissatisfaction with how it’s practiced
Australians
“One of the narratives we sometimes hear is that Christianity in Australia is being propped up by immigration,” Mr Dusting says. “But actually, what the data shows is that the recent converts to Christianity in Australia are less likely to be migrants than the average population.
Australians
Australians
Australians are increasingly moving fromChristianityto NoReligion , and young Australians are moving away fastest
“So, what is happening is that there’s a large proportion – both in total number, but also as a proportion – of older Australians [aged] 55 plus who are coming to Christianity, either for the first time or coming back to Christianity. That was a standout.”
FINDING 3: TWO-THIRDS ARE POSITIVE TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY
“That tells us that while cultural Christianity is dissipating and people aren’t going to tick the Christianity box because of some heritage, history or cultural connection, those that are genuine in their faith and in their Christianity are still attending church and there’s no real change there.”
Younger Christians are attending church at least monthly
McCrindle has been tracking faith and belief since 2011 in what it calls a “faith barometer”.
Methodology
Based on the reportAn Undercurrent of Faith produced by McCrindle
The report features new research based on the Australian Census
“We know that people might identify with a religion or not,” Mr Dusting says. “But we want to understand, even for those who don’t, how do they feel towards [Christianity]?
“Although the headline figure in the Census is that there [are] less people identifying as Christian, the proportion of Australians who say they’re either Christian or warm towards Christianity has actually remained steady. It’s around two-thirds of Australians who say that they either consider themselves Christian or are warm towards Christianity.
“So, that gives us a bit more nuance to the discussion about how Australians feel towards,
“If a young person says my faith is Christianity or ticks Christianity on the Census form, two-thirds of them are at church. They’re genuine in that faith. If they’re moving, particularly from no religion to Christianity, you can almost guarantee that they’re backing that up with a Christian lifestyle. Now, keep in mind that… young people are the least likely to say ‘Christianity’ on the Census form. So to move to Christianity again, it’s a genuine decision.”
Social researcher Mark McCrindle speaking on The Pastor’s Heart podcast.
and their relationship with, Christianity.”
FINDING 4: OPPORTUNITY AWAITS US
The research company hopes that by clarifying the issues and statistics, Christian leaders as well as everyday people in the pews will be able to see the opportunities.
“We’ve asked people who’ve moved away from Christianity, ‘What were the reasons that you moved away?’” Mr Dusting says.
“For a lot of people, it’s less about their beliefs having changed and more a dissatisfaction with how they’ve seen Christianity practiced.
“I think there’s an opportunity and a challenge there for all rank-and-file Christians… to say, ‘How am I living out the Christian message in its truth and beauty and goodness?’
There’s an opportunity there, because people and society –they’re looking to see that lived out genuinely.” SC
Proportion of
“Churches have become places of refuge”
“The magnitude of this crisis is overwhelming,” says Archbishop Stephen Than, the Primate of Myanmar, describing the aftermath of a powerful earthquake that struck six regions across Myanmar in late March.
The 7.7-magnitude quake, with its epicentre near Mandalay, was also felt in Thailand. It is the strongest quake to hit Myanmar in more than 100 years.
“Many lives have been lost, and countless buildings have collapsed,” Archbishop Than wrote in an appeal to Australian Anglicans. “The crisis has led to a severe shortage of rescue workers, essential supplies and medical personnel.
“Two dioceses of the Church of the Province of Myanmar
Crisis and need: emergency services search the rubble for survivors.
– the Diocese of Mandalay and the Diocese of Toungoo – have suffered extensive damage.”
With the death toll exceeding 4500, Archbishop Than
No Place For Misconduct and Abuse
explained that the Church of the Province of Myanmar had mobilised a Disaster Management Committee, but it was struggling to meet the overwhelming demand for relief and rehabilitation.
“Additionally,” he said, “our
PRAY FOR MYANMAR
Dear Lord,
churches have become places of refuge for non-Christian earthquake victims seeking shelter and humanitarian assistance.”
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel and Gafcon Australia have commended an appeal launched by the Anglican Relief and Development Fund Australia. According to ARDFA, the most urgent needs are food, water and temporary shelter
“The Mandalay Mothers’ Union is initially organising 1000 lunch boxes per day for those affected by the earthquake,” ARDFA says. “Both the Mandalay and Taungoo dioceses are mobilising volunteers to distribute food, water, medicine, temporary shelter, mosquito nets and torches.”
SC
If you wish to make a donation, the appeal page can be found at: ardfa.org.au/myanmar-earthquake
You are the God of all comfort, sovereign over all creation. We come to you today with heavy hearts for all those affected by the earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand. We ask for your protection for all impacted by the earthquake, especially those needing to be rescued, needing medical assistance and emergency aid.
We pray for those displaced, injured and mourning. We pray for comfort and strength for those who have lost loved ones, homes, possessions and livelihoods. Please help them as they look to you in their times of trouble. Hear their cry for help in their time of affliction. Help them to find hope in Jesus in the depths of their despair.
We pray for those involved in the rescue operation and emergency efforts. We pray for the ministry of Anglican churches in Myanmar, as they bring hope and help to those made vulnerable by this disaster. Give them the physical and emotional fortitude to continue their selfless efforts. May the name of Jesus be praised through their efforts.
Please be with Archbishop Stephen Than, Bishop David Nyi Nyi Naing of Mandalay Diocese and Bishop Saw John Wilme of Toungoo Diocese, along with their clergy and laity and the disaster relief committee, as they manage the relief effort and demonstrate the love of Jesus to those affected.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen
Russell Powell
“Our fellowship has not diminished but expanded”
from
Russell Powell
Seventeen years after its historic founding in Jerusalem, the Global Anglican Future Conference has kept up its momentum with a meeting in the United States of more than 170 leaders from 25 countries.
“We have prayed together, worshipped together, studied Scripture together, and been encouraged and edified by the faith that unites us across our differing languages and cultures,” said a statement from the gathering in Plano, Texas.
Referencing the founding assembly of Anglican leaders in 2008, the statement said, “That meeting could have been a onetime occurrence, but it was not.
The Gafcon movement continues to grow, continues to gather and continues to stand firm for the faith once delivered to the saints.
“We also continue to grieve over how some leaders in the Anglican Communion have led the flock of Christ astray, diluted the authority of Scripture and distorted the gospel, endangering many souls. We once again call them to repentance”.
Leaders from the United States, Nigeria, Rwanda and Myanmar were among those who led services. Bishop Paul Donison, the general secretary of
Gafcon, hosted the conference at Christ Church Plano, a cathedral church of the Anglican Church in North America.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, and the Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross, Glenn Davies, also attended.
A plenary session heard that the mission of the church is hindered by a “poverty mindset”, which proceeds from a fear of scarcity and an ingratitude for God’s gifts.
“This often results in a lack of available resources for ministry,” the statement said.
“Our speakers shared their own stories of God’s miraculous provision, as well as practical wisdom for how to partner together across provinces and utilise what God has given us to promote sustainable development and generate
resources in our churches.”
Archbishop Raffel said this session in particular was very encouraging.
“More than ever, our gathering in Plano showed Gafcon is a mission-minded movement intent on renewing our Anglican Communion by a vigorous, prayerful and sacrificial commitment to keeping the biblical gospel at the heart of mission and fellowship,” he said.
“Gafcon is focused on the future and the opportunities for Anglicans around the world to bring the good news of Jesus to their communities.”
Before the meeting, Gafcon leaders commented on a plan to rearrange one of the Anglican Communion organisations, replacing the Archbishop of Canterbury with a rotating, international chair. In February, the leaders said the proposed restructure “fails to bring genuine renewal to our Anglican Church”.
In the face of such failure, the Plano statement said, “Our fellowship has not diminished but expanded. Our resolve to proclaim the gospel has not been weakened but strengthened. Our commitment to reform and renew the Anglican Communion has not wavered or faltered”.
In his final address, the chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council, Dr Laurent Mbanda (left), described Gafcon Anglicans as “a gospel people, a rooted people, an orthodox people and a Bible people”.
The statement added that Dr Mbanda “encouraged us to recommit ourselves to prayer, to self-sustainability within our churches, and to some of Gafcon’s key areas of ministry, including BTI [Bishops Training Institute], women’s ministry and our conferences”.
Among the new initiatives announced were the development of a theological writing group and a theological commission. The Plano conference was also the first of a series of annual miniconferences. Next year, G26 will be meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, with a special focus on the more senior leaders of the global movement.
“Where Anglican leaders in some regions have departed from the truth of the gospel,” the statement said, “Gafcon has rejected their spiritual authority, and recognised new expressions of faithful Anglicans, in order to guard and boldly proclaim the life-giving gospel of Christ throughout the world.”
Gathered
across the globe: Anglican leaders prepare to enter the auditorium at the GAFCON conference in Plano, Texas..
The Christian’s daily battle
Kanishka Raffel
Paul’s letter to Titus takes as one of its central themes “knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Tit 1:1). The apostle is eager to show the relationship between the “grace of God that has appeared” in Jesus, and the “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” that are the fruit of God’s grace in the lives of those who “wait for the blessed hope”.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
(Titus 2:11-13)
Paul is crystal clear that God’s gracious salvation of sinners is “not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Tit 3:5). And yet, he is equally adamant that “those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good” (Tit 3:8).
In Titus 2:12, Paul shows these two realities – God’s saving grace and the transformed lives of believers – are causally related. It is precisely God’s grace that “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness”. In the letter, Paul several times draws attention to the practice of self-control, for all Christians (Titus 2:2, 5, 6).
In the book of Acts, Luke summarises Paul’s gospel presentation to Felix in this way:
Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid (Acts 24:24-25). Here, it seems the work of Christ is summarised in the single word “righteousness”, and the life of sanctified discipleship is summarised also in one word: self-control.
For most Christians, self-control is the daily battle to withstand the lies of the evil one and take hold instead of the glorious and liberating truth of God’s word; to put to death the old nature and “put on” the new creation, the new person made in the image of Christ. We are all too aware of our persistent sins and temptations, but rejoice to know God’s presence, help and power to cultivate new loves and new habits; to fix our eyes on Christ who is above and think on whatever is noble, pure, lovely and true.
Recently, the NSW Government passed a Bill banning “conversion practices”. These are defined in the Act as “a practice, treatment or sustained effort that is directed to an individual
on the basis of the individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and directed to changing or suppressing the individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” (s 3(1)).
The Synod of our Diocese expressed in 2018 its opposition to oppressive and violent practices designed to “convert” someone’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. It is worth recalling the full wording here:
31/18 Pastoral care in our churches
Synoda affirms that all people, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, are made in the image of God and deeply loved by him, b recognises that all desire and sexuality in this world has been distorted by the Fall and awaits a reordering in the New Creation, c recognises that psychological practices such as “reparative therapy” or “gay conversion therapy”, which seek to reorient sexual attraction to heterosexuality, have been highly ineffective for those who experience exclusive same-sex attraction, and have caused distress to many who have participated in such therapy, d notes that the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney does not practise, recommend or endorse “gay conversion therapy”, e recognises that Christ’s teaching in Matthew 19, which requires either faithfulness in marriage or abstinence in singleness, is a particular struggle for those with desires that cannot be faithfully expressed, and therefore
f calls upon our churches to be safe places for all people, and to provide appropriate pastoral care for all, and g values prayer for same-sex attracted Christians who wish to live celibate lives, noting that prayer is not a form of “gay conversion therapy”.
Coercive “conversion therapies”, while they may have occurred in the past in some settings, are no longer practiced. The Conversion Practices Ban Act goes far beyond these practices.
When the Act was passed in 2024, I wrote in a newspaper opinion column that we continue to have significant concerns with the Act because, among other things, it contains an undefined concept of suppression that could interfere with the ordinary
teaching of religious doctrines and life within families – the possibility that it illegitimately seeks to regulate what people can say and do in the ordinary course of living out their faith, and what faith groups may teach and promote.
Jesus and his apostles repeatedly warn against sexual immorality. We believe it is right to suppress ungodly sexual impulses, and we seek the help of the Holy Spirit to exercise selfcontrol. It is orthodox Christian teaching that God’s gift of sex finds its proper expression in the context of a loving, lifelong commitment of marriage between a man and woman. Single Christians, whether never married, divorced or widowed, or
who experience exclusive attraction to people of the same sex, are called to fruitful, joyful and faithful lives including sexual abstinence.
For Christians, self-control is a fruit of the Spirit that has application in every part of life, including in the area of sexuality. Technology, medicine and changed community standards make self-control in the area of sexuality either unnecessary or undesirable in the minds of many (with the notable exception of the #MeToo movement). But for those who have come to know the grace of God in Jesus, the gospel teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and to live “self-controlled, upright and godly lives”. SC
God’s heart for children
Charles Cleworth
Children have a unique way of humbling us. From the joys of first steps to the frustration of sleepless nights, children shape our experiences in profound ways. But beyond our personal encounters, what does God say about children? How does he view them, and what should our response be?
In Mark 10:13-16, we find an encounter between Jesus and children. Parents were bringing their little ones to him, seeking his blessing. Yet the disciples rebuked them, assuming that children were not a priority in Jesus’ ministry. But Jesus’ response was striking: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (v14).
In this passage, we uncover five truths about how God views children and why they are essential to his kingdom.
CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM GOD
Scripture consistently affirms that children are a blessing. Psalm 127:3-5 describes them as a “heritage from the Lord” and likens them to arrows in a warrior’s hands. This imagery reminds us that children are meant both to be treasured and prepared to be released out into the world, like an archer releasing an arrow.
Yet, the reality of parenting is not always simple. The Bible does not shy away from the struggles of infertility, miscarriage or loss. Women like Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth experienced the deep pain of waiting and longing for a child. Many of the great patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – grappled with childlessness at different points. This reminds us that while children are a gift, they are also given by God in his timing and wisdom.
When the disciples in Mark 10 turned the children away, they
Moore College
Why kids matter in the Kingdom. failed to recognise them as a divine blessing. Jesus, however, saw them differently – he welcomed them, reminding us to rejoice in the lives of children, and to mourn with those who long for them.
CHILDREN ARE SINNERS
A common cultural belief is that children are born innocent and only become sinful as they grow older. However, Scripture tells a different story. Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”. Likewise, Psalm 58:3 states, “Even from birth the wicked go astray”.
Children, like all of us, are born with a sinful nature. And while they may not commit the same kinds of evils as adults, this isn’t because of the purity of their hearts; rather, it’s simply because they’re too small and weak to do the same things of which us grown-ups are capable! As Augustine of Hippo wrote, “It is the weakness of infants’ limbs that makes them innocent, not their intention”. As children grow, their sinful nature will increasingly express itself in sinful acts.
Therefore, while their sins may look different from those of adults, children still need the grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers. If we view children as naturally good and self-sufficient, we risk minimising their need for the gospel. Jesus came to save sinners – including the youngest among us. Children need Jesus just as much as grown-ups.
When the disciples rebuked the parents in Mark 10 for bringing their children to Jesus, perhaps they assumed that these little ones had no need for him. But Jesus’ response made it clear: every child needs to come to him for salvation.
CHILDREN
ARE DISCIPLES NOW
Too often, we think of children as potential disciples – people who will one day “make a decision” for Christ when they are old enough to understand. But Jesus’ words in Mark 10:14 challenge that notion: “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”.
The disciples likely saw children as unimportant in their mission to establish God’s kingdom. They may have thought, “Come back when you’re old enough to contribute”. But Jesus saw them differently. He welcomed children as full members of his kingdom – not future prospects, but present heirs.
What about faith? Theologian Bruce Ware puts it like this: “Since by nature infants cannot have come to understand or embrace the reality of their own sin, or of the gracious redemptive work done in Christ… they simply cannot be those for whom the reality of union with Christ is true”.
And yet, doesn’t Jesus’ welcoming of children teach us something crucial about the nature of faith? Faith is not primarily an intellectual grasp or articulation of doctrine; rather, it is fundamentally the kind of trust and dependence that children model to us best! As theologian-philosopher Vern Poythress writes: “Faith is primarily trust in Christ, not verbal articulation of that trust”.
This challenges how we treat children in our churches. Do we view them as second-class citizens in the kingdom, or as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Jesus embraced them, prayed for them and blessed them. We should do the same.
CHILDREN NEED DISCIPLESHIP
From the earliest pages of Scripture, God calls his people to teach the next generation. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 commands parents to impress God’s words upon their children – talking about them
at home, on the road, and throughout daily life. Psalm 78:5-7 reiterates this call, urging each generation to pass on God’s truth so that their children “would put their trust in God”.
In the New Testament, Paul writes to fathers in Ephesians 6:4: “do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord”.
Raising children in faith is not a neutral endeavour. Our culture is not neutral – messages of self-sufficiency, consumerism and secular worldviews bombard children daily. If we do not intentionally disciple them, the world will.
The disciples in Mark 10 may have thought that children were not ready to be taught about faith, but Scripture tells us otherwise. They need to hear the gospel, be trained in God’s word, and see living examples of faith in their homes and churches.
CHILDREN TEACH US WHAT IT MEANS TO FOLLOW JESUS
Jesus’ final words in Mark 10:15 reveal a profound truth: “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”.
But what does it mean to receive the kingdom like a child? This is an important question, because not everything about a child teaches us what we should be like. For example, Paul exhorts the Ephesians to stop being like “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves” (Eph 4:14).
So, what does a child teach us about receiving the kingdom? It does not mean being immature or ignorant. Instead, it means embracing the humility, trust and dependence that characterise childhood. This is made clear by what happens in the story after the children are brought to Jesus.
In Mark 10, the story of Jesus and the children is followed by the encounter between Jesus and the rich young ruler. Unlike the
children who approached Jesus with open arms, the young man came with confidence in his own achievements. Yet Jesus told him to give up everything and follow him – to become dependent.
A child depends on a parent for everything – food, shelter, love, guidance. Likewise, Jesus calls us to abandon our selfreliance and trust in him fully. Children show us what it means to rely on God completely.
At its core, the gospel is about dependence. Jesus himself modelled this when he became a child, born into the world in weakness and humility. Moreover, his ultimate act of dependence was on the Cross where, as he died, he entrusted himself into his Father’s hands. He did this both to protect us from the righteous judgement of God, and to make possible our adoption as true children of God.
And this he did even for the youngest of children. As it says in the words of a French baptismal prayer:
Little child, for you Jesus Christ has come, he has fought, he has suffered. For you he entered the shadow of Gethsemane and the horror of Calvary. For you he uttered the cry, “It is finished”!
For you he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and there he intercedes – for you, little child, even though you do not know it.
But in this way the word of the gospel becomes true. We love him, because he first loved us.
EMBRACING GOD’S HEART FOR CHILDREN
If we truly understand how God views children, it will change how we minister to them. We will treasure them as gifts, recognise their need for the gospel, disciple them intentionally and learn from their example of faith.
As a church, we must ask ourselves, do we reflect Jesus’ heart for children? Are we investing in their spiritual growth? Are we making space for them in our worship and community?
Jesus’ call is clear: “Let the little children come to me”. May we, like him, embrace them with open arms, pointing them to the Saviour who welcomes us all.
Can we remain silent?
As the NSW Parliament considers this month whether to widen access to abortion and force doctors to facilitate it – regardless of their conscience – two medical professionals urge Christians to speak out.
The Rev Charles Cleworth lectures in theology, philosophy and ethics at Moore College.
JAN*
SYDNEY ANGLICAN GP
I’ve been a doctor for 15 years and I love my work – I just love it. In general practice I’m in the privileged position of doing something I love, helping people and caring for them through all stages of life.
Christians are called to love others, and this is a job where you really can do that in practical ways. You have all sorts of people who walk into your room; you might not agree with or get on with all of them, but you are called to care for them and love them. This affects how you approach your work and the time that you give to people.
Consultations are already tricky if someone comes to me with an unexpected pregnancy they want to terminate – personally, it’s very sad but you can’t show that professionally. You can ask what support they have and encourage them towards that, and you can give them information if they decide to go ahead. Importantly, you can also provide support afterwards if that is their decision.
However, if the Bill being considered by the NSW Parliament passes unamended, not only would nurses be able to prescribe abortion medication but doctors, no matter what their beliefs, would be required to write a referral or make a call to an abortion service. Christian GPs will be faced with the alternative of compromising either their faith and beliefs or their medical qualifications, and that’s a fairly nasty position to put people in.
I was reading an ABC news article where Amanda Cohn, the Greens MP who drafted this Bill, said that a clause in the existing law – which requires practitioners only to provide a patient with information or refer them on – was “being weaponised by whole institutions or whole departments, which is never what it was intended for”. But I feel as though her Bill would weaponise an entire workforce to make them do something that they might not want to do.
What will it mean to Christian doctors if this Bill is passed? Some of the practicalities are unclear, but I do think it could stop some of us from practising medicine altogether – if we are obligated to make a call or a referral that, in all conscience, we
don’t want to make, or perform or assist in a procedure we are
We need to pray that this doesn’t happen, and contact our local MPs to express our opposition to the Bill.
*not her real name
PATRICK KENNEDY
ENGADINE-HEATHCOTE ANGLICAN CHURCH
As a former registered nurse and intensive care paramedic, I have been surrounded by tragedy, disaster, grief and constant death throughout my life.
With my background, where I have been in the never-ending vortex of battling to save lives, I have struggled to understand why in Australia, and indeed across the world, death by abortion is so widely and easily accepted – even encouraged.
A Christian friend of mine had to watch a recording of an abortion as part of her job (she had just begun working for a group opposed to abortions). She said she could not view such destruction ever again. It is not just gentle suction that is used. It is cruel, painful and inhumane.
Every life is the product of God’s handiwork and we are made in the Creator’s image with special significance attached. The Bible gives strong warnings against taking human life.
Despite all this, there is encouragement for young women to terminate their unexpected pregnancy, or at least to consider it, telling them that it’s easily accessible, safe and (sadly) one of Australia’s most common surgical procedures.
With the undignified and immoral clamour for more abortions, widening access in NSW – especially in the public hospital system – I would want to say, “Let’s turn on the ultrasound for a moment”. Yes, I can see a heartbeat. A life. A potential future.
Will you speak up for them? And for the medical professionals? If enacted, the Bill under consideration will force medical professionals to disregard their faith conscience and refer patients to abortion services upon request, conflicting with their beliefs and the Hippocratic Oath to protect life, not end it.
Campbelltown welcomes its first paid chaplain
Chris Hangar
There is no typical day at Campbelltown Hospital – not yet, anyway. As the new chaplain, there is a lot of getting to know people and introducing myself to nurses and health staff, social workers and so forth.
I can tell you what I did today: I spent time in the surgical ward, talking to staff and visiting patients. I met with a team of social workers in palliative care and one asked me what motivated me to do hospital chaplaincy. To my surprise, I replied, “My motivation is Jesus. I want to live a life that makes him known and that serves him. I’m trying to turn away from living for myself and having the privilege of living for other people”. Thank you, Holy Spirit!
It has been good to finally get chaplaincy feet on the ground here. It has been a patient, prayerful wait. Anglicare first approached the hospital in 2019 but redevelopment plans put discussions on hold. After new hospital facilities opened in 2024, we were able to have a very productive meeting with the hospital general manager and the director of allied health.
Hospital chaplaincy is a different kind of ministry. There is loss and disorientation in people’s lives when they find themselves or their loved ones in hospital. We know from God’s word that, rather than using lots of words, listening to and sticking with people is the best way to show Jesus’ love when they are overwhelmed by sadness and grief.
It can be quite confronting, too. Hospitals are very much places where the consequence of human sin is evident and God’s judgement of death is visible. Having the words of eternal life, yet being rightly constrained by Health Department rules giving us access to patients, requires trusting deeply in God’s sovereign ways.
FAITH AMID LIFE’S STRUGGLES
A hospital is an amazing place for being among lots of people in all kinds of situations. Primarily with patients, you’re trying to meet them at their point of need. You’re working really hard to listen and be a compassionate presence with them. The Lord opens conversations in all sorts of directions. [Occasionally] people are referred to us, but a lot of the work is going out to the ward and
asking staff, “Is there anyone who might benefit from a visit from a chaplain?”
The other day, I was able to listen to and empathise with a young mum who has been in hospital multiple times this year. She was struggling with what God’s doing in her life at the moment. She was glad for prayer and we talked about the psalms and how having faith in God is not about being positive all the time, but opening up your struggles to God.
Some days you can also feel helpless and confronted by people’s situations. You get to spend some wonderful time with people, but it’s a very short time. You don’t know how God will use it. It’s all in his hands, really.
NOT ALONE
One of the great stories of Campbelltown Hospital is the pastoral care provided by local Christian volunteers over decades. The COVID years and growth and change in the hospital has seen volunteer work greatly decline. One of my major tasks will be, under God, to grow and refresh the volunteer team. There are a lot of patients to visit – too many for just one person. We are praying for more churches to connect with chaplaincy, and for more volunteers.
I’m also very thankful for the support of Anglicare and other hospital chaplains, as I feel I’m a bit of a newbie to all this! The other Anglicare hospital chaplains are an inspirational lot, so even though in Campbelltown Hospital I can be a bit of a lone soldier, it’s nice to be part of the network of Anglicare hospital chaplains. SC
PRAY WITH ME FOR CHAPLAINCY MINISTRY
• for humility and wisdom in building good relationships with staff
• for wisdom when supporting patients and their families
• for people to not only see the care and support chaplains offer, but to see the love and care of Jesus
The Rev Chris Hangar is Anglicare chaplain at Campbelltown Hospital, previous chaplain to Liverpool Hospital and former rector of Minto.
God’s love on the wards: the Rev Chris Hangar at Campbelltown Hospital.
Pastoral
Hospitality was her legacy. Faith was her gift to me.
Kathy Notley
St Mark’s, Northbridge
My Mum died when I was 17. My core memory of childhood was church and church people as part of our life. They weren’t separate.
We grew up going to church fêtes, youth group, kids’ church, Christian camps. Our home was always open to people and events. Our whole youth group would come over; we had a community carols by candlelight service each year on the grounds of our home; Mum started sporting teams for sports that we were interested in.
When I was in Year 7, she invited the whole year around for a get-to-know-you. She was all about hospitality and opening her home to church and community.
My older sister reminded me that when my mother was confronted with her life-threatening cancer diagnosis, before us five kids would be up in the morning she would go into her little sewing room and have devotional and prayer time. I know, in the quietness of that time, she was praying for us children, knowing that she wouldn’t be around much longer. I treasure that so much.
When she passed away, I wandered from the faith for 20 years. I came back to church in my late thirties. One of the emotional things about returning to the faith that I grew up with was that it reminded me of my mother and our upbringing. All those years later, by God’s grace, for the first time the faith became mine and not just my mother’s.
I’m now in ministry, which is really crazy, to think that I can come alongside women and help them in life and point them to Jesus, just as my mother did to me. I think about how her prayers would have been shaped in that little room by her vulnerability and how she had to trust God with her children.
Right to the end of her life, my Mum was caring for people and sharing her faith. In those later years, she was listening to others
and their problems, even though she was very sick herself. Her favourite hymn was “Thine Be The Glory”. I reflect on the last verse of that hymn, sitting with Jesus when he calls us home.
That’s what she was looking forward to.
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of Life; life is naught without thee: aid us in our strife; make us more than conquerors through thy deathless love; bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
I’m now 62, so her memory is very special but just keeps getting further and further away.
I always wanted to be a mother, to replicate what my mother had done for us – the happy times that I remember being in family with my Mum. God has instead blessed me with a beautiful family, a church family, a husband who is a believer, and a stepdaughter. There’s a surprising connection between that beautiful community I grew up with and in, realising the richness of what I have been blessed with now, and knowing that I am secure ultimately in God’s eternal family. SC
Happy times: a young Kathy and her Mum.
Family together: Kathy (second from left) with her siblings.
God answers prayers!
Fifteen teams of Moore Theological College students went out on mission to churches across Australia to learn from and serve local communities, and make the gospel known. Here are a few of the ways God worked through them during mission week.
Austinmer Anglican Church
We finished the mission with Church by the Beach. God definitely answered prayers for opportunities to proclaim the gospel to outsiders this evening.
An older man came along, off the beachfront. Without close family or friends, and with a recent diagnosis of glaucoma, he caught the train to Austinmer to see the sights of his childhood town once again. So it seemed particularly poignant that as Brian preached on the Parable of the Rich Fool, we were all asked, “If you could ask one thing of Jesus, what would it be?”
For many it might be to earn, to have, or to own; perhaps for this man, it was to see. The man in Jesus’ parable thought that life consisted of his possessions, but death robbed him of his wealth. And death will rob us all of our health.
Tonight’s talk and testimony warned us against a life lived independently of God. Life is from God and must be lived in reference to him. And it is only in reference to him that we can have life everlasting. – Helen Xing
Cross & Crown Church, Gold Coast
On day two of our mission on the Gold Coast, I invited some kids on the street to Palmy Days [the holiday outreach program], and they came! They had lots of questions.
One of the kids who was asking questions was saying, “If you guys are so religious, why do you keep talking about death?” I got to share about how Jesus conquers death, and if we trust in Jesus we get to look forward to eternal life.
–
Emily Warren
The team helped Cross & Crown run its first Palmy Days and Palmy Nights outreach holiday program for kids and youth, and more than 50 new children came along!
St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney
One of the things we’ve been doing is taking people around for tours of the building, which is really exciting.
One of the best things about the Cathedral is that it is filled with lots of objects that we can use to take people to truths about Jesus and the gospel.
[We’ve shown people] a Bible, produced by King Henry VIII to go into a church in England. I’ve taken a number of people to this Bible, and it’s a great opportunity to show them that one of the key things about our church and about the gospel is getting the Scriptures into the hands of people and allowing everyday people to be able to read the Bible and hear about Jesus for themselves. That gives me a great segue to offer them an Essential Jesus [the gospel of Luke], which a number of people have taken.
– James Marquet
Teaching all ages: Members of the Moore College mission team at Dundas-Telopea share Bible truths with some puppet assistance.
Authentic Anglicanism
Mark Thompson
What is an Anglican? How is Anglicanism being stretched out of shape to be unrecognisable?
Sydney’s Doctrine Commission has produced a report on authentic Anglicanism and the following is an abridged version, with some language simplified for general reading.
See the full report at bit.ly/authenticanglicanism
A“nglicanism” is the label attached to a form of Christian corporate life that traces its theological convictions and ecclesiastical practice to the New Testament, with an especially formative period during the English Reformation. Its congregations are part of the “one holy catholic and apostolic church” confessed in the ecumenical creeds, yet they share distinctives that mark them out from other communions and denominations.
These distinctives could be defined and described in a number of ways, of which two are most common: a phenomenological approach (which emphases description) and a theological approach.
A phenomenological approach often begins by drawing attention to the diversity of practice that has emerged over the past 500 years, despite numerous Acts of Uniformity. It then proceeds to infer from this a distinctive “ethos” of Anglicanism.
The advantage of this approach lies in its attention to history and the way Canon law has or has not shaped the practices of the church. Its disadvantage lies in the way it sidesteps the question of what Anglican identity should be on the basis of its foundational documents. In other words, it ignores what is normative.
A theological approach, in contrast, draws attention to the common convictions that shape the doctrine and practice of Anglican churches, which have proven to be stable markers of
Anglican identity. These arise from Scripture and are given formal expression in the Articles of Religion (1571), The Book of Common Prayer (1662) and the Ordinal (1662), together known as “the formularies”. The theology contained in these documents provides a summary of an Anglican reading of Scripture and its application to Christian corporate life.
The advantage of this approach is the way it gives due weight to these foundational documents of Anglicanism and the intention of those who wrote them as part of their attempt to reform England. Its disadvantage lies in its potential to be doctrinaire and to disregard the historical complexities of application.
This report will take a theological approach, convinced that it has always been the case that Anglican practice ought to be explained by Anglican doctrine. Put differently, the confessional aspects of Anglicanism are (or at least should be) the best explanation of its practice and the way it orders ministry.
In order to avoid the disadvantages mentioned above, and to prevent a presentation of Anglicanism that is merely a projection of our own preferences, this theological approach is anchored in the formularies, recognising that the formularies themselves allow for a flexibility to respond to the changing context of the church in its ministry and mission.
Whatever its accidental features may be, the Anglican Church can be authentic only on the basis of its confessions of faith as they are expressed in the formularies. Perhaps the three most distinctive elements of authentic Anglicanism are its confessional, liturgical and episcopal character. However, before turning to these, it will be important to consider the place of Scripture in authentic Anglicanism.
THE PLACE OF SCRIPTURE
in Elizabethan church architecture, which placed neither an altar nor a pulpit in the most prominent place, but rather the Bible on a lectern.
CONFESSIONAL CHARACTER
To speak of Anglican identity as “confessional” is not merely to make a statement about its contingent historical foundations. It is to align that identity with a set of normative doctrinal commitments. The content and structure of the Articles of Religion give formal expression to these.
First, the articles uphold the supreme authority of Holy Scripture as “the pure Word of God” and the norm of Anglican identity (Article 6). The unique and irreplaceable foundation of Scripture ensures that all doctrinal statements made by the church, including the articles themselves, are derivative and subordinate in character (Article 8). Their validity and normative force only arise from their consistency with the totality of biblical teaching (Articles 20, 21). Besides attesting to the final rule of Scripture, the articles provide an authoritative doctrinal framework that makes clear the way Anglicans read Scripture – not least in their insistence that no part of Scripture is to be read in a way that contradicts another (Article 20).
Every legitimate form of church gives a central role to engagement with the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New testaments. The reading and exposition of Scripture has been part of Christian gatherings since the time of the apostles.
However, the English Reformers recognised a critical role for sustained engagement with the Scriptures as a key strategy for the reformation of the English realm. Archbishop Cranmer, the chief architect of Reformation Anglicanism, presented this as a return to “the godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers”.
Cranmer was convinced that the word of God written (Article 20 of the Articles of Religion) is powerful and that the Spirit is able to transform lives as he writes God’s word on human hearts. Only doctrine that can be proved by Scripture is to be believed as “an article of the Faith” (Articles 6, 20).
Nevertheless, Cranmer did not restrict those things done within church to only those things that could be proved by Scripture. Rather, he retained “ceremonies” from the pre-Reformation because they promoted decent order in the Church, as they pertain to edification. In other words, from the beginning Anglicans upheld the normative principle – what is not forbidden in Scripture is permitted – rather than the regulative principle that only what is commanded in Scripture is permitted.
In line with this new and somewhat distinctive emphasis on Scripture as the means of national reform, access to the Bible in the vernacular was championed. When The Book of Common Prayer was presented, its shape was determined by and its language saturated with the words of Scripture. This even found expression
In this the Anglican approach to Scripture finds its origin in, and shares much in common with, other early confessional documents of the European Reformation, both Lutheran and Reformed.
In addition to their commitment to the supreme authority of Scripture, the Protestant character of the articles is evident in their affirmation of the doctrinal authority of the ancient creeds (Articles 1-5, 8), the depraved condition of humanity, sovereign election to salvation in Christ, the necessity of justification by faith in the finished work of Christ alone (Articles 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 31), the two dominical sacraments of “Baptism and the Supper of the Lord” – especially the baptism of children (Articles 25-28).
It is made even more clear by the rejection of key elements of distinctively Roman Catholic piety and doctrine. Consequently, any interpretation of the articles that contradicts their essentially Reformed character is a clear violation of their historical intention.
It is undeniably true the articles have been received and interpreted by Anglicans in ways that do not neatly align with their Reformed heritage. It is also true their original historical setting does not neatly align with the global context of Anglican identity today. Contextualising these doctrinal commitments in a way that is sensitive to the breadth of cultures represented is a pressing need (e.g., concerning the character and expression of the church’s establishment in relation to the state). However, respecting and preserving their enduring Reformed character remains paramount.
LITURGICAL DISPOSITION
The first major formulary of the English Reformation was The Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Authorised and issued in 1549, it replaced various pre-Reformational service books. It was written in English, and the Reformation principles of justification only by faith and the sufficiency of the Scriptures for salvation significantly shaped the services.
The 1662 version of The Book of Common Prayer has had a global influence and is still regarded in many places, including
in the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia, as “the authorised standard of worship”.
The major principles that shaped the “Publick Liturgy” of the BCP were explicitly outlined in its prefaces. These were:
1 preservation of the best liturgical practice of the previous 15 centuries;
2 a simplification of the many books and devices needed to conduct public worship;
3 purification through the removal of unbiblical aspects of Roman Catholicism;
4 intelligibility of the service through using understandable language that enabled participation and edification; and
5 uniformity of worship across the thousands of parishes in order to strengthen unity between parishioners and throughout the national church.
While the BCP is no longer used in many contemporary churches, its doctrine and principles continue to significantly shape authentic Anglican corporate worship. What we do when we are gathered by the Spirit to hear God’s word, to respond to that word in prayer and praise, and “to stir up one another love and good works” does need to be expressed in an appropriate contemporary idiom. Cranmer envisaged that revision to the BCP would continue, guided by the principles mentioned above. Most importantly, an authentically Anglican approach to liturgy is undergirded by an important scriptural interconnectedness in form and substance.
EPISCOPAL GOVERNMENT
ANGLICAN “IDENTITIES”
This report has endeavoured to give a theological account of authentic Anglicanism that is grounded in its foundational documents – The Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and the Articles of Religion – because of a fundamental conviction that doctrine should determine practice rather than the reverse. What we are committed to believe as Anglicans is given to us in the formularies, and those beliefs fleshed out in practice lie at the heart of what it means to be Anglican.
However, through the centuries other Anglican “identities” have been fabricated that are grounded quite differently. Some have attempted to characterise Anglicanism as a middle way between Catholicism and Protestantism. However, this suggestion has fatal flaws. Firstly, the term is not explicitly used by the first English Reformers. It finds no expression in the Articles of Religion , which repudiates Roman doctrine and that of the Anabaptists while affirming mainstream Reformed doctrines, as noted above. The idea of a “middle way” does not appear even in the works of Richard Hooker (a 16th-century Anglican theologian), to whom it is regularly attributed but, rather, in the context of the high-church Oxford Movement of the 19th century as part of a call for a more “Catholic” form of Anglicanism.
Finally, a confessionally Anglican identity is distinctively episcopal, with a commitment to the threefold order of Christian ministry: bishops, priests (presbyters) and deacons (Article 36). This is reflected in the BCP and affirmed in the Ordinal, the third traditional formulary of Anglicanism. It is also embedded in Section 3 of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Why did the English Reformers retain this threefold order when others on the Continent dispensed with it? The answer lies in the Reformation principles already identified in the preface to the BCP. One of these sought only to abolish ceremonies that were a perversion of Christianity and retain other traditional aspects of church experience. Retaining forms and practices that were not inimical to the gospel reinforced the conviction of the Reformers that they were not creating a new church but calling a compromised church back to its true heritage. The emergence of Anglicanism was an exercise in reformation, not reconstruction.
Cranmer believed episcopacy ought to be retained as it was compatible with the teaching of the Bible and had been a consistent feature of ecclesiastical order “from the Apostles’ time”. Yet he did not believe bishops are essential to constitute the church – rather, they are provided for its welfare.
The consecration service constructed by Cranmer emphasises the upholding and teaching of Holy Scriptures as central to episcopal ministry. This emphasis on the role of an Anglican bishop as a guardian of the faith is significant in grounding the spiritual authority associated with the role of bishop. It is an authority derived from the authority of God’s word and its legitimacy is forfeited when the bishop begins to teach or condone things contrary to the Bible.
From at least the time of the 1930 Lambeth Conference, it has been common to speak of a defining characteristic of Anglicanism as “communion with the See of Canterbury”. The expression had been in use for a century by that time, but it was not until the second half of the 20th century that it was elevated to the measure of membership of the Anglican Communion, and so of Anglican identity. To define being Anglican by communion with the See of Canterbury also raises a number of very difficult questions, such as what to do when the See of Canterbury is occupied by someone who has abandoned the teaching of Scripture at one point or another.
A third approach to defining Anglicanism, adopted by some in recent years, has been to emphasise toleration of doctrinal diversity as characteristic of Anglicanism. This view was promoted strongly by Anglican theologian F. D. Maurice in the 19th century and Archbishops Runcie and Carey in the 20th. Perhaps none has been more scathing of this conception than Professor (later Bishop) Stephen Sykes, who wrote of how “it has served as an open invitation to intellectual laziness and self-deception” and “has led to an ultimately illusory self-projection as a Church without any specific doctrinal or confessional position” ( The Integrity of Anglicanism, 19).
None of these alternatives are satisfactory as a definition of authentic Anglicanism, even if they provide descriptions of perspectives valued by many contemporary Anglicans. Anglicanism that is true to its heritage is not indifferent when it comes to theology. It has a clearly confessional character that is not simply a matter of doctrinal assent but also determines church practice and even the shape of church government: confessional, liturgical and episcopal.
The Rev Dr Mark Thompson is chairman of the Sydney Anglican Doctrine Commission.
Wilcoxens head to Harrisonburg
After four years as rector of St John’s, Darlinghurst, the Rev Dr Matt Wilcoxen is returning to the US to become rector of The Church of the Incarnation in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
When announcing the news
VALE
The Ven Reg Platt died on April 8, aged 90.
Born Reginald Thomas Platt in Coffs Harbour on July 26, 1934, he grew up first in northern NSW and then Sydney’s northern suburbs, after the family moved while he was in primary school.
He attended North Sydney Boys’ High, by which time he was a member of the Church of England Boys’ Society (CEBS) at St Paul’s, Chatswood – where there were busy youth and fellowship groups, and where he met his future wife, Margaret.
However, while they were courting, he also felt called to the ministry – so he put his personal life on hold to study at Moore College and was ordained in 1962. A curacy at Pagewood followed, after which he and Margaret married, and they moved together in 1964 to the parish of Matraville and Phillip Bay.
Three years later, the family moved to Brisbane for Mr Platt to take up the role of general secretary to the Queensland
he said, “I don’t think we’ve ever had such conflicting emotions: grief at leaving behind so many good and important things at St John’s and in Sydney, and delight and excitement to be part of what God is doing at The
and Northern NSW branch of the Church Missionary Society.
He spent the best part of the next seven years speaking at churches about the work of CMS, helping prepare missionaries for service and hosting many in the family home – although his own planned move into missionary service in Jakarta was shelved when a serious ear condition ruled him medically unfit.
At his funeral in St James’ Chapel at Anglicare Castle Hill, son Greg Platt said his father “often spoke about this episode, as his position in Indonesia was temporarily filled by a retired clergyman who was shot and killed only three weeks into the
Church of the Incarnation”.
While acknowledging that times of transition were always bittersweet, he added that for the best part of 10 years he and his wife Annie had admired The Church of the Incarnation
VACANT PARISHES
List of parishes and provisional parishes, vacant or becoming vacant, as at April 23, 2025:
Bankstown**
Belmore with McCallums Hill and Clemton Park
Caringbah
Cooks River**
Cranebrook with Castlereagh
Cremorne*
Darling Street**
Darlinghurst
Enmore-
Stanmore
• Glebe*
• Greenwich
Helensburgh and Stanwell
Park**
• Jamberoo
• Lawson
• Liverpool South
• Oatley**
• Paddington
• Quakers Hill
• RiverwoodPunchbowl
• Rosemeadow*
• Roseville
• St John’s Park
• South Coogee
* denotes provisional parishes or Archbishop’s appointments
** right of nomination suspended/on hold
“as a model of a gospel-shaped church, committed to loving God, serving one another, and working for the flourishing of the city”.
Dr Wilcoxen will finish at Darlinghurst on July 7.
job. If it hadn’t been for his ear condition, that would have been Dad”.
God had different plans. The family returned to Sydney in 1974 for Mr Platt to become rector of Longueville, where he served until called to St Faith’s, Narrabeen in 1982.
Made Archdeacon of Ryde by Archbishop Harry Goodhew in 1993, he moved to Archdeacon of North Sydney shortly after, where he remained until his official retirement in 2000.
Made Archdeacon Emeritus that same year, Archdeacon Platt kept busy, spending 2000-01 as assistant minister to Roseville East, and the subsequent decade as part-time assistant minister in the parish of Turramurra South.
“He was particularly known for his pastoral care of those in the communities in which he worked,” Greg Platt said. “He enjoyed mentoring young ministers and students at Moore College and was keen to pass on what he had learned in his decades of ministry experience.
“In fact, he was still active in this respect, and while in hospital talked about his disappointment at missing a session speaking with Moore College students here at the [retirement] village last week.
“We received a very nice letter from the Archbishop [Raffel]... and in it he mentioned how grateful he was for Dad’s ‘kind, gracious and prayerful encouragement when he was a student and new ordinand’. Dad saw this work as critical in passing the baton on to the next generation of church leaders.
“He was a man of unshakeable Christian faith, and he remained a steadfast and faithful servant of God to the very end. At a small afternoon tea to celebrate his 90th birthday last year, Dad said, ‘God has been good to me’ and that, ‘Unequivocally, growing faith in Jesus has always been front and centre in my life’.
“He felt certain about what was waiting for him after this life, and he looked forward to God’s new heaven and earth.”
Music, laughs and life scars
Judy Adamson
Tinā
Rated M (coarse language, adult themes)
It’s great when you come across an emotionally satisfying movie that doesn’t fit neatly into a box.
Viewed superficially, Tinā presents as an uplifting story – the familiar trope of achievement and growth despite the odds, with an unlikely heroine to boot. And yes, there are certainly elements of that, but the tale being told here is so much more valuable.
Set in and around the city of Christchurch in New Zealand, the film’s central character is Mareta Percival (Anapela Polataivao), a hardworking schoolteacher who combines music, no nonsense and love in her role at a poor public school. She’s also a support to youth in her local area, who call her Tinā, or “mother”.
However, when her beloved daughter is among the 185 people killed in the infamous 2011 earthquakes, Mareta’s life falls apart, and when we meet her again three years later she is bitter, withdrawn and traumatised. A cross has clearly been taken off her wall at home, and while she drags herself to her Samoan church on Sundays, she sits at the back and won’t meet the pastor’s eyes.
Forced to apply for jobs or risk losing her benefits, Mareta is sent for an interview at a posh private school with the expectation that she will be rejected. She isn’t, because the headmaster appreciates that she is different – highlighted hilariously soon afterwards by her colourful clothes at an assembly where the other teachers are in formal academic attire.
Determined to just turn up and “babysit” the students as their substitute teacher, Mareta’s eye for other people’s skills and needs
soon leads her to start a choir, to give what she can to a group of emotionally wounded teens who desperately need her.
Combining culture and experience, she teaches them to breathe, to listen to and support each other, to grow in maturity and to sing with all their hearts in a profoundly moving way, amid scorn and pushback from a number of quarters.
Importantly, though, this isn’t Sister Act with cutesy characters and a powder-puff happy ending. Sure, there are laughs and successes, but they’re right alongside the scars in people’s lives caused by strained relationships, isolation, family expectations and loss. The troubles that could easily engulf us, too, if our God had not set us high upon a rock.
And to me, that’s the unspoken challenge of Tinā. In our fallen world with its death and sorrow, light and joy, ugliness and beauty, how should we choose to live? Do we face up to what each day brings with wisdom, or do we seek to escape from it? Can we love people, find happiness amid life’s griefs, and use our gifts for others’ betterment and the honour of God?
To be clear, this isn’t a Christian film at all. There’s plenty of bad language, bad choices and disinterest in the things of faith. We are invited in to experience the many points of pain in modern New Zealand society, but not with despair – with hope. And it’s beautiful. Like the students in Mareta’s choir, we realise we can come out the other side of what life brings us singing, “It is Well With My Soul”.
Books for growing hearts and minds
Tara Sing
PRESCHOOL AGE
I Can’t Believe My Eyes! Joshua Cooley & Hannah Green
How do autumn leaves help us understand God? How can kites teach
who God is. Especially when they are presenting me the chance to do so. Young readers will resonate with the simple analogy of the wind as a way of exploring how even the things we cannot see have a profound impact on our lives.
Southern Cross offers a great opportunity for you to get the word out. Online, sydneyanglicans.net gives you even more views. And for job ads, you can have both at a discounted rate.
Contact Matthew Peters ads@anglicanmedia.com.au I certainly hope not. It’s hideous!
I don’t want to share the sun with her.”
While this book doesn’t quite address why God expects my daughter to share the sun, Hey God, can I ask you something? does cover a wide range of questions that young believers might be wondering about.
Written with primary school children in mind, Brad Emery wanted to provide a resource with Bible-based answers that was easy to navigate and visually engaging. From creation, to the trustworthiness of the Bible, to suffering and the resurrection, it’s a great starting place for kids who are beginning to explore their faith for themselves.
It’s great for those who want to equip young people with another place to turn to for biblical guidance and clear explanations of some of the common questions Christians ask. As a mum, cool aunty, godparent and friend, I can think of so many young ones I’d love to give this to.
TEENAGE READERS
The Mythical Life of the Good Christian Girl
Polly Jane Butterworth
Growing up in a Christian home is an amazing privilege, but it does come with its own set of challenges for young people. When everyone in your life expects you to be a certain way because you’re a Christian or have come from a good Christian family, what does that mean for those moments of doubt, temptation, negative feelings and life choices? It can certainly create a lot of pressure!
As a high school chaplain, Polly Butterworth works with teenage girls every day, helping them explore their faith and discover who they are in Jesus. She has written this book for every young Christian girl who has struggled with the feeling that they have a certain image to uphold.
Written with warmth and humour, Butterworth breaks down the different ways that girls can feel inadequate or as though they’re falling short of what a “good Christian girl” should be. She helps them understand the dangers of believing these myths, and uses Bible stories and testimonies to encourage them to rest in and rely on the grace of Jesus rather than their own abilities.
For teen girls with the privilege of growing up in the home of people who love Jesus, this book will ground their faith in the promises of the gospel and help them to be themselves as they find their joy in the Lord. SC
from page 32
different groups involved in the days to come: Roman leaders and soldiers, Pharisees and priests, Passover pilgrims, angry zealots, and the everyday men and women of Jerusalem.
While some might want less chat and more action as the season progresses, the slower pace actually makes it easier for viewers to experience the disciples’ confusion about Jesus, because we’re seeing their lives in context.
They have been with Jesus for the past three years, seen his miracles, heard his teaching and even gone out to spread the word themselves. Days earlier, they experienced the joy of coming with him into Jerusalem, surrounded by crowds that proclaimed him as Lord. This is it! His time has come! But now he’s talking clearly about his death and saying they will abandon him. What on earth?
Jesus’ disciples need constant reminders of who he is and what he really came to do, just as we need to read and reread Scripture to experience its truths afresh. The hymn “Tell me old, old story” says it so well:
Tell me the story slowly,
That I may take it in –
That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin;
Tell me the story often,
For I forget so soon...
Let’s pray that this new season of The Chosen will help even more people to learn the wonder of this good news – that Jesus Christ is indeed Saviour and Lord. SC
Dr Amelia Haines
Dr Amelia Haines
Dr Amelia Haines
Dr Amelia Haines
Dr Amelia Haines
M.B.B.S (Syd), M. Hlth
Sc. (Sexual Health) Grad. Cert. Psychiatric Medicine
M.B.B.S (Syd), M. Hlth Sc. (Sexual Health) Grad. Cert. Psychiatric Medicine
MEDIATOR
MEDIATOR
MENTAL HEALTH, SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP THERAPIST
MENTAL HEALTH, SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP THERAPIST
www.ameliahaines.com.au
www.ameliahaines.com.au
Hosanna to the King
Judy Adamson
The Chosen: Last Supper Episodes 3-5 in cinemas May 10 and 11 only. The complete season available on Prime later in 2025.
People who have been Christian for a long time can sometimes approach Easter with the awkward recognition that well-known Scripture readings around this precious season don’t always have the same impact. Did you feel that this year?
Jesus’ arrest, trial, scourging and death strike at our hearts, but the days leading up to them don’t necessarily leap out at us with the same urgency. Familiarity may not breed contempt, but perhaps a feeling of impatience? We know what’s coming, so let’s get to the main game!
However, the week prior to Jesus’ death on the Cross for us includes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the clearing of the temple courts, the prediction of his coming death, the washing of the disciples’ feet and his last Passover meal with them. There is so much to unpack in these chapters of the gospels that theologians have been pondering them ever since.
We need to think – really think – about what Jesus says and does in this crucial final week of his life, so to have an entire season of The Chosen devoted to it is excellent. There’s also something about seeing this part of Jesus’ story that can challenge and shake us in a profound way. We see his pain, his joy, his distress at people’s unbelief and his unwavering trust in the Father – despite the death he knows is waiting for him.
This is where The Chosen is at its best. Showing our Saviour in his humanity as well as divinity amid the world he inhabits.
Some Christians have reservations about the backstory
provided for characters in the show, or the modern style of discourse often used. Are the makers trying to “add” to Scripture in the way the Bible warns us about? It’s good to consider whether what has been made gives glory to God, and clearly recognises Jesus as Lord and Messiah, which I believe it does. It’s also good to ask whether it seeks to add any barriers to salvation – anything at all apart from faith in Jesus – which I believe it doesn’t.
Yes, flawed and fallible human beings created this series and take part in it, but the desire of the show’s creator Dallas Jenkins is to honour God and provide a rendering of Jesus’ life that is culturally informed and biblical. And although there are, sadly, some fans of the show who look to actor Jonathan Roumie as though he is Jesus, Roumie is quick to tell them that he’s just a man and is only portraying his Lord.
We also know from Scripture that Jesus attended weddings, drank wine, got hungry, thirsty and tired. We know that he slept, and cried, and rejoiced. And we see all those things onscreen, as well as laughter (perish the thought!) and even dancing. He was among us and lived as one of us.
In addition, there are plenty of people who have watched this series and discovered Jesus for the first time, or returned to the faith of their childhoods, which is a great blessing.
Season 5 takes us from Palm Sunday to shortly before Jesus’ arrest, but the narrative isn’t linear. Each episode begins with a different element of the last supper, and the story then pulls in the continued on page 31