EFAC Australia
Welcome to the EFAC Website
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- Written by: EFAC Aust
Welcome to the EFAC Australia Website!
We are a group of Anglican clergy and lay people who value the evangelical heritage of the Anglican Church, and who endeavour to make a positive, constructive contribution at local, diocesan and national levels. EFAC (Aust) is part of the world-wide Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion .
We are hoping this website will be used to connect members around Australia and keep everyone up to date with what's happening in their state. We have branches in each state plus the ACT and NT, so by clicking on your branch under the tab above, you can find out what is happening in your state. The site will be updated with news and events.
If you have any suggestions for the site please forward them to
Organisational Faithfulness
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- Written by: GREG HAMMOND OAM
It’s the exception that an organisation stays true to its mission.
The natural course - the unfortunate natural evolution of many
originally Christ-centered missions - is to drift.
This statement by Chris Crane, then President and CEO of Edify and a former President and CEO of Opportunity International, is quoted in the recent book, Keeping Faith.[i] Although Chris Crane was speaking from an American context, the secularisation of Christian organisations is a worldwide phenomenon.[ii]
The authors of Keeping Faith further note “We believe that the most important thing that God requires of Christian organisations is faithfulness to the Christian life: expressed in the Bible and modelled by Jesus. This faithfulness is maintained by ensuring an overlap between the ethos (culture, spirit) of an organisation with its Christian identity and the impact that it has.[iii]
Synodically Governed
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- Written by: Timothy Arnold-Moore
Synod is the Parliament of the Anglican Church. The word “synod” comes from the Greek synodos (σύνοδος) – a common way or path.[1] Unlike historic synods, modern Anglican synods, a largely Australian invention, have significant lay representation affirming the priesthood of all believers, and the Westminster tradition of nobility and commoners separately represented.[2] Synods are a powerful tool for oversight, governance and promoting a shared vision for the ministry and mission of the Church. As a human governance construct, it has strengths and weaknesses reflecting our fallen humanity and need for the saving love of Jesus.
A long history but a short one
Synods have been called throughout the Church’s history. Although the specific word is not used in the New Testament, many consider the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 to be the first synod[3] and the archetype for all future synods. Following this example, the purpose of a synod is to resolve disputes[4] and discern together the Holy Spirit’s will for the church.[5] Meetings of mostly clergy often just bishops,[6] referred to as synods and common in the early church, continue in Roman and Eastern churches agreeing on canon,[7] worship practice, and the dates of Easter, [8] and the response to the Reformation. [9] Synods continued in the Church of England as Convocations of Canterbury and York meeting regularly until 1664. [10] Once major doctrinal positions were settled, the English church was largely governed by the monarch and Parliament[11] and clergy synods met more sporadically, often without debate, until their permanent revival in 1966.[12]
The Story of TIMA: Planting New Life in Old Pots
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- Written by: Ben Wong
The Story of TIMA: Planting New Life in Old Pots — The Vision and Practice of "Church Repotting"
In Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, there is a developing Anglican parish — TIMA Anglican Parish. TIMA is composed of three churches: St Timothy’s Bulleen, St Mark’s Templestowe Lower, and St Stephen’s Greythorn. Across three locations and five services (two English, two Mandarin, and one Cantonese), congregants of different languages and generations are being reconnected under a single vision: not to give up on traditional churches, but to replant the "new life" of the Gospel mission within the "old pots" of existing churches.
I. BACKGROUND: WHEN ANGLICAN CHURCHES FACE DECLINE, IS "CLOSING DOWN" THE ONLY OPTION?
Over a decade ago, God began to show Ben Wong and a small team of coworkers a clear reality: many traditional local churches were facing structural dilemmas. This was not a problem unique to a single site, but a widespread phenomenon.
Book Review: Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand
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- Written by: Peter MacPherson
Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand.
Andrew Atherstone
Hodder & Stoughton, 2023
Reviewed by Peter Macpherson
This is an easily readable account of Alpha’s origins and development over the past thirty years. The title might suggest it is a polemic but in essence it is a history. Andrew Atherstone, after all, is a serious ecclesiastical historian. He is Professor of Modern Anglicanism, Tutor in History and Doctrine at Oxford University and Latimer Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall. He lists his major research interests as “Anglicanism and Evangelicalism between the 18th and 21st centuries.” Although this is not a long book it concludes with 53 pages of endnotes, detailing Atherstone’s reliance on archives, diaries, interviews and parish magazines.
Alpha began in the late 1970s as an in-house discipleship course at an Anglican church in London called Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). It was described as “a course on Christian foundations … designed to help those who want to go on in the Christian life” and had six sessions. The curate, Charles Marnham, ran the course in his flat above the church hall and food was provided because those attending were often coming straight from work.
Read more: Book Review: Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand
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