General
National Evangelical Anglican Conference 2024
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
National Evangelical Anglican Conference 2024
I’m writing to actively encourage you to come to the EFAC Australia Conference in late April this year in Sydney. We’ve billed it as Recharge, Refresh, Renew. We hope those who come will go home feeling inspired as well as refreshed in ministry. It’s been a tough few years for all who lead and many people are in need of encouragement and inspiration. Evangelicalism within the Anglican Church of Australia is continuing to extend and grow and there is much to be excited about, in the midst of the many challenges.
Our Bible Study leader is Rev Charlie Skrine, Rector of All Souls Langham Place. Charlie is a fine preacher and will bring the perspective of someone leading in a challenging context in the midst of the current turmoil in the Church of England. Archbishop Kanishka Raffel as President of EFAC will open the conference by sharing with us the challenges they are facing in his own Diocese.
You’ll discover what is distinctive about Gospel Leadership with Rev Adam Lowe; Jeri Sparks Jones will encourage you with Gospel Optimism for Young Adults; and you’ll learn about Wellness and Mental Health in our community and how we can respond from Valerie Ling. You will also be able to connect and learn from other people in your areas of ministry. There will be streams for everyone from rectors to youth workers, to key lay leaders and more.
If you want to be refreshed, recharged and renewed you can join us in Sydney on April 30th to May 2nd.
Stephen Hale
Chair EFAC Australia
Audio and video recordings from the conference can be found on the Events/National Conferences tab
Editorial Summer 2023
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- Written by: Gavin Perkins
Training and equipping Christian ministers, workers, and the church is the endeavour of the whole of the church working together. From ministers to expound scriptures and pastorally care for their congregations, mentors to come alongside and together with sisters and brothers in all stages of life, and those extra-congregational and para- church groups and organisations who support the building up of local churches and mission.
However, in this ecosystem the work of theological colleges is often shrouded in mystery, either seen as some hallowed ivory tower or a strange realm far removed from the realities of the local church. Indeed, at times there has been significant distrust of theological colleges for these very reasons.
Yet the work of theological colleges is important on two fronts, and neither are of the chalk and talk variety. First, the work of theological education helps our churches to see the breadth of God’s mission for His world, across the scope of human history and through the various means He engages through the church. Second, as a third space outside of the local church it draws together members of local churches to gather around a shared goal of understanding God better. Both of these —amongst many more—aim to keep us from myopia and also from the challenges of hubris.
This edition of Essentials aims to peel back the curtain somewhat, to reveal the great scope of theological education around our world.
Unfortunately—and ironically—the length of this issue is slightly shorter than normal, owing to an eleventh hour withdrawal of one article, due to a very sad situation in a theological college which only reinforces the distrust of these institutions.
Nevertheless, those articles that remain serve to lift our eyes to the scope of God’s work in theological education.
Rev Dr Christopher Porter, Melbourne Editor
Editorial Spring 2023
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- Written by: Gavin Perkins
The theme of this edition of Essentials is evangelism.
The consensus in our context, as observed by Julie-anne Laird, is that when it comes to evangelism things are not going well. It is into that space that we seek to provide some encouragement, inspiration, and hopefully several ways forward.
There are many tasks and projects with which we can keep ourselves busy that are far easier than evangelism, and in the contested space of the post-Christendom West it is an ever-present temptation to focus on those easier things. However, to do so would be to lose sight of the glorious commission given us by Christ.
In this edition Peter Jensen’s article on GAFCON does far more than rehearse the story of a movement, it is a call and a challenge to all evangelical Anglicans to keep gospel mission at the heart of what we do.
Editorial - Winter 2023
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
For evangelicals preaching is at the heart of our ministry. We’re either recipients of preaching (good and not so good) or we’re preachers who strive to do it week in and week out. We all know good preaching when we experience it, and we can all point to moments in our lives when the preaching touched our hearts and changed our lives. Preaching is at the heart of our weekly gatherings.
In this edition of EFAC Essentials we are focussed on preaching. Two of our most esteemed and experienced preachers give us a sense of where we are up to in terms of preaching (Raiter and Adam). Tracy Lauersen offers a great insight into how she prepares to preach. Tim Johnson outlines how to plan the annual preaching program. Paul Barker has an interesting insight into the Bishop as preacher. Lynda Johnson paints a brilliant picture of the love hate relationship with preaching that we preachers can have. We love doing it but find the preparation and writing a weekly challenge.
As a bonus we have included the address of Bishop Keith Sinclair to the recent GAFCON conference in Kigali.
I hope you find these articles inspiring and challenging.
Editorial Autumn 2023
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- Written by: Mark Simon
The 2021 Australian Census revealed a marked decline in Anglican affiliation in the national population, from 3.1 million in 2016 to 2.5 million in 2021. This was the largest drop in number of all religious denominations. The census also revealed the average age of an Anglican in Australia was 56 (verses the average of 47 for all Christian denominations). These statistics brutally illustrate the challenge the Anglican church is facing. If we don’t revitalise existing churches as well as plant new churches, we will have an ever-diminishing presence in our community, with a consequent diminished capacity to engage in our mission of proclaiming the gospel and equipping believers to grow in faith and in service. I know from personal experience some of the challenges church leaders face when endeavouring to revitalise their church: overstretched volunteers, budget limits, uncertainty as to which program or strategy to adopt, and ever-increasing administrative and compliance demands on clergy and lay leaders. Despite these obstacles, God is at work renewing his church, and this edition of Essentials brings together wisdom and experience from around Australia to reflect on church revitalisation.
We hear from Bishop Stephen Hale about ‘The Great Collapse’ – the impending closure of numerous unviable churches across Australia, with some straight-forward suggestions for diocesan action. Rod Morris, a Church Revitalisation Consultant with City to City Australia, shares his learnings from the first year in that role. We read an encouraging case study of church renewal from Tasmania where the parish of Circular Head, led by Joel Nankervis, has gone from 20 regulars to over 70 regular weekly attenders in six years. Brian Holden shares reflections from a group of youth leaders following their road trip to learn from Queensland churches with vibrant youth and children’s ministries. Evan Englezos interviews Jackson King (Robina Anglican Church) to discover how digital technologies enable revitalisation and can expand our ministry reach. Tim Johnson shares a Bible study on Ephesians 2:21-22, highlighting how Paul’s description of the church as temple speaks to our identity, God’s presence and God’s purposes in us. I review a number of books related to church revitalisation – one concerning vision, another on prayer, another that provides an evaluation of which strategies have been most effective in the UK, and a few classic approaches (NCLS, NCD and Mission-Minded). Finally, Graham Stanton recommends two books to strengthen youth and children’s ministry. May you find this edition fruitful reading!