The Difference between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists

By Roger Steer
A VOL Exclusive
www.virtueonline.org
November 13, 2009

This exclusive article comes from Roger Steer author of the newly published "Inside Story", a biographical look at the life of preacher/teacher John Stott. It did not make the cut in Mr. Steer's book and so it is being offered exclusively to VOL's readers.

If you would like to purchase Roger Steer's book on Dr. Stott you can do so by clicking here http://tinyurl.com/yju5yxk

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Anglicans focus on home, and Rome

By Trevor Timpson
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8340022.stm
November 13, 2009

New rules on admission to the Roman Catholic Church have been hailed by some discontented Anglicans as an answer to their prayers. But not by all.

Anglicans in Sevenoaks, Kent, have given mixed reactions to the Apostolic Constitution published by the Vatican.

Since the Church of England first ordained women priests in the 1990s several hundred Anglicans have taken the road to Rome; many married Anglican priests have been ordained in the Roman Catholic church.

LONDON: Archbishop Williams warns aid agencies over faith groups

By Riazat Butt
The Guardian
http://www.news-hub.eu/2009/11/archbishop-warns-aid-agencies-over-faith-groups/
November 12, 2009

Rowan Williams says 'aggressive conservatism' has caused suspicion of religious groups' motives in developing countries

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned aid agencies about the "perfectly real" dangers of working with faith-based activists and groups in developing countries. Dr Rowan Williams encouraged secular agencies and NGOs to maintain a "steady vigilance about proselytism, manipulative use of favours, exclusive focus on people of the same faith and other practices that distort the goals of liberation for a whole community".

Charles Simeon: Evangelical Mentor and Model

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/pastorsandpreachers/simeon.html
November 2009

"On the Wednesday of Holy Week began a hope of mercy. On the Thursday, that hope increased. On ... Easter Day ... I awoke with these words upon my heart and lips: Jesus Christ is risen today, halleluja, halleluja."

Though he became a model for modern figures like John Stott, Charles Simeon started his life in Cambridge as anything but a model.

In 1779, the young Simeon, from an aristocratic family, came to Kings College, Cambridge, to study, and he was told that he must attend chapel on Easter Day to receive Communion. Simeon's main interests to this point had been horses, games, and fashion. He considered that "Satan himself was as fit to attend [the sacrament] as I." Still, he sought hard to see how he might sort out his conscience. He began to read the Scriptures and various devotional books.

ST. CATHARINES, ON: Invite from Rome 'offensive,' says Anglican bishop
Head of conservative Anglican group critical of Pope's message, but some lay members warm to the idea

By Stuart Laidlaw Faith and Ethics Reporter
The Star
http://tinyurl.com/yl4kf4j
November 12, 2009

An invitation from Rome to join the Catholic Church is "offensive in the extreme," the head of a breakaway group of Canadian Anglicans says.

"Apart from being an intrusion at the very highest levels of one major church into the internal affairs of another, under the guise of being ecumenical, this invitation offers very little that is new," Bishop Don Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, told the group's annual synod Thursday morning.

American Muslim Terrorists

By Mike McManus
November 11, 2009

Two American Muslim terrorists are in the news. John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday for killing 10 people in Metro Washington in 2002. Last week Army Major Nidal M. Hassan killed 13 people and wounded 31 in Fort Hood, TX.

Muhammad expressed no remorse for his wanton killings. His accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, then 17, hid in the trunk of a car, and fired a stolen .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle at indiscriminate random targets: someone buying gas or sitting at a bus stop. Malvo was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

The killings of Hassan were particularly malevolent and traitorous. An Army Major sworn to protect the United States, deliberately killed U.S. soldiers being processed to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. Every soldier was a volunteer, putting his life on the line for others. One signed up for the most dangerous duty - defusing bombs, the major killer of U.S. troops.

Archbishop Rowan Williams: "God knows what the future holds"

by Ruth Gledhill
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/11/archbishop-rowan-god-knows-what-the-future-holds.html
November 12, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury has pleaded with the Church of England's Catholic Anglicans to remain in communion with Canterbury and resist joining the Pope's new Anglican Ordinariate. He referred to the 'chaotic and uncertain' future of the Anglican Communion but insisted that it was still possible to be holy, Catholic and Anglican.

Preaching at All Saints Margaret Street on All Saints' Day in a sermon just released to me today, Dr Rowan Williams made reverent reference to the relics of St Therese.

He said it was possible 'to lead lives of Catholic holiness even in the Communion of the See of Canterbury.'

He continued: 'God knows what the future holds for any of us for any of our ecclesiastical institutions, but we can at least begin with what we can be sure of; that God has graced us with the lives of Saints; that God has been credible in this fellowship with these people.'

Episcopal Church Dioceses All over the Map on Rites for Same-Sex Blessings

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
November 12, 2009

The Episcopal Church's 100 domestic dioceses are unevenly divided over whether or not they will allow rites for same-sex blessings to occur in their dioceses following the passage of Resolution C056 at General Convention last summer.

In 2003 General Convention passed resolution C051 which recognizes that "local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions." The 2006 General Convention defeated a resolution that would have implemented a moratorium on rites for blessing same-sex unions.

By GC2009 the moral landscape had shifted even further to the left. Bishops and deputies passed Resolution C056 which called for collecting and developing theological and liturgical resources and design liturgies and to report to the 77th General Convention for further action.

Free Speech Clause in U.K. Gay Hate Crimes Bill Defeated in House of Commons

By Hilary White

WESTMINSTER, November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - MPs have voted down a proposal that would have ensured that Christians in the UK retained the freedom to criticise homosexual activity in the country under a proposed hate crimes bill. A free speech amendment in the proposed hate crimes legislation was rejected 342 votes to 145 by MPs on Monday night.

The defeated amendment, proposed by Lord David Waddington, reads, "For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred."

In the proposed bill the offense of "stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation" carries a sentence of up to seven years' imprisonment. Government ministers contend that the clause is unnecessary.

VATICAN: Pope 'is not trying to lure Anglicans into the Catholic Church'

By Nick Pisa in Rome
http://tinyurl.com/yg2xp9v
Nov. 10, 2009

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's official spokesman, spoke out following the recent announcement that the Pontiff would allow traditional Anglicans to "move to Rome" - which was seen as a possible shift in policy on the celibacy of priests.

In the Roman Catholic Church, priests are not allowed to marry or have sexual intercourse and Father Lombardi made his comments after the Vatican published a guide for Anglicans who want to convert called "The Apostolic Constitution".

LOS ANGELES: First Pakistani woman priest ordained

By Pat McCaughan,
November 09, 2009
[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Dr. Khushnud Mussarat Azariah shattered another barrier on Nov. 8 when, by way of the Diocese of Los Angeles, she became the first Pakistani woman ordained to the priesthood.

Azariah hoped her "miraculous" day sent a powerful message to women back home.

"Ever since I was a young child, I have felt God had a special calling for me but I was told there was no place for me in the church," said Azariah, 60. "This day is a miracle. I never knew this day would ever come. I always prayed to God that one day the Church of Pakistan would ordain women," she added tearfully.

Pope's historic offer creates an Anglican tradition within the Catholic Church

By Damian Thompson
http://tinyurl.com/yjzxpz3
November 9th, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans wishing to convert, published today, has surprised everyone by the scope of its ambitions and its extraordinary tributes to Anglican spirituality, elements of which the Pope believes will greatly enrich the Catholic Church. There is a sense in which Rome is recognising, for the first time, that you can be Anglican and Roman Catholic.

The immediate reaction from Forward in Faith has been very positive indeed. Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham said this morning: "I had thought the original notice from Rome was extremely generous. Today all the accompanying papers have been published and they are extremely impressive."

FT. WORTH, Tx: Church Schism Paves Way for Female Priests

By STEPHANIE SIMON
The Wall Street Journal
http://tinyurl.com/ydk76pc
November 10, 2009

For three decades, a succession of conservative bishops here barred women from being ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church.

But the conservatives went their own way last fall, forming the Anglican Church in North America. And so on Sunday, exactly one year after that schism, Susan Slaughter will become the first woman in the Episcopal Church's Forth Worth diocese to don a red stole for ordination to the priesthood.

I won't say I told you so

by Robert Hart
November 11, 2009

Looking at the actual words of the Constitution for former Anglicans, we see that Rome has actually offered nothing at all, that is, nothing except the long standing offer that has always existed: You may "convert" and join their church. You will have to renounce much, start over, and trust fully that their leadership will do right by you, and your children. In short, it is clear from the accuracy of our foresight (or perhaps, our information), that The Continuum blog, with some of my essays posted here as well, has been right all along.

Generally, I am known for writing on issues of theology; but, we have from Monday's (Nov. 9) news also the real life consequences of good or bad polity to consider. Earlier, I pointed out that Rome has not earned the right to expect trust. I have been criticized heavily as meaner than Mean Mr. Mustard himself (who "always shouts out something obscene"). I would have preferred to see evidence that my critics know how to think rather than merely reacting with undue emotion. But this is not about who can be nice and sound sweet (if not sugar-coated), and appeal to warm and fuzzy emotions. This is about the life or death of what we have sought to Continue since the big 1977 meeting in St. Louis. What kind of Christianity will we provide for our children, and, in general, to the next generation?

UK: A cautionary tale from a once flourishing Evangelical parish in an English Diocese

www.anglican-mainstream.net
November 11th, 2009

In this parish there is deep unhappiness at the way in which their new incumbent - a member of a pro-gay campaigning group - has been appointed. This personal account sent to Anglican Mainstream by a senior parishioner has been anonymised. Let it serve as a warning to us all and an encouragement to vigilance in defence of Biblical values [Ed.]

As you have asked I will let you have an account of what has happened at in our parish lately . . .

The new vicar was inducted by the Bishop of . . . on Sunday. The representative of the patrons did not attend and had informed the new vicar that he was unhappy with his appointment.