The three girls kidnapped from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS) Ikorodu, have regained freedom.
Oluwatimehin Olusa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were abducted from their classroom on Monday night by suspected pipeline vandals.
It was gathered that the girls were rescued at about 9:45am on Sunday by a team led by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.
While the House of Bishops has said that the upcoming vote to allow same-sex marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada is unlikely to get the number of votes it needs from their order, Archbishop Fred Hiltz said it is not a clear-cut division.
When it comes to allowing same-sex marriage, the bishops seem to be thinking “yes,” “no” and “maybe” in roughly equal proportions, Hiltz said. A number of bishops in the Canadian church also have a “holy desire” to consider alternatives to a simple yes-no vote on same-sex marriages, he said. Some have given considerable thought to other alternatives, and these are likely to be the main topic of conversation when the House of Bishops next meets in April, he added.
“The reality in our House [of Bishops]””and I think it’s a reflection of what’s in the church at large””is that, I think, we’ve got about a third of the bishops that would clearly love to see us move, and we’ve got a third that would say no”¦and I think we’ve got a third that are really wrestling. That’s my sense,” Hiltz said. “So clearly you haven’t got a two-thirds either way.” Since a change to the marriage canon is considered a matter of doctrine, it will need the approval of at least two-thirds of three orders””laity, clergy and bishops””at two consecutive General Synods to be passed. The first such vote is slated for this July.
Grace Church Muswell Hill is part of a group of churches journeying together as they seek to equip and commission 100,000 ambassadors representing Jesus Christ in daily life. Philip Sudell, the Vicar of St Mary’s, writes:
“Well it all sounded so clear and coherent in church on Sunday ”“ I knew exactly why trusting in and seeking to follow Jesus was the best thing for me to be doing ”“ but when it came to telling my work colleague on Monday morning somehow the words deserted me, I couldn’t put two sentences together and to cap it all my knees were almost audibly knocking at the thought of how they might react!”
If that rings any bells with you then you are amongst friends at least here at Grace Church in Muswell Hill. When the London Diocese shared its Capital Vision 2020 of being Confident, Compassionate and Creative, the aspect of being “..more confident in speaking and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” was something that really resonated with us and tied into some thinking we had already been doing about how to better equip ourselves to share our faith with friends and family and colleagues.
In a tele-visual message, renowned American evangelist Rick Warren called on African church leaders to seize the current demographic transformation on the continent, and take responsibility to help the church in fulfilling their responsibilities to be part of desired change.
The conference was hosted by Rwanda Purpose Driven/PEACE Pan-an umbrella organisation of Christian churches in Rwanda.
The organisation is supported by Dr. Warren’s US-based Saddleback Church.
Priests should turn their faith into action, turn their statements and beliefs into practical behavior, to see the potential in their people and help them transform their communities, according to Charzan.
Onesphore Rwaje, the archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, said the churches in Rwanda have mastered the art of unity, and have strived to be part of community transformation through engaging in various charitable ventures.
“In Mathew 29:8, the Bible tells us to go into the world, teach the gospel and transform the people socially, physically, morally and spiritually that’s the gospel. We are not yet where we want, but if you move around the communities, you will see there are number of such vivid projects the church in Rwanda has united on to transform the society,” Rwaje said.
The Church of Uganda will boycott the April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka.
In a letter dated 23 February the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev Stanley Ntagali, said comments made by ACC chairman Dr James Tengatenga that the Americans could not be kept away from the meeting, and statements by Episcopal Church leaders that they would pay no heed to the primates’ call that their Church withdraw from pan-Anglican bodies for three years had led inevitably to this outcome. Distrust over the efficacy of American promises of good behaviour were a long standing problem in the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Ntagali said.
He cited the 2003 incident where Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold promised not to consecrate Gene Robinson, an undertaking given at the emergency Primates’ Meeting held at Lambeth Palace, and his decision shortly thereafter to serve as Robinson’s chief consecrator.
Archbishop Sentamu said: “When Jesus was telling his disciples to let the children come to him, he told them that whoever welcomes a child in his name welcomes him. It is both a great responsibility and a great privilege to be involved in the lives of young people. We owe them our very best because in them we encounter the face of Jesus Christ.
“I know this for myself, as my wife Margaret and I fostered two children who have now grown up and we continue to be immensely proud of them.”
The council is currently looking to recruit new foster carers, (who don’t necessarily have to live in the East Riding), particularly for children aged from five to 15.
Councillor Julie Abraham, the council’s portfolio holder for children, young people and education, said: “Our foster carers and their families are exceptional people and we were delighted to be able to talk about their work to the Archbishop, who has a personal understanding of the importance of their role….”
A Clergyman who was the new man in his parish when Harold Macmillan was the new man in No. 10 is looking forward to celebrating 60 years in post.
The Revd James Cocke, who, at 89, is still Vicar of All Saints’, Highfield, in Oxford, celebrated the 59th anniversary of his collation last week. He has ministered to the parish since 23 February 1957, which is thought to make him the longest-serving incumbent in the Church of England.
On Monday, he said that plans were already being prepared to mark the diamond jubilee of his ministry at All Saints’, next February.
The Anglican Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador says the divide over same-sex marriage in the church has as much to do with cultural difference as it does with faith. VOCM Andrew Hawthorn explains.
The First Nations community within the Anglican Church of Canada is not eager to embrace marriage equality.
A heated meeting of the House of Bishops last week ended with the realization that any resolution to allow for same sex unions within the church is not likely to receive the two-thirds majority necessary to pass.
This, following a warning from the global Anglican community to the Canadian church to leave the issue alone.
Bishop Geoff Peddle says cultural difference between First Nations and European-descended bishops was one of the major road blocks.
He says many of the bishops are representing indigenous and first nations communities, and those communities aren’t ready to move forward on marriage equality.
The issue is still headed for debate and a vote this July at the General Synod Meeting in Toronto..
These are lovely–look through them all.
Bishop Ghais Abdel Malek has died at the age of 85 after a period of ill health. From 1984 to 2000 he was Bishop of the Diocese of Egypt and North Africa and from 1996 he was also Primate of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
Ghais Abdel Malek Barsoum was greatly respected and loved as a man of prayer and faithful service. He leaves his widow Fawzia and three children, to whom, as well as to the people of Egypt, Bishop Michael has sent condolences on behalf of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. Mrs Georgia Katsantonis in her capacity as Provincial Secretary and also representing Cyprus and the Gulf, will attend the funeral at All Saints Cathedral, Cairo at 1 p.m. on Saturday 5 March.
Read it all and there is a tribute from Archbishop Mouneer Anis
There have been Christians in Iran since the earliest days of the Church and the indigenous Churches continue as minorities in this predominantly Muslim country. The Anglican presence arose out of missionary work by the Church Missionary Society and the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people.Today there is a small Church which looks to the Bishop for spiritual leadership. The diocesan institutions ”“ schools and hospitals and work among the blind ”“ have gone but the tiny Church persists. Members of the Church need much prayer for strength to witness to their faith and for protection from the opposition. There have been martyrs since the Revolution, and the situation can only really be described, in human terms, as unpredictable.
The Diocese of Iran differs from other dioceses in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East in that it consists purely of congregations of Christians, with no medical, educational or other institutions. They were expropriated, along with institutions run by other Churches, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. So week by week the four congregations in Tehran, Isfahan, Julfa (a suburb of Isfahan) and Shiraz meet for fellowship and worship. Their numbers are not large, but they gather faithfully, supported by prayer, by the pastoral visits made by Bishop Azad, the leadership in Tehran of the Revd Christopher Edgar and others in Isfahan and Shiraz.
The Archbishop of Canterbury sent greetings to His Eminence Silouan, Metropolitan of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, who was enthroned on Saturday 27th February.
The Right Reverend Dr Michael Ipgrave has been named as the new Bishop of Lichfield.
He assumes responsibility for one of the Church of England’s largest dioceses, leading an episcopal team with the Bishops of Wolverhampton, Stafford and Shrewsbury.
Bishop Michael (57), the current Bishop of Woolwich in the Diocese of Southwark, will be the ninety-ninth Bishop of Lichfield, in a line going back to St Chad in the seventh century. He succeeds the Right Reverend Jonathan Gledhill, who retired last year.
Today, Bishop Michael is visiting Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Little Drayton and Lichfield on a tour meeting churches and communities across the Diocese.
In this personal welcome message to the Diocese, Bishop Michael says:
“I’ve had twelve wonderful years in London but I am so looking forward to coming back to the Midlands. Lichfield is the mother church of the Midlands, and the city of St Chad, a man of great humility and profound Christian faith.”
Read it all and the official announcement is here
Nigerian police are hunting for three teenage girls abducted from their boarding school on the outskirts of Lagos city by heavily armed men.
Kidnappings for ransom occasionally occur in Nigeria’s commercial capital, but this is the first time a school in the city has been attacked by gunmen….
Our reporter says the school, linked to the Anglican Church, is one of the best and most expensive in Lagos state and is mostly attended by children of politicians and wealthy individuals.
The world’s deadliest terrorist group is not in the Middle East. It’s in Nigeria, where the Islamist insurgency Boko Haram and other forces killed more than 4,000 Christians in 2015.
That tally was a 62 per cent increase from the previous year, according to Open Doors, a global charity that supports Christians in places where their faith exposes them to government, social or sectarian hostility.
In response, Nigeria’s largest confederation of Christian churches is, for the first time, jointly endorsing a commitment to revive the Church in the country’s north, before it collapses from a decade of violence that has killed thousands of Christians and driven away more than 1 million.
At the same time, the grouping, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has jointly published with Open Doors a detailed study of the violence and its impact. “Crushed but not defeated: The impact of persistent violence on the Church in Northern Nigeria” was scheduled to be released on 24 Feb. in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Read it all and the report Crushed but not Defeated [pdf]
No fewer than three students of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS), Ikorodu have been abducted by gunmen.
It was gathered that the criminals who struck from behind the school, took three girls away at about 8pm on Monday.
Read it all and please pray for their safe return.
At least eight bishops have shown interest in succeeding Anglican Church of Kenya head Eliud Wabukala.
Sources revealed to the Nation that the race to succeed the ACK head was in earnest, with the candidates engaging in extensive lobbying in a bid to lead the church, ahead of the nomination in March and election in May..
Supporting efforts to resettle vulnerable Syrian refugees is part of the Church of England’s mission alongside its work with food banks, street pastors and debt advice services, one its leading bishops says today.
Writing in a blog, Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, says church groups can provide the ‘welcoming flesh on the bones’ to efforts by local authorities and other agencies to resettle vulnerable Syrian refugees.
“We are talking about a careful, realistic, grown-up setting about the task of welcoming Syrian refugees, just people in extreme need with all the complexities and riches of any human being. This is not the church saying ‘look at us being charitable’, but the people of God letting their deeds speak for Him,” he writes.
The Church of England has been urged to fast-track Asian and black church leaders in the same way it has done for women bishops.
The call came at a meeting during General Synod last week at nearby Westminster Central Hall. The day before, Archbishop Welby had said to Synod that British colonial history makes the laying down of edicts by white, middle-class Christians from the Global North a process that is rightly deeply resented.
One former member of Synod, Vasantha Gnanadoss, pointed out that there had been no senior appointment from Black and Asian clergy to episcopal office since 2002.
“In their promotion of the Bill to get women bishops into the House of Lords immediately, the bishops were giving a very high priority to redressing unequal treatment of women clergy. Unequal treatment of black and Asian clergy has been allowed to continue.Read it all.
O almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who hast made the light of thy truth to shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
—Bishop William Walsham How (1823-1897)
..life is about choices”¦ choices made by a society, a family and an individual. This is true also for Madonna. The spirit of Christians and of the Church is not to condemn but to invite, admonish and encourage one another, both as fellow-believers and fellow human beings, to make the right decisions for man’s well-being and for the glory of God.
As hot-button issues continue to surface in every society and every age, pray that the Church and the Christian within her fold will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to take a clear, biblical position, to be bold and humble in posture and to be invitational and winsome in witness to the world that God so loved and continues to love (John 3:16). We make clear our position, we live our lives authentically and we pray fervently (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18) so that God’s life-giving reign will be known in the Church and in the nations..
..For the Singapore leg of her tour on Sunday (May 28), Madonna performed a modified opening segment of her tour, cutting out the songs Iconic, Holy Water and Devil Pray before launching into the second segment. The cut songs are usually performed in the first of four segments of the concert, also known as the Joan of Arc / Samurai section.
The video introduction of the concert was also modified, with the cross-adorned portion of the staves held by dancers removed…
The only thing left of the St. Philip’s Anglican church built in 1894 is a $100,000 bill for its demolition.
The structure, perhaps known best as the church by the sea, was demolished in 2015 after a long and public battle that pitted the Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s town council and even the Anglican diocese against a determined group of people who wanted the place of worship saved. Church by the Sea Inc. is a registered charity, and trying to save the church from demolition largely became its cross to bear.
“When you consider the fact that we were willing and able to accept responsibility for the cost of maintaining the old church, it wouldn’t have cost them anything and yet they’ve spent $100,000 to tear it down,” says Steve Sharpe, president of Church by the Sea Inc.
It has come to our attention that the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (USA) has recently issued a Lenten appeal asking the churches of TEC to remember the Good Friday offering for Jerusalem and the Middle East. In this appeal he said “this tradition [The Good Friday Offering] is decades old and is an important statement of our solidarity with the members of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and Middle East.”
I would like to clarify the fact that the Diocese of Egypt with North of Africa and the Horn of Africa, one of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East does not receive funds or grants from the Good Friday offering of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA. The decision not to receive these funds came after the 2003 decision by TEC to consecrate as bishop a divorced man living in a homosexual relationship. The decision not to receive money from TEC is one expression of the reality that the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa was (and still is) in an impaired relationship with The Episcopal Church.
One of our clergy in Ethiopia states our situation in graphic terms: “We rather starve and not receive money from churches whose actions contradict the scriptures.”
Presiding Bishop Curry wrote in the annual Good Friday letter to all congregations asking them to consider assistance for Jerusalem and the Middle East.
“As you know, each year, every bishop and congregation is encouraged by the Presiding Bishop to participate in the Good Friday Offering. This tradition is decades old and is an important statement of our solidarity with the members of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. We have a Gospel imperative to be sure they know they are not forgotten behind the headlines or because of the distractions in our own lives.
“This year, on this Good Friday, it is my hope and prayer that you will stand with me in prayer and action by promoting the Good Friday Offering among your people. Your leadership in encouraging generosity is important.”
The appointment of Kanishka Raffel as Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney makes him the first non-European to hold the position in the Anglican Church of Australia.
The Very Rev’d Raffel was raised Buddhist and as a student was once a member of the Australian Association of Jewish Studies, but reading the Christian gospel was a life changing experience that set him on the road to the Church….
The debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union reflects a loss of confidence, and is testing the goodwill of other members who are growing frustrated with it, the Bishop in Europe, Dr Robert Innes, said this week.
Speaking on Tuesday, after the Prime Minister’s announcement last Friday that the referendum on EU membership would take place on 23 June, Dr Innes said that he would be “very sad” if the vote favoured Brexit.
“We British inherit a huge stock of goodwill towards us but I am aware that that goodwill is being used up,” Dr Innes said on Wednesday. “At a time when Europe has some huge issues to deal with, people have been a little frustrated that Britain has actually used a huge amount of the time of its leadership in dealing with what seem to some rather small issues that only pertain to one country.”
He was “saddened”, he said, “that the debate seems to reflect a loss of confidence in Britain in dealing with our European compatriots and neighbours. We are a big player. . . I’d like to see us be a leader.”
The priest allegedly sent a report containing evidence of abuse he had discovered to Lord Carey and said that Bishop Ball had agreed to live quietly in a French convent.
Lord Carey has denied any knowledge of a Church- or Establishment-led attempt to cover up the crimes or intervene in the police’s investigation. Ultimately, Bishop Ball was given a caution for one charge of gross indecency and lived for years in a cottage rented from the Duchy of Cornwall, before a second investigation in 2012 revealed the full extent of his crimes.
Dame Moira, who was previously director of social services for the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and then chief executive of Camden Council until 2011, is expected to complete her review in approximately 12 months.
While her review does not have statutory powers to require anyone to give evidence, Dame Moira said that she expected everyone within the Church to co-operate fully. “Our remit is to independently set out for survivors and the public what actually happened,” she said on Wednesday.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, consecrated the new Bishops of Sherborne and Dunwich today during a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
The Ven Karen Gorham was consecrated as the Bishop of Sherborne and the Revd Canon Dr Mike Harrison was consecrated as the Bishop of Dunwich.
The Government of Ghana has been urged to bring its troops home to help fight the threat posed by Boko Haram.
The call came from the Archbishop of Ghana and Primate of West Africa, the Most Rev Daniel Sarfo, who urged the recall of troops serving in overseas peacekeeping missions.