In the gloom of a hilltop cave in Nigeria where she was held captive, Hajja had a knife pressed to her throat by a man who gave her a choice – convert to Islam or die.

Two gunmen from Boko Haram had seized the Christian teenager in July as she picked corn near her village in the Gwoza hills, a remote part of northeastern Nigeria where a six-month-old government offensive is struggling to contain an insurgency by the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group.

In a new development, Boko Haram is abducting Christian women whom it converts to Islam on pain of death and then forces into “marriage” with fighters – a tactic that recalls Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in the jungles of Uganda.

Read it all.

No one much cares what the Church of England says about sex. That includes most churchgoers. But those who play a part in deciding its line on such things mind more than enough to make up for the rest. All the same, after a mere 20 years, sometime on Wednesday afternoon, the Church of England will almost certainly set in motion the process for appointing women bishops.

In less than a year in office, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has defused an existential crisis. It is a notable success, but it is unlikely that the conservative wing of the church will abandon its opposition to modernisation merely because it has been defeated. In their long defence of the last bastion, traditionalist groups have developed a political expertise that Bismarck would have admired. But they have also got too sharp for their own good. In defence of their version of doctrinal purity, this time last year they overplayed their hand. They narrowly defeated a tortuous compromise that would have left women as second-rank bishops with only limited authority, and thus provoked a crisis on such a scale that it seemed parliament might step in and force the church into submission. The proposals that synod will consider on Wednesday are the direct result of a really nasty shock to the system that no one is quite ready to risk again.

Read it all.

..So, what do we see?

1.Essentially a single-clause Measure. The draft Measure contains a principal clause making it legal for the Synod to legislate by canon to enable women to be ordained as bishops and priests
…
The Canons of the Church of England will, however, now contain a new Canon C 29. This places a new duty on the House of Bishops to make Regulations (to be approved by a two-thirds majority of each House of General Synod) for “the resolution of disputes arising from the arrangements for which the House of Bishops’ declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests makes provision”. This assumes, therefore, that the House of Bishops will have made such a declaration.
4.Annexed to the full report of the steering committee are:
â– a draft declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests that the House of Bishops could make; and
â– a set of draft regulations for a system for resolving disputes, introducing an “Independent Reviewer” ”“ rather like an ombudsman.
……
The draft declaration sets down a process whereby the ministry of women priests and bishops may be declined. The only body competent to make such a request would be a PCC (cathedrals would not be able to decline the ministry of women priests or bishops). A PCC (and there is provision to make sure that it is a majority vote of the PCC and that the meeting is properly constituted) may pass a resolution requesting alternative episcopal and priestly ministry. The Bishop is then required to arrange such ministry. If there is a dispute as to whether and how that ministry is arranged the PCC will be able to ask for a review of arrangements by the newly created “Independent Reviewer”. This person will act rather like an ombudsman in the public sector: he or she will be empowered to investigate (and to initiate investigations on his or her own authority) and to recommend courses of action that are then sent to the parties concerned and published.

And what do we not see?

The report makes clear that there are different reasons that will prompt a PCC to request “arrangements”. Paragraph 22 of the draft declaration states that the House of Bishops “will provide guidance for bishops and parishes” to help bishops, patrons and PCCs hold conversations to “achieve an outcome that does not conflict with the nature of the conviction on this issue underlying the PCC’s resolution”.

It is not clear what form this guidance will take. There is an aspiration for consistent practice throughout the country (paras 16 and 27) but there is no mention of the scope or limits of such “theological conviction”.

To take some examples of issues that will need clarification:

â– would a parish be able to insist on oversight from a male bishop who shared its stance on male headship?
â– would a parish be able to reject the ministry of a priest or bishop who did not accept the ministry of women?
â– would a PCC be able to insist on limiting sacramental ministry in that parish to male priests ordained by male bishops, or, to go one step further, ordained by male bishops in whose consecration female bishops had not taken part?
â– if it is practically impossible to provide ministry that takes into account all the convictions of a particular parish, what will be the threshold at which the Independent Reviewer would reasonably entertain a grievance?…….

Read it all carefully

Members of a Roman Catholic order are to take up residence in Lambeth Palace in a move not seen since the Reformation, the Church of England has announced.

The four members of Chemin Neuf, an order founded in France, a married Anglican couple, a Lutheran training for the ministry and a Roman Catholic sister ”“ will live at Lambeth Palace (above), the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, from January.

The group will work on ecumenical and international affairs and will share in the ”˜daily round’ of prayer at Lambeth Palace, it was announced.

Read it all.

The Anglican church’s first female bishop has described the announcement of her historical appointment as “messy” after it was brought forth at the same time a royal commission focused on her new diocese.

The Reverend Dr Sarah Macneil, 58, was elected unanimously as the 11th bishop of the Anglican diocese of Grafton.

Her appointment was announced at church services on Sunday, a day before the Anglican church and Grafton diocese appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Read it all.

The United Methodist Church’s division over homosexuality grew heated Friday (Nov. 15), as the denomination’s Council of Bishops called for charging retired Bishop Melvin Talbert with presiding at the Oct. 26 wedding of two men, which the church forbids.

The council asked its president, Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, and Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference, to file a complaint accusing Talbert of undermining the ministry of a colleague and conducting a ceremony to celebrate the wedding of a same-gender couple at Covenant Community United Church of Christ in Center Point, Ala.

Talbert, who served as bishop of the San Francisco area, ignored a request not to perform the ceremony. He has said in the past that the church’s position on homosexuality “is wrong and evil ”¦ it no longer calls for our obedience.”

Read it all.

Youth leaders must be able to speak God’s truth into the given circumstances of a student’s life. If you’re ready, this can occur spontaneously while riding in a car, playing Settlers of Catan, or taking part in a service project. No formulas. Just two people listening and responding to one another, their stories made sense through his.

Of course, there’s no shortage of helpful methods for learning Scripture. One that’s shaped me personally is regular group meditation. By “meditation” I mean part rote memorization (chapter and verse) and part prayerful imagination. Beginning on my own, I like to prayerfully consider a cluster of verses based around a particular biblical topic””say, the church.1 Over a week or so, a brief conversational narrative begins to form in my mind that sufficiently explains the topic in a way that’s both orthodox and also unique to my personality. My primary purpose is to know God better through his text, then to share it with others doing the same thing. Once I can distill from a cloud of ideas one or two pithy thesis-like statements, I know I’ve spent transformative time with his Word and am ready to share and discuss with my leader friends.

Sharing is as an act of fellowship. It encourages accountability to the task and is an opportunity to learn from others. As I’m shaped by my time in Scripture, I’m sustained in the valley, and my functional trust in Scripture increases. When we experience and model rich biblical thinking, the incomparable wisdom and power of God’s truth is made apparent not only to ourselves, but to others as well.

Read it all.

Wednesday: In the morning The Women Bishops Steering Committee Report has been accepted and in the afternoon the procedure for revision of draft legislation in full Synod was approved

After that Proposals to change the system of election of lay members of Synod were debated and the motion as amended was carried with the removal of the scheme to create an electoral college.
This post will be updated regularly
The Church of England General Synod took place between Monday November 18th and Wednesday November 20th in Church House, London

Some links to audio recordings are here During Synod live streaming was provided here It is not clear if video recordings of the debates will be made available

Some information: Press Release, Agenda, Papers, Daily Reports from the Media Office and

Twitter: #synod and it may be worth following: @CofEgensyn, CofE
WEDNESDAY

Morning
Women Bishops debate
Report of morning business
Order Paper for morning business

Debate of the Report of the Steering Committee for the draft Legislation on Women in the Episcopate [GS 1924] [audio of the debate is available here]

The Bishop of Rochester (Chair of the Steering Committee) moved the motion [Report]

Synod passed the following motion [378 votes for; 8 against; 25 abstained]:
That this Synod, welcoming the package of proposals in GS 1924 and the statement of principles endorsed by the House of Bishops at paragraph 12 of GS 1886, invite the House of Bishops to bring to the Synod for consultation in February a draft declaration and proposals for a mandatory disputes resolution procedure which build on the agreement reached by the Steering Committee as a result of its facilitated discussions.

Afternoon
Women Bishops debate continued
Report of afternoon business

Report: “In its afternoon session, the Synod also voted to progress the legislation to its next legislative stage of revision at its next meeting in February.

As a result of the votes carried today, Synod has agreed to dispense with the normal Revision Committee process and move straight to revision in full Synod which next meets in February 2014, thereby clearing the way for a possible vote on final approval later in 2014.”

Responses after the votes from: The Catholic Group in Synod, Archbishop of Canterbury

THE WORK OF THE ELECTIONS REVIEW GROUP:
ELECTORATE FOR THE HOUSE OF LAITY AND ONLINE ELECTIONS: SECOND REPORT BY THE BUSINESS COMMITTEE (GS 1906)
Resumed debate
Debate was resumed on the motion:
12. ”˜That this Synod request legislative proposals to be brought forward to:
(a) establish an electoral college for elections by the laity to the General Synod and diocesan synods;
(b) make provision by 2020 for elections to the General Synod to be undertaken online; and
(c) make provision by 2015 for nominations for elections to the General Synod to be undertaken by email.’
moved by the Ven. Julian Henderson at the July 2013 group of sessions.

The motion [as amended to remove (a) the establishment of an Electoral College] was carried on a show of hands

Farewells

Prorogation

[MONDAY and TUESDAY – see below]

WOMEN BISHOPS
As far as the Elves understand it: The proposal being brought forward is what Synod approved in July should be considered by the Steering Committee which was formed, to draft, based on Option 1, a measure and amending canon to make it lawful for women to become bishops, and the repeal of the statutory rights to pass Resolutions A and B under the 1993 Measure, plus the rescinding of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod [right to oversight from a ‘flying bishop’ etc]

There is a summary from Law and Religion here of the key Steering Committee’s report [GS 1924] which attaches at Appendices A and B a draft declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests that the House of Bishops could make; and a set of draft regulations for a system for resolving disputes, introducing an “Independent Reviewer.”

Following on from that there is the draft Measure [GS 1925], and Amending Canon 33 [GS 1926] and what is termed an Explanatory Memorandum [GS 1925-6x all of which which will be the subject of closed discussion on Tuesday morning and debate on Wednesday. At this stage only a simple majority of Synod will be required for the matter to go forward to the Revision stage by a future Synod although in order to pass the final measure will still require to pass with a 2/3 majority in each of the three houses of bishops, clergy and laity. According to a House of Bishops Statement in May, if it proceeds final approval could take place in 2014 according to the Steering Committee Report which also thanks Canon David Porter for his role in facilitating conversations among the Steering Committee.

Papers:

Women in the Episcopate: Statement from the Archbishops
GS 1924 – Report of the Steering Committee for the Draft Legislation on Women in the Episcopate [item 11]
GS 1925 – Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure [item 503-504]
GS 1926 – Draft Amending Canon No.33 [item 505-506]
GS 1925-6x – Explanatory Memorandum [item 503-506]

Reform Statement, Forward in Faith Statements and

more links to follow

TUESDAY
Order Paper

Morning
Report of morning business

8am Communion
9:15am – 11:30 am Indaba – Women Bishops groups with a member of the Steering Committee each – no eavesdroppers
11:45am – Legislation: Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction

Afternoon
Report of afternoon business
The Archbishop of York’s Presidential Address [audio]
Legislation: Church Schools, Ecclesiastical Property; Vacancy in See Committees
Standing Orders Committee Report

The London Diocesan Synod Motion to review working of General Synod and consider non ‘Parliamentary Model’ alternatives, [presumably more Indaba].was lost on a show of hands [Report]

MONDAY
See report on Monday’s business now available and a report from the floor by Stephen Lynas – Bathwellschap. This is the first year that audio of debates has not been available, though some speeches from officials are available here
Order of Business

Archbishop Justin’s presentation to the General Synod [audio]

A Motion on Intentional Evangelism was carried on a show of hands [Report]:

CHALLENGES FOR THE QUINQUENNIUM: INTENTIONAL EVANGELISM (GS 1917)

As passed: That this Synod in the light of the priority of evangelism and making new disciples:
(a) support the formation of an Archbishops’ Task Group on Evangelism with the terms of reference and timetable as set out in GS 1917 and urge that its membership include:
(i) staff of Anglican home mission agencies with expertise in helping local churches engage in effective evangelism and disciple-making, and
(ii) those with a proven record in those disciplines at local level;
(b) call upon the Task Group to make its first priority a new call to prayer;
(c) commend to the Task Group an initial programme for its work around the seven disciplines of evangelisation as set out in the same paper;
(d) call upon every diocesan and deanery synod and every PCC to spend the bulk of one meeting annually and some part of every meeting focusing on sharing experiences and initiatives for making new disciples; and
(e) urge every local church in 2014 prayerfully to try at least one new way, appropriate to their local context, of seeking to make new disciples of Jesus Christ.

Introduction by the Archbishop of York

Various incomprehensible legislation [to listeners] has been considered

Questions [here] were answered – including on the Pilling Report to the House of Bishops at Qu’s 39-47 – Thinking Anglicans have a record of Archbishop Welby’s answers on Pilling here and there is now audio of the Question and Answer session here [mp3]

Women Bishops: The Bishop of Rochester gave a presentation on Women in the Episcopate {audio]
[Note: There will be small group Indaba-daba-doo on Tuesday morning and the debate will be on Wednesday]

The Empowered21 Next Gen Youth Leaders Network (NGYN21) hosted a summit comprised of youth leaders from around the globe. The youth leaders discussed topics such as Spirit-empowered living in the 21st century, the impact of the Holy Spirit on discipleship and developing young Spirit-empowered disciples in the ministry.

“We seem to think there is a different method used in other countries,” said Christ for All Nations President Daniel Kolenda. “The gospel works with humanity and all cultures. We were created to receive it. Just preach its simplicity and let the Holy Spirit do the drawing. God is going to give our generation a message that is so old, they think it is new. The hub is the gospel of salvation; the other spokes will align.”

Read it all.

”˜I’m very optimistic about the future of cinema,” says Serge Toubiana, the director of the Cinematheque Francaise, sitting in the library at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

Toubiana was in Israel last week, a guest of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary.

While Toubiana’s formal title certainly sounds impressive enough to the casual observer, the fact is that Toubiana could be called the King of Cinema.

The Cinematheque Francaise is the mecca for film lovers worldwide.

Read it all.

Four years later, of course, Jeremy Lin is a brand name and a phenomenon, having burst into fame with the Knicks last year and gone on to a lucrative free-agent contract with the Houston Rockets. Just the other night, he put up 21 points at Madison Square Garden in a victory over his former team.

As for the documentary, “Linsanity” has been shown on the festival circuit and in art houses, and is now moving into the download and DVD part of its cinematic life. At one level, the film is a quintessential saga of sporting triumph, with Lin as the perpetual underdog who defies every doubter and conquers every challenge to achieve his dream.

In a deeper way, though, “Linsanity” brings to a mass audience not just an Asian-American sports star, but an Asian-American Christian. The film shows Lin not only tossing in three-pointers and piercing down the lane, but also repeatedly speaking of divine direction, divine intercession, divine will.

Read it all.

A major discussion centred on the Church of Nigeria’s opposition to what it considers concessions made in the Church of England to same-sex relationships, and the different cultural contexts of Nigeria and the UK. The Primate spoke with candour, emphasising that ripples of decisions made by the Church of England were felt strongly in Nigeria, often drawing criticism to the Anglican Church of Nigeria from other Nigerian denominations and faiths seeking to claim moral high ground.

In response, Bishop Christopher clarified the Church of England’s unchanged position on marriage, and asked for prayer as the General Synod continues its thinking on women bishops and human sexuality in the coming years. He also pledged prayer, particularly for Christian communities coming under increasing attack from militant Islamist groups in the north of Nigeria.

Read it all.

Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan flocked to ruined churches on Sunday, kneeling in prayer under torn roofs as the Philippines faced an enormous rebuilding task from the storm that killed at least 3,681 people and displaced 4 million.

At Santo Niño Church, near the waterfront in the flattened city of Tacloban, birds flitted between the rafters overhead as women moved through the pews with collection plates. At the end of mass, the Roman Catholic congregation broke into applause.

Rosario Capidos, 55, sat crying in one row, hugging her nine-year-old grandson, Cyrich.

Read it all.

O God of peace, by whose grace the abbess Hilda was endowed with gifts of justice, prudence, and strength to rule as a wise mother over the nuns and monks of her household, and to become a trusted and reconciling friend to leaders of the Church: Give us the grace to respect and love our fellow Christians with whom we disagree, that our common life may be enriched and thy gracious will be done, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

O God, who art nigh to all them that call upon thee in truth; who art thyself the Truth, whom to know is life eternal: Instruct us with thy divine wisdom, and teach us thy law; that we may know the truth and walk in it; through him in whom the truth was made manifest, even Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.

–from the thought of Saint Augustine

I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations. For thy steadfast love was established for ever, thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.

–Psalm 89:1-2

The Bishop of North West Australia has warned that if the state or federal governments legalize same-sex marriage, Anglican clergy in his diocese would no longer serve as marriage registrars.

The statement by the Rt. Rev. Gary Nelson follows the decision last month by the Australian Capital Territory to legalize same-sex marriage ”“ a move that has been challenged by the federal government as being unconstitutional.

Read it all.

A motion is going before this week’s Synod in London calling for a review of the ‘parliamentarian’ way in which its debates are conducted. The Daily Telegraph’s religious affairs editor, John Bingham, reports that the critical views of the revisionist Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Revd Nicholas Holtam, about the style of Synod have inspired those pushing for a review.

Ironic that, given that Bishop Holtam recently likened opponents of gay marriage to supporters of apartheid. Now the Holtam brigade apparently want to extinguish the fires of odium theologicum with a pile of indaba-daba-doo.
………………………………………………
If every member of the General Synod were an orthodox Anglican who upheld the biblical doctrine of the Church of England as expressed in our Book of Common Prayer, 39 Articles of Religion and Ordinal, then there would be no false teachers to oppose.

Without false teachers getting up to trumpet revisionist views sanctioning immoral life-styles, General Synod would be a much better decision-making body than it currently is and its disagreements, inevitable in any council of sinful human beings, would be much more agreeable.

But that is not the present reality of Synod. So parliamentary has got to be a lot better than indaba-daba-doo, otherwise it really would be ‘win-win’ for the false teachers.

Read it all

… members are also being asked to debate a motion calling for a review of how the Synod itself operates including the parliamentarian way debates are conducted and whether the complex system of electing members is now “fit for purpose”.

An official Synod briefing paper warns that members are now seen by many outside the Church seen as “rude and poor examples of Christians”.

The motion also questions whether the Synod should meet just once a year, instead of two or three times as at present, to encourage younger people with busy careers and families to stand for election.

Read it all.

Read it all.

ORANGEBURG, SC ”” A nonprofit Christian ministry is working to improve the lives of young people and adults through a mission that involves a mix of horses and skills training.

Cope couple Dan and Jan White started God It Made Ranch a year ago as the 41st mission station of Columbia-based Christ Central Ministries Inc., which was founded in 1992 by Pastor Jimmy Jones and had a food ministry as its first mission. Women and children’s shelters, men’s shelters, veterans’ transitional housing and clothing distribution are among CCM’s other missions.

“But we’re the first horse ranch. They had been praying for one of these for a very long time. I moved to Lexington where my dad lives a year ago, and that’s how I found Christ Central,” Jan White said. “I started volunteering for the children’s shelter, the women’s shelter and the homeless shelter. They also have a GED program and a rehab center.”

Read it all.

Four female priests with strong resumes are running for election to be the next Vancouver-area Anglican bishop.

The women are among eight candidates seeking to replace outgoing Bishop Michael Ingham, who became the focus of a storm in the 60-million-member global Anglican communion when he approved the blessing of homosexual relationships.

The women who have been nominated to run for bishop are Rev. Ellen Clark-King, vicar of Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral; Rev. Dawn Davis, who is based in Toronto; Rev. Lynne McNaughton, a former Vancouver School of Theology instructor now at St. Clement’s Church in North Vancouver and Rev. Melissa Skelton, an Episcopalian priest and church educator in Seattle, Wash.

Read it all.

Following the action of a retired bishop to conduct a same-gender ceremony in violation of church law, the United Methodist Council of Bishops took a series of actions to address the issue during their annual meeting this week in Lake Junaluska, N.C.

The Council requested that Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, president of the Council, and Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference file a complaint regarding Bishop Melvin Talbert’s action, for “undermining the ministry of a colleague and conducting a ceremony to celebrate the marriage of a same gender couple.”

“When there are violations of the Book of Discipline, a response is required,” the bishops said in a statement.

Read it all.

With the help of thousands of volunteers, San Francisco transformed itself into Gotham City to grant a special wish to a 5-year-old boy. NBC’s Joe Fryer reports.

Watch it all–makes the heart glad.

The Absolutely Stunning Dance of the Peacock Spider! from DAFTEK on Vimeo.

Watch it all (Hat tip: Selimah Harmon)

Already, in the hours since the death of Doris Lessing was announced, many people will have watched a widely circulated video, filmed on her doorstep in 2007. In it, she has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the news of which is relayed to her by reporters who greet her as she alights from a London taxi. “Oh Christ,” she says in apparent irritation, and puts down her shopping bags. Watching, you think she must have heard it wrong. But no. Pausing to check whether she or her companion have left anything behind in the cab, she turns to the assembled camera crews and sighs. “I’m sure you’d like some uplifting remarks of some kind,” she says.

Bids for popularity were not Doris Lessing’s thing. Of course, in many ways that made her more appealing. You might call her misunderstood, or reappropriated, or simply taken to heart ”” in any case she was popular in ways she never meant to be. Take her best known work, The Golden Notebook, which Margaret Drabble described as “a novel of shocking power and blistering honesty”. I

Read it all.

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops last week elected Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Kentucky to be their new president as they grapple with changing priorities under Pope Francis.

Kurtz, who leads the Archdiocese of Louisville, won just over half the votes in a field of 10 candidates during a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Read it all.

In 2007, members of Evangel Ministries in northwest Detroit went out into the surrounding neighborhoods to share the gospel in a summer-long program called Dare to Share. They came back with reports of new connections and conversions””and new questions. Many of their neighbors had voiced powerful objections to the faith.

Senior pastor Christopher Brooks realized that the apologetics he had studied at Biola University, and later at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, needed to be placed in a new context. “We realized that we needed to respond to not just the historic topics of theology and philosophy, but also to the pressing, present question: ‘Does the Lord see what’s happening in the hood?'”

Brooks’s forthcoming book, Urban Apologetics (Kregel Publications), tells the story of how Evangel enthusiastically embraced that challenge. The newly appointed campus dean of Moody Theological Seminary”“Michigan recently spoke with CT executive editor Andy Crouch.

Read it all.

O Eternal God, our heavenly Father, who hast given to us thy children an abiding citizenship in heaven, and, in the days of our pilgrimage, a citizenship also upon earth: Give us thine aid, as we journey to that heavenly city, so faithfully to perform the duties which befall us on our way, that at the last we may be found worthy to enter into thy rest; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

–Luke 16:9-13