A warning of a “de facto ‘parallel Province’” in the Church of England has been given in a letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York from the Alliance, an umbrella group that emerged last year. It comprises the leaders of groups, Catholic and Evangelical, that are concerned about the effect of the Living in Love and Faith outcome on C of E teaching on marriage.

The letter, signed by current and former Vicars of Holy Trinity, Brompton, and the National Leader of New Wine, among others, warns that, if proposals to enable stand-alone services of blessing for same-sex couples go ahead, “we will have no choice but rapidly to establish what would in effect be a new de facto ‘parallel Province’ within the Church of England and to seek pastoral oversight from bishops who remain faithful to orthodox teaching on marriage and sexuality.”

Next month, the General Synod will be asked to vote on a draft motion approving such services, alongside an offer for “delegated episcopal ministry” for opponents (Online News, 21 June). The proposal is “clearly contrary to the canons and doctrine of the Church of England”, the Alliance letter says, citing Canon B30 on marriage.

Read it all.

A warning of a “de facto ‘parallel Province’” in the Church of England has been given in a letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York from the Alliance, an umbrella group that emerged last year. https://t.co/jeVv0VGh7e

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 27, 2024

The CRC does have a process for those who believe something in its confessions contradicts Scripture. CRC leaders sign three Reformed confessions—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort—and in 2022, the denomination clarified in a footnote that the Heidelberg Catechism’s teaching that “God condemns all unchastity” includes homosexual sex, as well as adultery, premarital sex, extramarital sex, polyamory, and pornography.

At least 18 churches publicized their disagreement by declaring themselves “in protest” of that teaching. They argued the CRC should allow differences in biblical interpretation of unchastity.

Last week, however, the synod decided that churches who adopted the “in protest” status would also fall under the discipline process and be required to comply with the confessions.

“It’s okay to send a protest. The issue is when you say our whole church, our whole council, is going to take exception to the confessions,” said Cedric Parsels, reporting from the synod for the Abide Project, a group that upholds the CRC’s historic view on sexuality. “‘We are going to put an asterisk next to our name of CRC. We can only be CRC basically on our terms .’ That’s a significantly different approach.”

Read it all.

Two years ago, the Christian Reformed Church in North America clarified its stance against homosexuality.

Last week, the denomination clarified its expectations for churches whose LGBTQ-affirming teachings contradict that stance.https://t.co/xltKDkUBGn

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) June 28, 2024

the united states has never seen day after debate headlines like this pic.twitter.com/o7qIW3c4FX

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) June 28, 2024

NYT top #politics #presidentialdebate #usa pic.twitter.com/EgdyR6aSp0

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 28, 2024

Washington Post top #politics #usa #presidentialdebate #culturewatch #21stc pic.twitter.com/2vESy01m9g

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 28, 2024

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. Most denominations in the U.S. are in decline, but ACNA, founded just 15 years ago, has grown to more than 1,000 congregations and a membership of 120,000.

It began as a movement of conservative Episcopalians frustrated with the liberal drift of that denomination. Today, though, most members of ACNA are not former Episcopalians. They (we, as I am a member) are new converts or — in many cases — refugees from other mainline and evangelical denominations nourished by ACNA’s combination of Reformed theology and adherence to biblical authority, its evangelical vibrancy, and the beauty of its ancient, incarnational liturgy. As I have written elsewhere, Anglicanism has the potential to breathe new life into the evangelical movement.

But the denomination is experiencing growing pains. Its growth has flattened, and there is growing discontent in the denomination about its inability (or unwillingness) to address head-on some vital issues.

The denomination holds a national conference every five years, and the next one is…[finishing up today] in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and the delegates to the conference face some important issues that need action.

Read it all.

(ANALYSIS/@WarrenColeSmith) The Anglican Church in North America has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. But its growth has flattened, and there is growing discontent about its inability to address some vital issues.https://t.co/kkEXLJf7iM

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) June 21, 2024

If we want to understand how Irenaeus views the atonement, we need to do so within his understanding of the single overarching economy of God….

An example of Irenaeus’s approach to these issues is found in the scriptural image used by Christ to explain his own work: the sign of Jonah. Irenaeus gives the case of Jonah, who, by God’s arrangement, was swallowed up by the whale, not that he should perish, but that, having been cast out, he might be more obedient to God, and so glorify more the One who had unexpectedly saved him ( Haer. 3.20.1). For Irenaeus, God has borne the human race, from the beginning, while the great whale swallowed it up. Thre is no lost golden age of primordial perfection when we might not have needed Christ. Such language sounds strange to us, accustomed to thinking of God in all- too- human, temporal terms, imagining him “before” creation, deciding what he is going to do (plan A), and responding (plan B) aft er we messed up. However, as Irenaeus asserts repeatedly throughout his work, theological reflection is not to start from any other (hypothetical or counterfactual) position than the one proclaimed by the apostles, in accordance with the Scriptures ( Haer. 1.10.3). We are, he insists, to seek out the wisdom of God made manifest in the Christ preached by the apostles, the Word, Wisdom, and Power of God.

For Irenaeus, the starting point for all theological reflection (including the Fall) is the given fact of the work of Christ, his life- giving and saving death (cf. Barr, 89). So it is that in the passage we are considering Irenaeus speaks of God “arranging in advance the finding of salvation, which was accomplished by the Word through the sign of Jonah.” Creation and salvation, for Irenaeus, cohere as the one economy of God, which culminates in the work of Christ, to be understood and told from this point.

According to Irenaeus, this does not mitigate human responsibility for their action of apostasy, nor the reality of the work of the devil in beguiling Adam and Eve under “the pretext of immortality” ( Haer. 3.23.5; 4.Pref. 4). For Irenaeus, death is the result of human apostasy, turning away from the one and only Source of life, instigated by the devil. But death is also embraced within the divine economy, the way everything fi ts together in God’s hand. When viewed from the perspective of the salvation granted by Christ through “the sign of Jonah,” we can see that, as it was God himself who appointed the whale to swallow up Jonah, so also the engulfing of the human race by the great whale was “borne” by God in his arrangement, his economy, which culminates in the finding of salvation accomplished by the sign of Jonah.

—T&T Clark Companion to Atonement, ed. Adam J. Johnson (London: T and T Clark, 2017), pp. 569-570

Today is the feast of St Irenaeus of Lyons. I did my masters dissertation on Irenaeus. Absolutely key is his notion of divine economy. If by creation God gave us life, then we gain eternal life in Christ for 'The Son of God became what we are so we may become what He is' AH 3,19 pic.twitter.com/AI2rkJ9Dp0

— Revd Dr Thomas W Ruston (SCP) (@thomaswruston) June 28, 2024

Almighty God, who didst uphold thy servant Irenaeus with strength to maintain the truth against every blast of vain doctrine: Keep us, we beseech thee, steadfast in thy true religion, that in constancy and peace we may walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher of the Faith, c.200

Image: Window in Mansfield College Chapel, Oxford. Photo by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via flickr pic.twitter.com/bjeALgHMVo

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) June 28, 2024

O God in whom all fullness dwelleth, who givest without measure to them that ask; Give us faith to ask, and faith to receive, all that thy bounty giveth; that being filled with all thy fullness we may as thy faithful stewards impart thy gifts to all thy children; for Jesus Christ’s sake.

—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

Thanks to our Home Bursar for sharing this great image of College pic.twitter.com/N26Mbsftx0

— Magdalen College (@magdalenoxford) June 28, 2024

And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people contended with Moses, and said, “Would that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD said to Moses, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water; so you shall bring water out of the rock for them; so you shall give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” These are the waters of Mer’ibah, where the people of Israel contended with the LORD, and he showed himself holy among them.

–Numbers 20:1-13

Good morning everyone wishing you a wonderful day 😀 a little more Longshaw loveliness from this week’s wanderings 💚#PeakDistrict pic.twitter.com/RgtVAWEh6t

— doristhehat (@doristhehat) June 28, 2024