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The Imagine Project: Shoot and Crop (20)

The Imagine Project website

From the Bishop

Click here to catch up on
Bishop John's blog. Here are some recent posts...

Scotland ‘No’ to euthanasia

Good and evil? if God is dead

The use & abuse of ‘religion’

Tassie Ordination @ Cathedral

Gay advocate: Don’t call it marriage

My ‘right to die’?

Dying man: ‘Euthanasia? No!’

Dutch hold euthanasia inquiry

From the Bishop's Desk is the bishop's regular email newsletter. Click here to see his recent newsletters or to join the mail list.

Bishop John's recent publications, Addresses, letters, reflections, messages: click here.

Bible Study & Preaching Material

Stressed out with no time to write bible studies? Try ‘Growing Disciples of Jesus’, our new Lectionary-based study outlines for home and church-based study groups and personal study; will also help preachers. To have a look, click here.

Preaching Resources

This resource is provided to help guide, encourage and resource the preachers in our diocese, be they new or experienced. It’s new and evolving, so we recommend that you drop in from time to time.

A PRAYER FOR transformingLIFE

Transforming God,
as we meet together
fill us with your wisdom.
Give us the capacity
to work boldly
and with humility,
embracing the challenge of mission.

Use us to bring transforming life
to our Christian communities and
all Tasmanians

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Download the transformingLIFE document

Will the Imagine Project change your life?

CMS: This study is a gift

While Andrew & Pam Lake visited over 24 parishes in the Diocese before heading to the posting in Damascus, Andrew had been busy on another project. He has released this short book called Christian Mission for Tasmanians. This is a very personal approach from Andrew on this important topic of Mission written for the Missionary Diocese of Tasmania. Andrew says of the book,

"My hope and prayer is that this study will help put mission front and centre of the church’s agenda. I make no claim to infallibility and will have achieved my aim if this has helped start some fruitful conversations about mission."

We offer our thanks to Andrew, having served in the Diocese as an Archdeacon and Mission Support Officer. But now we offer our thanks for this impressive gift to the church in Tasmania.

Of particular interest to you, dear reader, is the freely available nature of this book. In fact, you can click here to read it right now. So is it free? Andrew explains in his Forward:

"This study is a gift to the Tasmanian church. It is freely available on the diocesan website but I invite you when you use it for personal or group study to make a donation of $10 per person to the Church Missionary Society of Tasmania."

Archive of Home Page: 2010 November

The Mercury visits our Anglican Ordination

[sun 28nov10 rob] Yesterday's ordination at Hobart Cathedral appeared in the Mercury online today. Visiting the website below will even reveal a photo of the new ordinands. Congratulations to you all!

"Seven new church leaders were ordained yesterday by Anglican Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower during a special service at St David's Cathedral in Hobart.

Those ordained as deacons were Gill Briggs and Josh Skeat, who will minister in the Burnie parish, Don George, in Launceston, Samuel Green, to serve at the University of Tasmania, Marilyn King, in Moonah, and Andrea Ward, who will work at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Kate Boughton, aged in her 20s, was ordained a priest and will continue her ministry at St David's Cathedral, and among youth and children."

R/T Stephen Carnaby.

Click here for the Mercury article and ordination photo.

Media Release: Seven Anglicans to be Ordained

[fri 26nov10 rob] Seven Anglicans will be ordained tomorrow:

11am
Saturday 27th November 2010
St. David's Anglican Cathedral, Hobart.

For further information, click here for the media release.

Christmas is coming... #2

[thu 25nov10 rob] Today we have the second in our "Christmas is Coming" video series.
"Good-O-Meter" considers judgement day and the idea that people can in fact be friends with God, through Jesus Christ. The question: Can I be friends with God? This video comes courtesy of thatjustinguy.

This Series: Christmas is coming...
For a pastor, planning for Christmas began some time ago. But what of that elusive illustration that might help engage the Christmas visitor who feels like a fish out of water and disengaged? Have you found it? Over the next couple of weeks, we will see videos which have achieved notoriety for their ability to engage. These are not sermons, but merely illustrations.

Previous videos in this series: 1. God Pie (19nov2010).

Marriage for homosexuals? Use another name!

[thu 25nov10 rob] There is a lot of discussion about marriage and homosexual 'marriage' at the moment. On the ABC (your ABC) website, there is an article about the Northern Territory and the local labour party agreeing with legislating homosexual 'marriage'. However, at the bottom of the article was a surprise: comments by a homosexual from a different direction.

Darwin restaurateur John Spellman is one of the pioneers of the gay movement in the NT. During the 80s he made a name by running the popular gay nightspots known as Fannies and Dicks. Mr Spellman is an advocate of equality for the Territory's gay community. However, he thinks a decision by the Northern Territory branch of the Labor Party to push the Federal Parliament to legalise gay marriage is wrong. "I believe that the federal party's attitude is better. The word marriage shouldn't be used in any form of, how do we put it, cohabitation ceremony. If you want a commitment ceremony why not?" he said.
...
"But marriage is not the right word. It's religious. It's for a man and a woman to produce children. And I think you'd offend a lot of people by using the word marriage."

Bishop John has also blogged about this article. Click here to read Bishop John's article.
Click here to read the original ABC website article.

"World leader" in euthanasia has doubts

[sun 21nov10 rob] With a real possibility of euthanasia being introduced in Tasmania, what is life like seven (7) years after euthanasia was introduced in the Netherlands? Over the last couple of days, Bishop John has posted a couple of reflections on euthanasia in the Netherlands.

First, the former Dutch minister who successfully promoted the legalization of euthanasia (LifeSiteNews - Dec, 2009). Secondly, and more recently, an article reflecting on the 13% increase in Danes euthanased in the past year(Sydney Morning Herald - June, 2010).

Click here to read Bishop John's articles.

Christmas is coming... #1

[fri 19nov10 rob] Today we have the first in our series (see below: Christmas is coming) of videos that you might consider using in church during the Christmas season.

This video is called "God Pie". It considers what part God is allowed to play in our lives with regard to time, money, lifestyle and any other aspect of our lives we might be bold enough to consider. The question: How much do we leave for God? (Note: This is not a Christ-centric video.)

This video comes courtesy of thatjustinguy. You can find other videos by him by clicking here.

From The Bishop's Desk 30.10

[wed 17nov10 rob] The latest From The Bishop's Desk 30.10 for 17th November, 2010 is now available. Click here to view.

From The Bishop's Desk 29.10

[tue 16nov10 rob] For those who missed this a few weeks ago:

From The Bishop's Desk 29.10 for 2nd November, 2010 is now available.

Click here to read the latest news from the Bishop's Desk.

Marriage: Why not a threesome?

[tue 16nov2010 rob] "Marriage: Why not a threesome?" This is not something you expect your Bishop to say, but in the push for changes to be made to Australia's definition of marriage, Bishop John encourages us to consider why people really want the definition to be changed.

Click here to view Bishop John's post.

The Sexualisation of Children

[mon 15nov2010 rob] Following on from Bishop John's comments on 'Sexting', Melinda Tankard Reist continues to have a positive voice in our Australian media on the difficult topic of 'The Sexualisation of Children'.

Today one of her articles was posted on the ABC (yes, your ABC) website 'The Drum'.

Click here to read Melinda's article titled, "Why is Amazon promoting sexual abuse of children?"
Click here to visit Melinda's website.

Would you like to make a comment about this or any of our other topics? Click here to go to a Facebook comment page.

Sexting

[mon 15nov2010 rob] A Bishop afraid of no topic! If you read the papers, you will see that sexting, once the tomfoolery of movie stars and popstars(we know this because the media reveals their foolishness), has caught on with school children. In Australia we have even seen a case go to court. Bishop John puts forward his view on his blog post entitled "Sexting teens: our mirror?"... click here to read his blog post.

In Bishop John's blog post, he quotes an article in The Age newspaper (you can find the article by clicking here),

Dr Michael Carr-Greg explains how ’sexting’ has become a part of everyday social life for Australian teens, with many unaware of the consequences.

The Age article has a video which includes the new TV commercial warning children about the dangers of sexting. The video is a very helpful insight into the problem and the implications for our children. You can find out more about this advertising campaign by going to the website: ThinkYouKnow.org.au One of the sponsors of this programme is our Australian Federal Police.

Praying with other believers: looking to God's extraordinary blessing

[tue 09nov2010 rob] This video from John Piper encourages us to take up God's extraordinary blessing. What is it? Praying with other believers. It is a powerful tool God blesses his people with. In fact, it is probably the one tool that every missionary church would need.

Is it time to start changing the world?

John Stott: Teacher & Mentor

[tue 09nov2010 rob] From Bishop John's blog:

photo - Bishop John Harrower - head and shoulders

The voice of a master teacher, known as ‘Tio Juan’ in South America. What a blessing his life and ministry have been to so many over such an extended time. In the video recording his delivery is not as strong as it once was but his message is as clear and concise as ever. I praise God for our Elder in the faith of Christ, John Stott. Hear his greeting to the recent Lausanne 2010 Conference which concludes, “our ultimate confidence is in God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit whose Gospel it is we are seeking to proclaim”. Amen!

And here is the audio only version of John Stott's presentation at Lausanne:

I have taken this information straight from Bishop John's blog, so many thanks to Bishop John. However, if you would like to visit Bishop John's blog, click here.

Christians respond to suffering #2

[sat 06nov2010 rob] We have previously posted on the front page about Bishop John's excellent series of personal reflections titled 'Christians respond to suffering'. It is a topic that is often avoided, but one which many of us find helpful as we deal with suffering in day to day life.

Bishop John has concluded the series with three final reflections. I have included the previous and the new reflections in the list below. I do hope you find them helpful.

1. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #1 (October 27)
2. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #2 (October 28)
3. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #3 (October 29)
4. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #4 (October 30)
5. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #5 (November 1)
6. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #6 (November 2)
7. Click here for "Christians respond to suffering" #7 (November 3)

Cancellation: BCA Jazz Night at Howrah

[wed 03.nov.2010 rob] Unfortunately, due to the serious illness of significant performers, the BCA Jazz Night fundraiser at St.Thomas' Howrah has been cancelled. Apologies have been passed on from the organisers, and those still interested are asked to stay tuned for further information.

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AnglicanTas frontpage editor: Rob Stanley

Anglican Church in Tasmania