The Model of Sanctification: Jesus Christ. The Lord God has mercifully provided His people with everything necessary to their sanctification. He has given those who follow after holiness the clearest of precepts, the best of motives, and the most encouraging of promises. But this is not all. He has furthermore supplied them with the most perfect pattern and example, even the life of His own Son. By that life he bids us model our own. In the steps of that life He bids us walk. (1 Peter 2:21) It is the model after which we must strive to mold our tempers, our words, and our works, in this evil world. "Would my Master have spoken in this manner? Would my Master have behaved in this way?"–These are the questions by which we ought daily to test ourselves. --- Bishop J.C. Ryle

The Lordship of Christ. In saying that saving faith includes obedience, I mean that in true faith there is an element of submission. Faith is directed towards a Person. It is in fact a complete commitment to this Person involving not only an acceptance of what is offered but a humble surrender to what is or may be demanded. The bent knee is as much a part of saving faith as the open hand. --- From 'Must Christ be Lord and Savior?' "Eternity" magazine

We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, "Teach me Your statutes" (Psalm 119:64). Such an one will understand as well as hear. --- Bishop J.C. Ryle

Church history is crystal clear: Homosexual practice has been affirmed nowhere, never, by no one in the history of Christianity. The church fathers insisted that doctrine and practice must be tested by Holy Scripture. In addition to careful exegesis, another test was catholicity, that is, what has been the universally accepted scriptural interpretation passed down in the church. --- Dr. S. Donald Fortson III is Professor of Church History and Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary-Charlotte

The sin of unbelief. Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. Its sinfulness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to him. ----From "The Letters of John" (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)

"Jesus commanded forgiveness, because he knew that unforgiveness imprisons us in a Will to Punish locks us into our woundedness. He knew that the Will to Forgive culminates in a mental posture that frees us from the prison of the woundedness that others originally inflict upon us." --- Charles L. Zeiders, Psy.D.

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
May 20, 2011

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori was in the Netherlands this past week where a Dutchman monitored her speeches and sent back this report: "As a Dutch Anglican VOL reader I have to tell you that Mrs. Jefferts Schori was here recently and gave an interview to a liberal Christian newspaper and she said: 'In the United States there are also less people going to Church. It is lower than the official numbers. With us in TEC, however, there is growth; which comes from Latinos, just like the Roman-Catholic Church. Latin American Christians, who come to the US, become Anglican, Catholic or visit Pentecostal churches. Next to immigration our greatest growth is in overseas dioceses.' It made me laugh..."

Here are the facts. There are 10 non-domestic dioceses and two jurisdictions represented in 16 countries for a total of 487 "foreign" congregations with an average Sunday attendance in 2009 of 11,458. That's an ASA of 23 per congregation. According to Our Lady of the Rainbow Miter, that's church growth... Really?

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Two Anglican Communion provinces have aligned with the Anglican Covenant, albeit using different terms to define that decision. The Church of Ireland's General Synod voted May 13 to "subscribe" to the covenant, noting that it purposely chose that word rather than using "adopt." Meanwhile, the Province of South East Asia, has issued a "letter of accession."

Three other Anglican Communion provinces have officially adopted the covenant. They are The Anglican Church of Mexico, The Anglican Church in the West Indies and the Church of the Province of Myanmar. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa voted in favor of adopting the covenant, but that decision will need to be ratified by the next meeting of the province's provincial synod in 2013.

The Episcopal Church's Executive Council is beginning to review comments on the covenant that were made in response to a September request by TEC's Presiding Bishop. Some Episcopalians and Anglicans, including Jefferts Schori and the Executive Council, have raised concerns about the covenant being used as an instrument of control, particularly section 4, which outlines a method for resolving disputes in the communion. Others include Archbishop Fred Hiltz of Canada, Archbishop Henri Isingoma of the Congo, and Archbishop Paul Kim of South Korea, each of whom have expressed reservations about the document.

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The shooting and killing of Osama Bin Laden by US Special Forces during a raid on his home in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad has brought out frustration, concern and anger from some Anglican leaders.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams said he thought the killing of an unarmed man leaves an uncomfortable feeling because it doesn't look as if justice has been done, in those circumstances. Fellow Anglican Bishop of Winchester Michael Scott-Joynt criticized Bin Laden's killing as "an act of vengeance." Anglican theologian Dr. N. T. Wright accused the world of giving America a free pass for violating Pakistan's sovereignty and killing an unarmed man during the recent attack. Critics said Williams was not living in "the real world". Relatives of 9/11 victims expressed outrage at his remarks. You can read the full story in today's digest.

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The saga of the Traditional Anglican Communion took a bizarre turn this week when TAC Archbishop John Hepworth blasted Canadian Roman Catholic Archbishop Thomas Collins by accusing him of trying to take over his group of Anglo-Catholics and absorbing them into Rome. He has ordered his bishops not to let the catholic "mentors" into his churches. By the end of the week, Hepworth relented and agreed to let Collins talk to his people as they prepare to cross the Tiber with whatever bits-n-pieces of Anglicanism the Roman Catholics will allow. However, the Vicar-General of Torres Strait TACites, the largest of the TAC herd, wrote to VOL asking for a copy of Hepworth's infamous letter to confirm for himself that I wrote was actually what Hepworth said.

The deeper truth, it would appear, is that Hepworth is trying to hijack the Anglo-Catholic movement. In June, a Congress of traditional Anglicans will meet in Victoria, BC, to discuss all this. Your scribe will be there to record it for posterity. You can read the latest news about all this in today's digest.

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The American Anglican Council and Sharing of Ministries Abroad wants you to hear Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali speak on the triple threat to Christianity in the West: Islamic extremism, secularism, and multiculturalism. Attendees will learn why these issues pose such a threat and hear firsthand accounts of how Christians around the world have held fast despite persecution.

Bishop Nazir-Ali will be speaking in Atlanta, GA, on May 18; Newport Beach, CA, on May 20; and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, on May 24. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, a Pakistani-born Church of England Bishop, has shared the Gospel around the world despite countless challenges and threats. His current ministry focuses on helping those in the persecuted church. Over the next several days, he will be speaking at churches around the country about the challenges facing the Western church. The speaking events, part of the Hold Fast tour, are sponsored by the American Anglican Council and Sharing of Ministries Abroad. All events are free and open to the public. For more information including downloadable bulletin inserts and flyers, go to www.LetUsHoldFast.com

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TWELVE Christians were murdered in Egypt and two hundred and thirty-two people wounded. These victims, assualted at the hands of Muslims, total more than all the people killed in Syria or in Libya as a result of protests, riots and resistance.

Two churches in Cairo have been burned in recent days. Over the past few months, church property has being gutted, vandalized and violated with graffiti. Churches have been blown up.

An entire community - the Christian community in the new Egypt - is under attack. And the world remains relatively silent. There has been no significant religious outcry, political redress or diplomatic pressure to stop the attacks. There has been almost no media coverage as Egypt's Muslims have systematically, over the past few months, set about massacring Egypt's Christians.

The world is not only standing idly by, it is enabling the massacre. The US naively expects that a new era, begun in new Egypt, will ripple to the rest of the Islamic world. So in the midst of these monstrous mass murders in Egypt, the US has decided to send an extra $US1 billion to help the Egyptians ease the economic crisis that emerged as a result of the ousting of Hosni Mubarak on February 11. Muslims in Egypt are on the warpath - on the religious warpath - and the US is feeding them money.

This most recent round of Christian murders began with the rumor that Christians had kidnapped a Christian woman who had converted to Islam. According to the rumor, the woman was being held in the cellar of one of the churches and Christians were brainwashing her back to Christianity. Egyptian Muslims set out to find this woman. Along the way, they murdered, pillaged and burned.

The rumors were not true. There was no kidnapping. But there were two burned churches and 12 murdered Christians. PRAY for our Anglican brothers and sisters in the region and keep Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis especially in your prayers.

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While Episcopal seminaries are in trouble, Nashotah House, a seminary of the Episcopal Church, will open its newest building for campus use. It's the first construction at the seminary, located about 10 miles northwest of Waukesha, since a fire destroyed one historical building on campus in April 2009.

"It helps us in our mission as a school," says the Very Rev. Robert Munday, dean and president of Nashotah House. "It turns what was really a dining hall into a conference center."

The 8,675-square-foot addition includes five designated classrooms and a multi-purpose center that can host chapel services, staff meetings and conferences. In previous years, the seminary had to fit all available courses into only three available classrooms.

The project, which has been under construction for almost a year, adds much-needed classroom space and a multi-purpose room for students and faculty.

Nashotah House is the oldest institution of higher learning in Wisconsin. Founded in 1842, the seminary is a historic state landmark.

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And down they go. This story will be repeated across the country over the next five years.

On Monday, May 2, 2011, the vestry of St. Matthew's Church, acted in accord with its rector, Fr. Tracey Williams and Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano to close the parish. The diocese said the closing was by unanimous consent. Bosh. A newspaper report said it took the people by surprise. The 111-year old church will close its doors on May 22nd. The announcement was made on the Diocese's website, not the St. Matthew's Church website. Irate parishioners tried to get answers about loved ones buried in the church's columbarium located within the church. After much huffing and puffing they got an answer from the outgoing priest who said they could get their money back if they have prepaid to be buried there. For families who have purchased niches that are yet unused, the diocese will refund all payments made to the church in advance, he said.

The population of Queens, NY, is 2.2 million and steadily growing with people coming in from all over the world. Queens is home to 50% of NYC's Asian population. It is a hive of ethnic activity and growth. The church is beautiful and well located and it is going out of business. Why? The short answer is no gospe,l no growth. Perhaps the ACNA folk should put a quiet bid in for the church, put in a young evangelical priest, initiate ALPHA and be off to the races.

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CANA Bishop Dave Bena bade farewell as the Contact Bishop for the Anglican District of Virginia this week. He has concentrated on leading people into dynamic relationships with Christ, planted new churches, cared for others both locally and globally, and learned more of what it means to be a community of Christ-centered Anglican churches. "As I was about to retire as Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany toward the end of 2006, I agreed to assist Bishop Martyn Minns as he coordinated the organization and expansion of CANA. He asked me to provide oversight to you all in Virginia/D.C. (which soon included Maryland and North Carolina). I can tell you honestly: it has been pure pleasure being your Contact Bishop."

This weekend, the parishes will vote to apply to the Anglican Church of North America to become a diocese. At that point, they will elect either Bishop John Guernsey or Archdeacon Julian Dobbs to be the new bishop. Then they will go to the ACNA Provincial Council and College of Bishops in late June for ratification. The new diocesan bishop will prepare for his ministry.

On May 20-21, The Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) will hold their 2011 Constitutional Convention at the Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, VA. At this special event, ADV delegates will adopt new governing documents (Constitutions and Canons) to facilitate ADV's application for admission into the Anglican Church in North America as a new diocese. Bishop Bena is the former Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Albany.

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The passage of Amendment 10-A in the Presbyterian Church USA this past week is a defining moment for American Protestantism. The denomination now permits ordaining bodies to legally ordain practicing homosexuals, as well as heterosexuals practicing any form of sex outside marriage, as long as the ordaining body "determines" that they are qualified to serve, according to whatever standards the ordaining body chooses to adopt. It opens the theoretical door to welcoming polygamists, free-sex proponents, and those practicing bestiality, as long as such individuals can convince their session or presbytery that they are called, gifted and otherwise qualified to serve "in joyful submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ." Many will say that this could never happen because the Scriptures are clear that such things are sin. This was precisely the now-defeated argument concerning homosexual practice. The fallen human heart can always find a way to obfuscate and qualify the clear teaching of Scripture in order to justify the practices in which it wishes to engage.

The language of the new ordination standards actually assists this direction, no longer requiring obedience to Scripture, but rather only the willingness to be guided by Scripture, whatever that is taken to mean by individual ordaining bodies.

Indeed, this is an historic moment for the PC (USA). As a denomination, it has crossed the Rubicon, committing to a course of action from which it will be difficult to turn back. The Presbyterians have now publicly declared to the world that they have no necessary, clearly identifiable sexual morality - the biblical and time-honored Christian sexual ethic of fidelity within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman and of chastity in all other relationships has been forsaken. The PCUSA now joins three other American denominations (the UCC, Episcopal Church, and ELCA) in embracing homosexuality as a lifestyle blessed by God. These Presbyterians have followed the bell curve of both The Episcopal Church and the culture. In time, they will put themselves out of business.

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From the Diocese of Western New York comes this report. The building that the 1,000-strong St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church vacated and left to TEC has not been sold. Rather it has been extensively renovated and now is the diocesan office -- after an infusion of a reported $1.4 million. This building is less than a quarter of a mile from St. Bart's new location, writes The Rev. Fr. Richard Molison, Assisting Priest at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church in Tonawanda, NY. "God does have a sense of humor. The diocese is attempting to sell their former office building in downtown Buffalo. So far, no sale. The sign out in front of the building had no Easter message on it. The sign was blank. Apparently they have little if anything to say about the risen Lord."

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If you want to read a truly comprehensive report on the state of the Diocese of Pennsylvania you can read this abstract here written by an independent consultant Eric W. Rabe: http://www.scribd.com/doc/55722168/Rabe-Church-in-Turmoil-FINAL

It reveals a diocese in total turmoil, described by its leaders as dysfunctional with most of the blame going to Charles E. Bennison, its bishop. No surprise there. Here are a few choice morsels from the Standing Committee about Bennison: "Trust in the bishop's leadership is at an all time low; The bishop uses a pattern of misleading "spinning" and deceptive statements and partial truths; destructive inattention to welfare of the diocese; the bishop is out of touch with the desires and commitment of the people..." and that's just a few things outlined in the 140-page abstract about the diocese. The real problem is they can't get rid of him even though both conservatives and liberals want him gone. And what of the diocese's future? Once the money runs out, there won't be a diocese in 20 years. Bennison keeps closing a parish every nine months. A few large parishes like St. David's (Radnor) and the Church of the Good Samaritan (Paoli) will remain, but will they still be in the Episcopal Church? Don't hold your breath.

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Dr. Albert Ellis, an ardent advocate of homosexual rights, denies there is such a thing as a well-adjusted homosexual. In an interview, he has stated that whereas he used to believe that most homosexuals were neurotic, he is now convinced that about 50% are borderline psychotics, that the usual fixed male homosexual is a severe phobic, and that lesbians are even more disturbed than male homosexuals (see Arlo Karlem, Sexuality and Homosexuality, p. 223ff.) http://www.jonahweb.org/article.php?secId=159

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The Rev. Brent Hawkes was awarded an honorary degree by Trinity College, University of Toronto, recently. Hawkes, one of Canada's leading gay rights activists and a Toronto pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church, was awarded an honorary degree in recognition of his advocacy for marginalized groups and championing for equality. Trinity College in the University of Toronto is an Anglican theological school. I bet that surprises everyone.

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IN China, a Crisis between Church and State is unfolding. Nineteen Chinese pastors have joined together to send a remarkable petition to the National People's Congress on behalf of one of Beijing's largest underground churches. The Shouwang church is the most recent target of the crackdown by Communist authorities on the unauthorized house church movement that now numbers some 50–70 million Chinese Christians.

The Shouwang church began in a home, but has grown to 1,000 members in recent years, with many well-educated and affluent congregants. Forced out of a rented meeting space in 2009, the church bought its own property-only to be denied access by the government. Ousted from rental space once again this spring, the congregation has sought to meet outdoors. But their worship services have been disrupted. Hundreds were detained by police on Easter Sunday. Pastor Jin Tianming and other church leaders are under house arrest to prevent them from leading services.

As The New York Times noted, the crisis is "stirring up the tens of millions of Chinese believers who have come to place more faith in Christianity than in the atheist Communist Party." That has led to the bold petition-which the Times reports was drafted by Xie Moshan and Li Tianen, "patriarchs of the house church movement, who have each spent more than a decade in Chinese prisons."

Their petition goes beyond calling for redress of one church's afflictions. "We believe that the Shouwang Church incident is not an individual, isolated episode that happens to a single church but rather a typical phenomenon in respect of the conflict between state and church during the period of social transition."

That conflict between state and church, the pastors argue, can be resolved only with official recognition of religious liberty, an essential step to ensure the freedom, stability, and prosperity of the nation.

The petition argues, on the basis of the Chinese constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for robust religious liberty-including "freedoms of assembly, association, speech, education and evangelism"-for congregations outside the network of state-sanctioned churches.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom once again identified China as a "country of particular concern," ranking it among the most serious violators of religious liberty worldwide.

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The ACNA Diocese of San Joaquin has elected the Rev. Dr. Eric Menees to be its new diocesan bishop upon Bishop John-David Schofield's retirement in October. Father Menees is currently rector of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in San Marcos, southern California. You can read the full story in today's digest.

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Shrinking congregations are forcing the Church of Wales to rethink its structure and finances. Managing the decline of the Church in Wales calls for a fundamental re-think of its structures and finances, the Archbishop of Wales said last week.

In his presidential address to the April 27-28 meeting of the church's Governing Body gathered at Swansea University, Dr. Barry Morgan said a three-man review commission led by Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford, and retired London Business School Professor Charles Handy would examine the church's structures in light of declining revenues, clergy and members.

The commission would be asked to determine whether "the resources available to the Church in Wales are being deployed efficiently and effectively;" whether the "organisation of the Church in Wales is one which enables the Church to be effective in addressing the nation of Wales;" and whether the "organisation should be adapted to enable the Church to live more fully into a model of church life which is theologically and missionally coherent and sustainable in the long term."

Declining revenues, rising expenses, aging clergy and congregations and an absence of young people were driving the reforms. Dr. Morgan noted that "average attendance had continued to fall by 2 per cent in line with the longer term trend," while "average attendance among young people had fallen particularly sharply."

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We hope you will take as moment to visit VOL's website www.virtueonline.org and catch up on the latest news. Please also visit Virtueonline's Global Anglican Theological Institute (GATI) and catch some of the writings of the Rev. Dr. Robert Sanders. They will instruct and bless you. http://www.globalanglican.org/

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In Christ,

David