General
Editorial Autumn 2025
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
Sing to the Lord a new song
The Autumn edition of Essentials was edited by Ben Underwood from Perth. Readers will be familiar with Ben as he edited Essentials for a number of years. Ben agreed to pull together a number of articles from his fellow West Australians. I trust you enjoy these articles as well as Ben’s own original hymn lyrics!
Also included is the EFAC Global response to the IASUFO proposals on the realignment of the Anglican Communion. As one of the contributors it needs to be said that landing a response wasn’t easy. Ultimately we believe that it represents a potentially positive way forward. It has significant inadequacies which we have noted. I commend it to you.
BISHOP STEPHEN HALE
EDITOR
Editorial Summer 2024
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- Written by: Gavin Perkins
It is often easy to get locked in to our own views and interpretations, especially when it comes to our gospel reading and interpretation traditions. However, we can often most easily see our own fixatedness by approaching these areas from different locations, and indeed through different media. Each of the essays in this issue asks us to revisit biblical and theological narratives which we should know very well and view them through a different lens. Not necessarily to change our minds, nor to discard our thinking, but to be refreshed and renewed in our appreciation of the biblical narrative, and especially
Advent.
The placement of Advent at the beginning of our church liturgical calendar gives us a wonderful opportunity to examine the biblical birth narratives alongside our culture’s penchant for tinsel, carols, and kitsch. Indeed, as our Evangelical tradition is often one for words and ideas the visual and aesthetic nature of our Advent and Christmas celebrations give good opportunity for engagement and reflection from the other side of our brains.
Additionally with the cyclical nature of the church calendar, we are blessed with the possibility of annually repeated moments where our culture and church collide in fruitful explorations of the gospel. May we be surprised, refreshed, renewed, strengthened, and challenged again this advent as we engage the cultures around us with the beauty and blessings of the gospel. For: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’” (Mt 1:23, NRSVA)
CHRISTOPHER PORTER
Editorial Spring 2024
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- Written by: Gavin Perkins
In its 2018 report An Evangelical Episcopate, the Sydney Diocesan Doctrine Commission helpfully elucidated the core responsibilities of a Bishop in the Anglican Church. The first priority of a Bishop is to be a guardian of ‘the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). This is the priority found in the New Testament and in the Anglican Ordinal. Through public proclamation and defence of the apostolic gospel and by personal example the bishop is to do all in his power to ensure that the teaching of Scripture shapes and directs the life, ministry and mission of his Diocese. Other priorities flow from this. The Bishop must order the ministry of the Diocese towards this gospel witness and ministry, he must exercise pastoral concern and insight, he must represent his Diocese faithfully nationally and internationally, and he must administer the work of the Diocese in line with its mission. This is the vital and onerous task of each Bishop and so we must remain deeply committed to pray for our Bishops, and we rejoice in great thankfulness for those who have and continue to discharge these duties. In this edition of Essentials, it is wonderful then to have three such faithful Bishops represented as contributors. In a global and national Anglican context in which Bishops have often been at the vanguard of heterodoxy rather than orthodoxy, it is a great joy to hear from these three brothers, Peter, Kanishka, and Paul in this edition.
Alongside these contributions we have our eyes lifted to see the work of ARDFA amongst some of the most distressed displaced peoples, holding out the love of Christ in the darkness, and we also have our minds stimulated to see with clarity the glory of Jesus’ transfiguration and its purpose for his ministry. I commend our Spring edition to evangelical Anglican friends across Australia.
GAVIN PERKINS, BOWRAL NSW
EDITOR
Editorial Winter 2024
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
The Future Of The Parish
This edition of Essentials is focussed on this pressing question. In it we explore a range of dimensions to this big question. As we all know things aren’t all that great in many, many, parishes. Given the Anglican Church is structured around the parish what might the future look like. I have previously written in Essentials about the forthcoming Great Collapse in the Autumn 2023 Edition.
There are lots of great articles here and all is not gloom and doom. Alongside of the many struggling churches there are lots of great stories of renewal and change in lots of different contexts. In this edition we feature a Diocesan perspective as well as a look at a range of models of what’s happening on the ground.
We recently held the National Evangelical Anglican Conference in Sydney. It was a wonderful Conference, and we were greatly blessed by the ministry of Rev Charlie Skrine from All Soul’s Langham Place as our international guest speaker. We hope to feature some of the talks in future editions.
STEPHEN HALE, LOCATION, EDITOR
Editorial Autumn 2024
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- Written by: Mark Simon
“Sing to the Lord” is the repeated refrain of the Psalms, and one which shapes our corporate worship week by week. Christians delight to sing. Great congregational singing is a key ingredient for healthy, growing churches. Christian songs also shape our personal journeys of maturing in faith, obedience and service. Music ministry is thus a vital aspect of our gathered and dispersed church life, equipping and helping us as Jesus’ disciples to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. In this edition of Essentials we focus on music ministry in our churches.
We hear from Greg Cooper on the manifold ways that singing contributes to spiritual formation. Alanna Glover and Philip Percival urge us to engage heart and mind as we sing, and not to pit emotions against truth, but respond to the gospel with our whole being. We have two practical ministry articles which dig into the nuts and bolts of music ministry. Angela Chandler analyses some trends and expectations in church music before elaborating on practical ways to engage and include a wider, more diverse, pool of people in congregational worship. Alanna Glover addresses the needs of smaller churches, where forming and sustaining a music team can be a constant struggle. She outlines principles for a church’s music ministry that will equip it for long-term growth. You’ll also find links to several resources Emu Music have developed to serve the local church’s music ministries: conferences, training, and a new searchable, curated ‘Hymnbook’ of contemporary and classic songs.
Continuing the focus on praising God through song, I present a Bible Study on Ephesians 1:3-14, exploring this joyous hymn of praise for the ways it informs and models the praise of God in corporate song. Rhys Bezzant brings us a review of A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship – a book that analyses the currents that flowed into the praise and worship music that dominates our churches today.
Stephen Hale offers his own plea for greater variety in the subject matter of congregational songs. You’ll also find Stephen’s invitation to come to the EFAC Australia Conference in April – it will be a wonderful time to ‘Recharge, Refresh, Renew.’
I trust that as you read you are encouraged to sing with renewed joy and thanks for God’s grace to us in all its forms.
MARK SIMON, EDITOR