When it’s in Sydney. Then it’s a ‘Christian assembly’.
No this isn’t a post State of Origin induced comment.
On the website ‘The Sola Panel‘ last week there was a post by Gordon Cheng on acts of corporate repentence, their heritage within the Anglican Denomination and his concern that they may fall out of usage.
The comments that ensued (including one from me) began to engage with the Sydney evangelical understanding of Christians meeting together.
Tony Payne takes up this issue today and along with his prefacing comment provides a link to a 2008 report of the Sydney (Anglican) Diocesan Commission entitled ‘A Theology of Christian Assembly‘. It is about 8000 words in length, and is very readable.
Since Sydney evangelicalism is a prominent strand in biblilcally based Australian Christianity this document demands attention. As a movement, their beliefs on this subject are distinctive.
I will post some thoughts later, but a few initial observations.
As an evangelical document it engages the Scriptures and asks its readers to do the same as they respond to it.
As an Anglican document it deals with a mixed heritage of reformed theology and also unreformed high church practice. Some of the contexts it responds to are not part of the church life of those of us from reformed and low church backgrounds.
It identifies a more radical discontinuity between the old covenant and the new covenant than the Westminster Confession, for instance, and some of its positions reflect that position.
So, go and have a read.
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