The big news from the Relations With Other Churches committee is the impending visit of the board of directors of the World Reformed Fellowship to Australia in April 2012.
These folk will be guests of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, which has determined to host the visit in Sydney.
(sigh. Where else?)
The World Reformed Fellowship is a network of people from like-minded churches and denominations world-wide.
It’s mission and vision?
The mission of the World Reformed Fellowship is to promote understanding, cooperation and sharing of resources among our membership of evangelical and reformed Christians in the advancement of the Gospel.
The vision of the WRF is simple – “That the strengths of some might become the strengths of all in the service of Jesus Christ” (see Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 4: 11 – 13).
Encouraging this engagement allows the Presbyterian Church of Australia to hear how the timeless principles of the Scriptures, as we understand and affirm them, are being applied to different cultural contexts. We can benefit from listening as others speak to our doctrinal standards with their accents and wisdom. This, in turn, challenges and broadens our capacity to apply those same truths more thoughtfully and effectively in our own culture and context.
An example of this has been the production of a statement of faith which has been translated in a variety of languages.
The document applies the same Bible understanding which produced the Westminster Confession of Faith, and does so in a way that engages the theological climate of the late 20th/early 21st centuries.
At this stage plans involve the directors arriving individually and undertaking various teaching and ministry engagements, then formally meeting at a conference center in the Sydney region during the last week of April, with some of them remaining afterward for more engagement with local churches.
We’ll even lash out and put on a proper reception for them.
Surely someone’s going to throw a shrimp on the barbie?
If you have any further interest in this meeting I’ll try and post more detail as it becomes confirmed.
If you want to help out or financially resource this visit contact John Wilson, clerk of the Presbyterian church of Victoria.
He’s not hard to find.
Or talk to me and I’ll put you on to him.
mgpcpastor's blog 