British church planter Richard Coekin has told Sydney Anglicans that evangelicals "mustn't allow a permissive liberal agenda to reinvent the Bible'.
Mr Coekin, who spoke at St Andrew's Cathedral on Friday and Saturday, says any Christian who wants to live a godly life under Christ Jesus will be opposed and must be willing to take a stand for what they believe.
"Laity and clergy alike must be willing to contend for the faith once for all delivered," Mr Coekin told Sydneyanglicans.net.
"In our own generation, there are issues of the uniqueness of Christ in the context of western pluralism; the reliability of the Bible in the context of liberalism; loss of trust; sexual immorality and gender distinction where Christ and the Bible are challenged," he says.
He added that Christians may prefer to get on with the task of gospel proclamation, but they must also be ready to defend the authority of Scripture when others use God’s grace as a ‘licence for immorality’.
"All Christians must be ready to graciously but firmly defend the truth of the Bible. We musn't allow a permissive liberal agenda to reinvent the Bible or to tear politically incorrect parts of it out."
Mr Coekin is the senior pastor of the ‘Co-Mission Initiative’, a netork of Anglican churches in South-west London.
He joined the Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, at the inaugural Ministry Intensive and 2006 Spring Convention.
The seminars had a theme of "proclamation and protest'and aimed to equip full-time ministers and laity in defending the gospel when their faith is under attack.
They were sponsored by the department of Ministry Training and Development.
Mr Coekin had his licence reinstated by the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this year after a row with the Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler, stemming from divisions over homosexual clergy and the authority of the Bible.
Mr Coekin's licence had been revoked after he organised the ordination of three of his staff without his bishop's permission, claiming they were "out of communion' over the issue of same-sex unions.
The Civil Partnership Act " which allows gay people in Britain to "marry' same sex partners is continuing to cause a row within the Church of England.
The Church has allowed homosexual clergy to enter unions on the condition they remain celibate.
Sydney Diocese's Standing Committee supported Mr Coekin's actions.
A shared mission to multiply congregations
Mr Coekin says he is "excited to hear of the Diocesan Mission and the clear communication to multiply gospel congregations'.
"We've been trying to do this in South West London with the Co-Mission initiative. We find we can start new networks of people by starting new congregations, he says.
"We find we can really reach people with the gospel of Jesus by multiplying congregations that can access different social networks, for example [we've started congregations in] schools, sports centres, at the intersection of tube lines as well as more conventional parish church buildings.
"There still remains some resistance from those who see parishes as exclusions zones rather than areas of responsibility but when there are people in a parish who have had no opportunity to hear the gospel in a language they understand, we must work together in multiplying gospel congregations."
CDs of the talks are available. Visit [url=http://www.cathedral.sydney.anglican.asn.au]http://www.cathedral.sydney.anglican.asn.au[/url]
