Sydney Diocese's ten-year Mission plan puts church planting right at the heart of its strategy. With this in mind, over 40 ministers and interested parties from around the Diocese and beyond met last month, to discuss how to develop a ‘College of Planters'.

Fifteen years ago, The Briefing, in its 13th issue, went to town on denominationalism with such articles as, ‘How to Survive Your Denomination' and ‘Denomination as Idol'.

The sentencing of the smiling Bali killer Amrozi to execution has raised an intense debate in Australia. Some victims' family members expressed their pleasure when they heard the verdict. Others gave a different response, saying things like ‘execution is too quick, he should be made to rot in hell', or words to that effect.

France, the nation that once led Christendom, has morphed into a secularist state. To speak about the claims of Christ, except in an academic context, is banned in French schools. Religion rarely makes it into the public domain, and Protestant churches have such a low profile that are often labelled as cults. However, a dedicated band of European Christians have sought to make a dent in French secularism by claiming 2003 as the ‘Year of the Bible'.

The Episcopal Church in the USA has voted to accept Gene Robinson, a minister living in a long-term homosexual relationship, as a bishop. GEORGE CONGER, a conservative minister and journalist from Florida, reports exclusively for Southern Cross from Minneapolis.

A former Latin teacher from Bulli near Wollongong retired recently as Bishop of North West Australia. Bishop Anthony Nichols, also at different times in his life a missionary in Indonesia, a tutor at Moore College and the Principal of a college to train Aboriginal ordinands in Darwin, acknowledges that his appointment, nearly 12 years ago, was ‘fairly unusual'.

Last month's Cell Church Summit in Brisbane gave many Australian ministers their first taste of a church growth strategy that has swept the world.