Leaving well
Dear Friends,
I will never forget the sight of Archbishop Peter Jensen joining our family one morning for Bible reading and prayer after breakfast, wearing his pyjamas and dressing gown. And I will remember him for something more, and that is the clarity and faithfulness of his leadership, most recently as General Secretary of GAFCON until January. Here, from his parting blog, is a sample of that clarity and faithfulness:
Commenting on Paul’s words about those who preach ‘another Jesus’ and a ‘different gospel’ (2 Corinthians 11:4), he writes: “The Gospel is not some children’s game, or some therapy to make us feel better. It is deadly serious. And it needs to be preached faithfully, in its full-orbed truth. It is about the salvation of sinners from hell…
“In our times, the tendency is to omit two absolutely vital parts of this: First, the fact that we are faced with the choice between life and death. We fail to preach judgement, because we do not want to offend. Instead we preach a Christ who will fulfil all our desires – for money, for success, for happiness, because we cannot believe in eternal life and eternal death.
“Second, we omit the summons to repentance which is integral to the true Gospel. For there is no salvation unless we turn away from ourselves and entrust ourselves to Christ as Lord. Our aim as Christians is to please him in all things, because we have received forgiveness through his death on the cross for us and we are now in his kingdom.”
Thank God for leaders like him, and may he raise up many more!
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister/Vicar)