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Ben Myers on The Basis of Union

Ben Myers address to the 2011 ACC National Conference has now been published in the October ACCatalyst. Copies are widely distributed to UCA councils and agencies (also available for download from the ACC wesbite).

Ben expounds The Basis of Union as a Manifesto for Evangelism (an excerpt below)

"On 22 June 1977, the Uniting Church in Australia gathered around the Word for the first time. And the voice of Jesus Christ rang out loud and clear: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples!' As McCaughey said in that first sermon, evangelism is necessary because the risen one has ‘all authority'; and it is possible because he is with us, even to the end of the age. To be embarrassed of the spoken word - to be ashamed of the gospel - is a symptom of spiritual sickness. The health of the church, the renewal of the church, will be found in obedience to Christ's commission and faithfulness to Christ's promise.
What we really need isn't just to become more effective, but to become more faithful, more trusting, more responsive to the Word that God has spoken in Jesus Christ. If evangelistic witness has grown feeble in our churches, perhaps it's because of an impoverished Christological imagination. Perhaps we have forgotten that the crucified one is risen and alive, possessing ‘all authority', reaching out today into all the world - and giving us the joyous privilege of reaching out with him, speaking in his name, announcing his great promise to those whose hearts will leap with joy to hear such strange unheard-of tidings, such glad good news."
Dr Benjamin Myers is Lecturer in Systematic Theology, United Theological College, Sydney

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