In a recent article in the CHRISTIAN CENTURY, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson and Thomas Albert Howard discussed the appropriate ways for Protestants to celebrate the forthcoming quincentennial of Luther’s issuing of the 95 Theses. They proposed that this commemoration should include some Protestant repentance for sins we have committed in our break with Rome.

Dr. Thomas Johnson is an individual member of the World Reformed Fellowship and he was recently appointed Religious Freedom Ambassador to the Vatican, representing the World Evangelical Alliance and its 600 million members.His paper on "Learning to Love the Persecuted Church" is posted as a pdf right below.

The WRF highly commends this material to its members.

"But how insensible and unmoved are most men, about the great things of another world! How dull are their affections! How heavy and hard their hearts in these matters! Here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small.

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The need for the prophetic voice

No one wants to see an end to the Anglican Communion. That is why the Primates went to Canterbury.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That is what the Bible tells us.

We are commanded to enter the kingdom of God by entrusting ourselves to Christ as our Lord and Saviour. That is, we enter and continue through repentance and faith.

No sooner do I begin my new series of the state of the Church in Scotland than the Scottish Social Attitudes survey is published, resulting in headlines along the lines of ‘Atheists now the majority in Scotland’.  

As we think through the significance of the meeting of Primates in Canterbury, we come to the key subject of repentance.

The issues before us have doctrinal and political aspects. But, finally, they are spiritual and that is why repentance matters.

It’s Easter.  Time for Easter bunnies, crowded roads and of course Easter chocolate eggs.  But as regards the latter, not for long. Sainsbury’s, Nestle and Cadbury’s have apparently removed Easter from our seasonal chocolate. Why?  

After the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, news reporters are again raising the agonizing question of why so many young people who have grown up in Europe are being radicalized and joining ISIS or other extremist religious organizations. The statistics are truly disturbing.

Fellowship, or Communion, is a very precious gift of the gospel. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for his Church, his Bride. Christians are united to Christ for their salvation. Inevitably, then, we are united with one another. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

To assess the implications of the Primates’ gathering in January and what we have seen subsequently, I am suggesting that we go back to basics. The first point was the authority of the Bible over our consciences and over the churches. It is God’s word written.

Since the Primates gathering in January I have been trying to assess its significance for the Anglican Communion.