Matt and Jon are back together in the Zoom studio discussing a question that was sent to them: why should a pastor preach on sin to Christians?

Don't we Christians already know we are sinners? Don't we already believe in the Gospel? Do we really need sermons that continue to highlight sin? Won't that make the congregation depressed - to hear every Sunday that they are sinners?

If you are a pastor or a lay person, we pray that this episode will help you think through why the Scriptures make preaching on sin a necessity.

At the end we mention ⁠this book⁠ that we found helpful in navigating the current topic.

In this week’s podcast we look at Articles 9 and 10 of the 39 Articles of Religion. Matt spends most of his time working through Article 9 - Of Original or Birth-Sin, and then ends on a discussion regarding the next article - Of Free Will.

These are no small topics, and they tend to invite much debate in the church. These articles succinctly and confidently define the historical Anglican belief.

We hope this episode is edifying and insightful for you.

In this episode we continue our walk through the 39 Articles by looking at Article 8: Of the Three Creeds.

Do Christians today need creeds? Don't we just need our Bible? Isn't it too ritualistic to recite creeds in church?

You can probably guess what we think...

This is a recording of Good Shepherd's Christian Education hour. This particular study was led by Bishop Julian Dobbs of the Diocese of the Living Word.

This week, Jonathan is joined by The Rev. John Onstott who serves as the Rector of St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in Kerrville, Texas.

As pastors (or aspiring pastors) we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that the success of our ministry is connected to our Average Sunday Attendance. While numerical growth is a blessing from God, numbers cannot substitute for faithfulness on the part of us ministers. Success is determined by God, and He calls us to be faithful to our ministry - wherever we are placed.

Sometimes that placement is a small town with a small church.

The Rev. John describes what pastoring in a small, country church is like and offers some wonderful encouragement for anyone serving in a similar setting. Whether you are pastoring in a small or rural church, or you think you never could, John explains the importance of this task.

In today’s podcast, Jonathan sits down with a friend and fellow minister in the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, The Rev. Clayton Hutchins.

Clayton serves as a vicar at Holy Cross Anglican Church and hosts a podcast with The Rev. Steven Wedgeworth, called the BCP Propers Podcast. Clayton and Steven discuss the Sunday proper readings appointed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and you can find them on all major platforms.

In this episode, we discuss Clayton’s denominational journey from Baptist, to Presbyterian, to Anglican. This discussion then forms our larger conversation on the foundational elements of Anglicanism: the formularies. We discuss the importance of the formularies (the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, The 39 Articles of Religion, The Ordinal, and The Homilies) and their use for the Anglican minister today.

The podcast is back, and we have a very special guest with us: the Revd Dr. Lee Gatiss.

Lee is the director of Church Society, a lecturer, author, editor, and much more.

One of his most recent projects was an edit of the First Book of Homilies into modern English. We are using Lee's edition in our Christian Education hour at Church of the Good Shepherd, so we thought it would be a good time to sit down with Lee and discuss what the homilies are, what use they have for pastors and laypeople today, and what the process was like for Lee to accomplish this book.

If you would like more information about Lee, or you would like to buy his new book, you can click on the link above that will take to the Church Society website.

This week is exciting for another reason as we officially announce Church of the Good Shepherd's pastoral training program: The Cranmer Fellowship. If you would like more information about the fellowship you can go to thecranmerfellowship.com, or email us at cranmerfellowship@gmail.com.

This week is a sermon Matt preached a couple weeks back.

The text is John 15:1-5.

We pray you are comforted by the gospel today!

This week we are continuing our walk through the 39 Articles by looking at:

Article 6: Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation

Article 7: Of the Old Testament

Have you ever wondered what place the Apocrypha has and why, for Protestants, it is not considered Scripture? Or what about the Old Testament - specifically the Law... Should Christians still consider the Old Testament as God's word to them today?

Matt covers all of these questions and many more.

In today's episode we continue our walk through the 39 Articles of Religion. In this recording, Matt looks at the following Articles:

Article 3: Of the Going Down of Christ into Hell

Article 4: Of the Resurrection of Christ

Article 5: Of the Holy Spirit

There is a lot to take in here, but we pray that this episode helps you think through these very important theological topics.

In this episode Matt talks about GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), which just held its fourth gathering in Kigali, Rwanda.

Whether you are an Anglican or not, the story of how and why GAFCON was born is the story of the church standing firm on Biblical truth and contending for the "faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

This last gathering in Kigali has brought hope to many Christians, while also ruffling some feathers.

In the wake of the Church of England's proposal for prayers of thanksgiving over same-sex unions (really the outcome of years of moving away from the authority of God's word), GAFCON IV has offered a way forward for those in the Anglican Communion who refuse to stand with the Church of England and her apostasy.

But this way forward was not paved over night.

In this episode Matt walks us through the history of GAFCON and the road leading up to the statement that came out of the most recent gathering: The Kigali Commitment.

In this episode, Jonathan is joined by Father Ife Ojetayo - Church of the Holy Trinity (Syracuse, NY).

Ife shares his journey to pastoral ministry, his experience at Westminster Theological Seminary, and some of his joys and struggles in ministry.

He and Jonathan also discuss the importance of preaching God's word as the method in which we make disciples. "What you win people with is what you win them to," as someone somewhere said at sometime. And it is true. We want to win people to Christ - so we preach Christ and only Christ... all the time.

In this episode, Jonathan is joined by Jerry Shriver - pastor of St. Andrews in Endicott, NY.

Jerry shares his journey in following God's call to pastoral ministry and the struggles along the way.

A call to ministry is not often cut and dry, and it's rarely a "mountaintop experience." Rather, through the ordinary events of life, God takes men by the hand and leads them step by step to where He wants them.

Jerry and Jonathan touch on the uncertainty and anxiety that is often felt in obeying God's call, and they open up about some of their own insecurities in ministry. Serving Christ and his Church is no walk in the park, but with God's help it can be done.

This week, Jonathan is joined by his friend and fellow minister of the gospel, the Rev. Tyler VanFossen.

Tyler is a deacon and teaches Humanities and Bible at a classical Christian school in South Carolina.

In this episode, Jonathan and Tyler discuss what it is about liturgical worship that drew them to Anglicanism, how liturgy shapes our perspective of ourselves and the world around us, and why it's important to think through how we approach God.

If you like this episode, please consider subscribing to the pod. Also, pray and fast over whether you should leave us a review. It will help us get this podcast out to more people!

This week is a sermon from Matt on Philippians 2:12-13. What does it mean to "work out" salvation? And why should you do that with "fear and trembling?"

We hope you enjoy this week's podcast!

In this week's episode, Matt leads us through Article 2 of the 39 Articles of Religion. This one is all about Jesus - his divinity and his humanity.

How is it that Jesus is both God and Man? Why should that be important to us? On the cross, did the Father really forsake the Son? And how does the Lord's Supper play into all of this?

Well, we hope this episode can shed some light on those questions and many more!

We talk about a lot of stuff in this episode. Everything from the English Reformation, reformed theology, the regulative and normative principles of worship, imposing ashes on Ash Wednesday, how tied to the reformers we should be in our own thinking, and ChatGPT (of course). It's all connected though under our broader conversation of how the Anglican church came to be. We hope you glean some insight and encouragement from our conversation!

We also added a link in the show notes to a debate that Matt had a few years back over whether we should impose ashes on Ash Wednesday or not.

This is a recording from a class Matt taught back in 2021. In this class Matt introduces the 39 Articles o Religion - the doctrinal statement of the Anglican Church. In this episode Matt walks through the historical backdrop of the 39 Articles and dives into Article 1: On the Trinity.

This week we talk about the foundations of the English Reformation and some of the major principles of what it means to be Anglican.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day in Lent. This episode is a recording of Matt's Ash Wednesday sermon given in 2020.

We pray that this Ash Wednesday and Lent you will keep your eyes focused on Jesus Christ who bled and died for you.

This week on The Cranmer Fellows Podcast, we discuss some ins and outs of pastoral ministry, such as:

- What kind of man is the pastor supposed to be?

- What does a pastor do all week?

- What do some of the odd Anglican terms like "vicar," "rector," and "priest" mean?

- Why, in Anglicanism, can only priests and bishops administer the Lord's Supper?

- First steps to take for anyone thinking about entering into pastoral ministry.

- Much more!