Gordon Cheng

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The cover of Six Steps to Encouragement, one of Cheng's books
The cover of Six Steps to Encouragement, one of Cheng's books

Gordon Cheng is an Australian Christian author and writer. He is currently the Resources Editor of Matthias Media (a non-denominational Christian publisher based in Sydney),[1][2] and an Anglican presbyter (or priest) in the Diocese of Sydney.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Of Swedish and Chinese descent,[3] Cheng was ordained in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and worked for ten years as a senior staffworker with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) at the University of Melbourne, and then ministered at a number of churches in Sydney. He commenced employment at Matthias Media in February 2004 to work on Matthias Media's resources other than its flagship magazine, The Briefing.[2]

A Fellow of the AJ Copeman Society,[citation needed] Cheng is also an active member of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. He currently ministers at St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford,[4] and from 2004-6 he was involved in the Cumberland University Church, ministering to the Cumberland Campus of Sydney University.[5] Cheng is married with three children.[2]

[edit] Writings

Cheng is the author of several books and other resources, including the Pathway Bible Guides and Six Steps to Encouragement which were published by Matthias Media.[6] He is an associate of the Anglican Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, and has edited several of his books.

Since the mid 1990s, Cheng has also written numerous articles for The Briefing, a popular evangelical journal distributed in Australia, England and the United States. He is a critic of the ordination of women to the priesthood[7] and homosexuality, and has written on the priority of Christian ministry over secular work.

A a well-known contributor to online and print media in Sydney, Cheng has had numerous letters published in the Sydney Morning Herald and other newspapers,[8] and he posts regularly on many websites and forums, including the Sydney Diocese's own Sydney Anglicans website, where several of his articles have also been published.[9] He has also posted on the Ship of Fools website. In March 2006 some of these posts, in relation to a lawsuit involving the sacking of a lay worker in one Anglican church in Sydney, were republished in the Sydney Morning Herald as a defence of the Diocese's actions.[10] More recently, Cheng has been a guest opinion writer for Sydney's Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, writing opinion pieces on religious and ethical issues, including Lent,[11] euthanasia,[12] and racism,[13] In late 2006 he was also enlisted by Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman to be a guest writer for a Muslim-Christian debate run by the paper on multiculturalism; others participating included Lebanese Muslim representative Keysar Trad.[14][15] An article entitled "The Puritan Anglicans of Sydney", in the March 2007 edition of Quadrant magazine, quoted Cheng and referred to him as "a prominent diocesan ideologue".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sydney Morning Herald, Letters to the Editor, March 30, 2006. Accessed via Factiva on April 6, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c Matthias Media, "Our people". Accessed 7 April 2007.
  3. ^ Daily Telegraph, "I must commit to multiculturalism", September 28, 2006. Accessed 7 April 2007.
  4. ^ St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford, "St. Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford: Ministry Team". Accessed 8 April 2007.
  5. ^ St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford, "Welcome to St. Paul's: Cumberland Unichurch". Accessed 16 June 2005.
  6. ^ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "Book Review: Encouragement: How Words Change Lives - Gordon Cheng", 1 November 2006. Accessed 7 April 2007.
  7. ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Women priests not welcome", Sunday Telegraph, October 26, 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  8. ^ See for example, The Age, "Letters to the Editor: A risk ally for a holy war", 26 August 2003; The Australian, "Letters to the Editor: Irrelevance stalks Anglicans", 29 November 2003; Sydney Morning Herald, "Letters to the Editor: Sifting the Facts and Fallacies of Climate Change", 16 June 2004; Sydney Morning Herald, "Letters to the Editor: Jensen inspires disgust and hostility - but so did Jesus", 15 October 2004; Sydney Morning Herald, "Letters to the Editor: Greedy media play the game by their own rules", 9 May 2006. All articles accessed via Factiva on 8 April 2007.
  9. ^ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "SydneyAnglicans: Authors: Gordon Cheng". Accessed 8 April 2007.
  10. ^ Totaro, Paola, "Church public relations blogs up discussion about the doctor and the vicar", Sydney Morning Herald, March 30, 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007. The claims in the article that Matthias Media was the "Anglican public relations organ" of the Diocese were disputed in the following day's Letters to the Editor. See note 1 above.
  11. ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Give up giving up", Sunday Telegraph, February 28, 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  12. ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Are you sure enough to kill?", Sunday Telegraph, February 6, 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  13. ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Is questioning racist?", Sunday Telegraph, February 23, 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  14. ^ Akerman, Piers, "Piers Akerman: The hate which makes multiculturalism a huge issue", Daily Telegraph, September 29, 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  15. ^ Daily Telegraph, "Why I must commit to multiculturalism", September 28, 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.

[edit] External links