Gordon Cheng

Gordon Cheng is an Australian Christian author and writer. He is a Bible teacher at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, employed by the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Prior to this he was Campus Director (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) with the Cumberland Campus of Sydney University. For several years he was the Resources Editor of Matthias Media (a non-denominational Christian publisher based in Sydney).[1][2] He is also an Anglican presbyter (or priest) in the Diocese of Sydney.

Early life

Of Swedish and Chinese descent,[3] Cheng was ordained in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.

Work

Cheng worked for 10 years as a senior staff worker with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students at the University of Melbourne and then ministered at a number of churches in Sydney. He was employed by Matthias Media from February 2004 to January 2009 to work on their resources other than its flagship magazine, The Briefing.[2]

Cheng is also an active member of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. He ministers at St Paul's Church, Carlingford,[4] and from 2004 to 2006 he was involved in the "Cumberland University Church", ministering to the Cumberland Campus of Sydney University.[5]

Writings

Cheng is the author of several books and other resources published by Matthias Media, including the Pathway Bible Guides Bible study series, and his first book/multimedia publication with Matthias,[6] the Six Steps to Encouragement course.[7] 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[8] and homosexuality and has written on the priority of Christian ministry over secular work.

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,[9] and he posts regularly on many websites and forums, including the Sydney diocese's "Sydney Anglican"s website where several of his articles have also been published.[10] 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.[11] 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,[12] euthanasia,[13] and racism,[14] 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.[15][16]

Personal life

Cheng is married with three children.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, "Letters to the Editor", 30 March 2006. Accessed via Factiva on 6 April 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Matthias Media, "Our people". Accessed 7 April 2007.
  3. ↑ Daily Telegraph, "I must commit to multiculturalism", 28 September 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. ↑ Matthias Media, "The Sola Panel:Gordon Cheng". Accessed 22 November 2008.
  7. ↑ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "Book Review: Encouragement: How Words Change Lives – Gordon Cheng", 1 November 2006. Accessed 7 April 2007.
  8. ↑ Cheng, Gordon, "Women priests not welcome", Sunday Telegraph, 26 October 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "SydneyAnglicans: Authors: Gordon Cheng". Accessed 8 April 2007.
  11. ↑ Totaro, Paola, "Church public relations blogs up discussion about the doctor and the vicar", Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 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.
  12. ↑ Cheng, Gordon, "Give up giving up", Sunday Telegraph, 28 February 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  13. ↑ Cheng, Gordon, "Are you sure enough to kill?", Sunday Telegraph, 6 February 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  14. ↑ Cheng, Gordon, "Is questioning racist?", Sunday Telegraph, 23 February 2007. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  15. ↑ Akerman, Piers, "Piers Akerman: The hate which makes multiculturalism a huge issue", Daily Telegraph, 29 September 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.
  16. ↑ Daily Telegraph, "Why I must commit to multiculturalism", 28 September 2006. Accessed 8 April 2007.

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