Gordon Cheng
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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.
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]
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]
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 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 own Sydney Anglicans 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] 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"[citation needed].
References
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, Letters to the Editor, March 30, 2006. Accessed via Factiva on April 6, 2007.
- ^ a b c Matthias Media, "Our people". Accessed 7 April, 2007.
- ^ Daily Telegraph, "I must commit to multiculturalism", September 28, 2006. Accessed 7 April, 2007.
- ^ St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford, "St. Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford: Ministry Team". Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford, "Welcome to St. Paul's: Cumberland Unichurch". Accessed 16 June, 2005.
- ^ Matthias Media, "The Sola Panel:Gordon Cheng". Accessed 22 November, 2008.
- ^ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "Book Review: Encouragement: How Words Change Lives - Gordon Cheng", 1 November, 2006. Accessed 7 April, 2007.
- ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Women priests not welcome", Sunday Telegraph, October 26, 2006. Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Anglican Diocese of Sydney, "SydneyAnglicans: Authors: Gordon Cheng". Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Give up giving up", Sunday Telegraph, February 28, 2007. Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Are you sure enough to kill?", Sunday Telegraph, February 6, 2007. Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ Cheng, Gordon, "Is questioning racist?", Sunday Telegraph, February 23, 2007. Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ Akerman, Piers, "Piers Akerman: The hate which makes multiculturalism a huge issue", Daily Telegraph, September 29, 2006. Accessed 8 April, 2007.
- ^ Daily Telegraph, "Why I must commit to multiculturalism", September 28, 2006. Accessed 8 April, 2007.