But at that moment, there was something about hearing the words, in the King James Version, as old and familiar to me as my own security blanket: “And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.” It hit me that this was my problem: I was sore afraid.  ... Continue Reading

“This particular meeting came on the tail end of one doozy of a year. We had just moved into a new church facility at a completely new location. The process of transferring to that new location was all encompassing, and everyone was exhausted by the time the move was complete.”   “How are you doing?”... Continue Reading

There is commonality among the children of the same parents, to be sure; however, the unique personality of each child–more than the commonalities–is what often draws the attention and focus of parents. This is no less true in the ecclesiastical world than it is in the home. The church (universal) owes her origin to the... Continue Reading

Without realising, this man had offered a fine theological defence of the regulative principle of worship. I daren’t argue that I wasn’t quite a fully paid up regulative principle adherent – though I’m not so far away in practice – because, despite our divergent logical paths, we both alighted on the same conclusion: that’s not... Continue Reading

Admittedly, my usage of the word “trend” is highly subjective. I have no statistical support to prove these 4 practices are in fact “trends” among churches today. My list is based purely on my limited experience and limited observation. Additionally, in titling this post I intentionally chose the word “uncomfortable.” In my mind, these 4... Continue Reading

“Let me say, yes we’ve lost these members. But again, we’ve gained back nearly half the ones we’ve lost. Maybe forty percent at this point,” explained Mason. “So yes, our numbers have declined in attendance. But I would remind us all numbers are declining in American Christianity all across the board. Year by year churches... Continue Reading

If we have a right view of the church and its people we aren’t going to fall into the silly trap of leaving every time we are disappointed. If we recognise that the church is full of sinners we won’t enter into a covenant relationship with its people with our eyes closed. In fact, we... Continue Reading

Sometimes senior saints question their usefulness in the church as they age. That’s unfortunate because they’re an essential part of the body of Christ. Although we trust in our sovereign and wise God to add and take away from his local body as he sees fit, church life is different without them.    A couple... Continue Reading

“In June 2016, FPC Bethlehem voted overwhelmingly to leave PCUSA over theological differences, including the mainline denomination’s increasing acceptance of homosexuality. With 1,048 voting members present, 76.5 percent approved a measure to leave the denomination and joined the theologically conservative ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.”   A judge has ruled that the property of... Continue Reading

In the church that I pastor, we have a brief time of confession of sin, immediately after the reading of God’s law. After we have a time of silent confession of sin, we have a pastoral prayer of confession followed by an assurance of pardon. This is a longstanding practice in many Reformed churches. Something of... Continue Reading