In far too many churches, the Bible is nearly silent. The public reading of Scripture has been dropped from many services and the sermon has been sidelined, reduced to a brief devotional appended to the music. Many preachers accept this as a necessary concession to the age of entertainment. Some hope to put in a... Continue Reading

Joining a church, like seeking a spouse, is daunting. Loving others makes us vulnerable and committing ourselves to a church immerses us in the needs of other sinners. Eventually, every congregation will find a way to get under our skin, frustrate us, or even wound us—and we will do the same to them. Our relationships... Continue Reading

In the Reformation, the Reformed Churches appealed to the unrevoked divine promises to Abraham, “I will be a God to you and to your children, which the Apostle Peter reiterated in Acts 2:39 and thus confessed infant baptism as essential to the Reformed faith and practice. In contrast, as Denault observes, the Baptists wanted to... Continue Reading

By a vote of 25-4 , the International Conference of Reformed Churches has decided to suspend the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.  This comes after the RCN last month at their synod decided to open all the offices of the church to women.    By a vote of 25-4 (with two abstentions), the International Conference... Continue Reading

The Word of God is holy and inerrant. There is neither “gender apartheid” nor “toxic masculinity” in Scripture but the creational differences and order between male and female are clearly revealed, taught, and applied. The visible church is the earthly manifestation of the eschatological kingdom of God but eschatology does not wipe out nature (creation).... Continue Reading

Entertainment is a good thing, but its purpose is the refreshment of the mind and body, not the transformation of the mind or the edification of the spirit. The danger of entertainment in worship is not about which musical instruments are permitted or what era of hymns the church should sing. The danger is found... Continue Reading

Debate about the future of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN) as members of the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC) has been continuing in Jordan, Ontario.  At their synod last month, the RCN fully adopted women’s ordination.  Anticipating this move, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church mandated their delegates to the ICRC to propose the... Continue Reading

Beckwith says the failure of the resolution introduced by conservatives to declare the church’s “unchanging commitment to Jesus Christ as the son of God, the only name by which any person may be saved” was extremely disturbing. “When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly found in the... Continue Reading

The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend Paul Bayes, declared earlier: “As the world listens to us, the world needs to hear us say that LGBT orientation and identity is not a crime. LGBT orientation and identity is not a sickness. And LGBT orientation and identity is not a sin,” Bayes added, according to BBC... Continue Reading

“It is impossible to deliver a compelling message if the preacher lacks confidence. Yet, that confidence must be theologically grounded, not personally derived. Our confidence must rest in the power of the Word and of the Spirit, and a from settled assurance that God has ordained preaching as his means to strengthen the flock and... Continue Reading