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At my church, the Lord’s Supper elements are distributed (the bread then the wine), held, and then the congregants partake in unison to demonstrate the communal nature of the meal. I like this way of doing it though it’s certainly not the only way. . . . Continue reading →
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A recent visit to what I suppose to be an ordinary, middle-of-the-road, mid-sized Southern Baptist church stunned me, though it shouldn’t have—I should have known better. What I encountered (they used the word “encounter” a lot) was arguably not a Christian worship service. . . . Continue reading →
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You might have heard that one of the Presbyterian Church in America’s most notable ministers got in trouble, was suspended by his presbytery, went through a lengthy discipline process, eventually resigned his church, and two days later was restored as a member . . . Continue reading →
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Brad Isbell: As you know in times of ecclesial controversy and change the conservative, confessional, or traditionalist side is often accused of making slippery slope arguments. Sometimes these arguments are consciously made as in Jon Payne’s recent post at the Gospel Reformation Network, . . . Continue reading →
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…when many people more to the right use the term, they have something specific in mind. Stephen Wolfe’s (no relation to William Wolfe) The Case for Christian Nationalism isn’t arguing for a pro-life, pro-natural marriage Christian liberalism. He is, rather, echoing interwar European right ideas . . . Continue reading →
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It’s 2024 and NAPARC denominations stand almost alone for male-only pastors/preachers and lay leaders (elders). The Southern Baptists are far from solid on this issue (https://sbcamendment.org/) and most evangelicals are giving way by degrees. Decisive action from the SBC would help, but . . . Continue reading →
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In all controversy, however, the great principle of liberty should be preserved. I am old-fashioned in my belief that the Bible is true, but I am equally old-fashioned in my love of freedom. I am opposed to the attack on freedom in whatever . . . Continue reading →
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Many PCA churches (more than half?) have a psalter and they don’t even know it. Of course, some churches have switched to the excellent, newer Trinity Psalter Hymnal or another good psalter, but if a church has the very common Trinity Hymnal they already have . . . Continue reading →
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It’s a rare week when I don’t receive a message from someone in the conservative Presbyterian and Reformed world reporting a practice that the scandalized sender has witnessed in a NAPARC church. Often the report is of females reading scripture or leading some . . . Continue reading →
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J. Gresham Machen was certainly prescient about the havoc theological liberalism would wreak on the mainline churches in the 20th century. He also saw the rise of fascism and ethnonationalism in the 1920s and 1930s. We would do well to consider those . . . Continue reading →
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An overture to the 51st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America would expand the pool of representatives for those accused by church courts and bring the PCA’s practice more in line with that of her conservative presbyterian sister denominations. Church . . . Continue reading →
Drs. R. Scott Clark and Harrison Perkins, and small-church ministers Aaron De Boer and Zach Byrd made up a geographically and denominationally diverse panel of earnest, pastoral, and learned men. Here is the episode audio in its native habitat. For future reference, . . . Continue reading →
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Choirs (and their casual, modern descendants worship teams and praise bands) have been near-ubiquitous in Reformed churches for less than two centuries, but just like government programs, once instituted these groups are difficult to disband even though their historical pedigree is weak. Arrangements may be . . . Continue reading →
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Nothing provides a jolt of controversy like touching the worship rails, Almost every discussion of the Second and Fourth Commandments turns into a skirmish if not a pitched battle. While some Reformed folk would slot issues connected to images, worship music, and the finer . . . Continue reading →
Unless you view a state capitol building as a Christian house of worship, your level of concern for allegedly religious displays allowed therein (good, banal, benign, or evil) should be different than your level of concern for what happens in Christian churches.
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100 years have passed since the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s classic polemic-apologetic book Christianity and Liberalism. The world has changed a lot in the intervening century. The Protestant churches certainly look different, with the mainline (in and for which Machen fought) hurtling . . . Continue reading →
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Thesis: No confessional presbyterian church will long remain confessional or presbyterian if it loses Reformed worship. First, some definitions: Confessional: orthodox soteriology and doctrine (doctrine of God, Christology, covenant) according to the Reformed confessions Presbyterian: government by ordained male (per scripture) elders . . . Continue reading →
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WE ARE RELIABLY INFORMED that this is “Super Bowl Week,” a promotional publicity-fest that is something like Advent for the USA’s greatest holy day. That this holy day falls on the first day of next week—the Lord’s Day if you are a confessional presbyterian—may . . . Continue reading →
“How can the profusion of lying images of Jesus not undermine faith in the church’s witness…especially for children? What’s the cognitive effect of seeing a dozen versions of Jesus? Continue reading
If you are connected to the internet at all in 2023, you have surely seen a “new” thing: a profusion of images generated by so-called artificial intelligence (AI) prompted only by text descriptions and informed by the millions of images on the . . . Continue reading →
