When Denoms Disappoint: Setting Priorities (UPDATED)

UPDATE Below 7/9/13 Original Post July 2, 2013 On June 20, 2013 the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, the mainline (liberal) and oldest Dutch Reformed denomination in the US removed the “conscience clause” from its Book of Church Order. . . . Continue reading →

Not The Complaint But The Record

Our dissent finds fault with the framing of the SJC’s Statement of the Issue, “Did the Complainant demonstrate…?” The Complaint was not dependent upon evidentiary sufficiency but on the Record of the Case (ROC). The correct Statement of the Issue would be: . . . Continue reading →

The Leithart Verdict Is In: The News is Not Good for Orthodoxy

Peter Leithart is a teaching elder (TE) in the Presbyterian Church in America. Until recently he was a minister, laboring outside the bounds of his presbytery, in a Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) congregation in Moscow, ID. The CREC is the . . . Continue reading →

A New Program for Hired Hands

In the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the early part of the 20th century, one of the more difficult aspects was the question of whether the “modernists” really believed the faith any longer. The suspicion among conservatives was that in some, perhaps many cases, . . . Continue reading →

Lamenting Decline or Questioning Premises and Methods

It started with John Frame’s “Warrior Children” piece in 2003. In June, 2012 Anthony Bradley wondered about the decline of popular presbyterians. More recently Bill Evans has elaborated on theme of the decline of conservative presbyterianism. This morning I wake to find . . . Continue reading →

Colson Calls for Doctrinal Boot Camp: But Which Doctrine?

In 1994 Chuck Colson attempted to convince evangelicals that the decline of the culture was so precipitous that they needed to set aside the historic Protestant doctrine of justification in favor of an intentionally equivocal statement about how we are accepted by . . . Continue reading →

Is the Reformed Faith a Second Blessing?

In response to Jason Stellman’s monday post the question has arisen as to what should be required for membership in a confessional Reformed (e.g., Three Forms) or Presbyterian (Westminster Standards) congregation. The argument has been made that, in American Presbyterian churches, the . . . Continue reading →

Audio Resources: The Presbyterian and Reformed Family Tree

Ever wonder whence the split Ps and broken Rs come? Here’s a great interview with WSC’s Darryl Hart on the Presbyterian and Reformed family tree.

EPC Moves Toward the Mainline and the Mainline Moves Toward the Drain

Recovering the Reformed Confession I described the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (along with the CRC) as a part of the “borderline” (as distinct from the mainline and the sideline). At the time, the CRC appeared to be moving toward the mainline (which trajectory . . . Continue reading →

"Sectarians" v "Relevants" in the PCA and the Strategic Plan

“Nowhere has the disagreements between the “sectarians” and the “relevants” been more evident than in the discussions regarding the Regulative Principle of Worship, women in diaconal ministry, and the cultural mandate of the Church. The Metro New York Presbytery of the PCA, . . . Continue reading →

Hart Brings Machen to the Mainline in Omaha (Link Corrected)

It’s been long enough since the fundamentalist-modernist controversy that much of evangelicalism has coalesced or become indistinguishable from the old liberalism. The old lines between “liberals” and “conservatives” are fuzzy. Many in the mainline are unaware of the sideline or of the . . . Continue reading →