American Religion

On Leaving The Mainline: Some Friendly Advice To The Alliance Of Reformed Churches

by on January 8, 2022 | 4 Comments

Kathryn Post, writing for the Religion News Service (HT: Christianity Today), writes, “On New Year’s Day, 43 congregations of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) split from the national denomination, one of the oldest Protestant bodies in the United States, in part over theological differences regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy.” This move, she says, “follows the RCA General Synod’s October decision to adopt measures for ‘grace-filled separation’ with departing churches and to appoint a team to develop a restructuring plan for those that remain.”  These 43 congregations (so far) have formed The Alliance of Reformed Churches. Continue reading →

Good News For The Reformed Churches: Small Is In Again

by on December 20, 2021 | 9 Comments
Walnut Creek RCUS Kansas City

“According to the recently released Faith Communities Today study, half of the congregations in the United States have 65 people or fewer, while two-thirds of congregations have fewer than 100.” Continue reading →

It Can Be Difficult But We Need To Open Our Eyes And Pay Attention To The Facts

by on September 29, 2021 | 12 Comments

I am not going to quote this article on the Heidelblog because some of the language in it is not fit for a family publication.

These Things Did Not Happen Only In The Old Testament

by on July 16, 2021 | 4 Comments

"The taking of a leaf is the cutting of the root of clinging. When this root is finally cut, you are safe as the original body of all life appears to deluded minds." –@KosenGregSnyder Read more about the Ordination of the Cherry . . . Continue reading →

New In Print: Survival And Resistance In Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction In The Pacific Northwest

by on March 26, 2021 | 3 Comments

The publisher’s blurb says: Over the last thirty years, conservative evangelicals have been moving to the Northwest of the United States, where they hope to resist the impact of secular modernity and to survive the breakdown of society that they anticipate. These . . . Continue reading →

The Myth Of The Bell Rope

by on March 2, 2021 | 1 Comment

Events described by the author of the Savage manuscript, in other words, provide an opportunity to reimagine Edwards as an active promoter of the most radical dimensions of the evangelical new birth experience—a figure who, during the early months of the Awakening, . . . Continue reading →

I’ve Had It With Organized Religion

by on February 27, 2021 | 6 Comments

Had I a nickel for every time someone has said “I’ve had it with the church” or “I’ve had it with organized religion” as they walked away from the visible church, I could retire the national debt. Walking away from the visible . . . Continue reading →

Warning Signs About The State Of Evangelical Pop Culture: The Visible, Institutional Church Matters

by on February 12, 2021 | 8 Comments

The evangelical world is gravely ill. The disease is not Covid-19. It is not even what you might suppose it to be. After all, we should not be surprised to find out about sin within the highest precincts of Big Eva. The . . . Continue reading →

Of QAnon, Calvin, And the LA Times

by on January 20, 2021 | 13 Comments

It is a deep animus that would seek to tie John Calvin (1509–1564) to the QAnon-fueled wackos who stormed the American capitol earlier this month but that is what Richard Hughes tries to do in a recent editorial in the Los Angeles . . . Continue reading →

An Appreciation Of J. I. Packer And A Dissent

by on July 22, 2020 | 6 Comments

On 17 July, 2020 J. I. Packer (b. 1926) went to be with our Lord. Like Carl Trueman I am thankful for Packer. As a young evangelical, Packer and John R. W. Stott saved me from the mindless evangelicalism toward which I . . . Continue reading →