Church growth is a thorny subject. First there are the thistles of rationalism in which self-proclaimed experts offer to sell to pastors and churches a three-point program which will transform their average congregation to a super church. Back in the late 80s and early . . . Continue reading →
Church Discipline
Beyond Bishops And Isolation
Americans are an independent lot. The original colonists left the old world for the new. Their revolutionary successors in the 18th century formalized that independence with a war and constitutional documents. The American desire for independence helped to propel us west beyond . . . Continue reading →
Messages To Millennials (2): Church
In part 1 we looked at the some of the challenges Millennials face relative to marriage. According to the recent Pew Study, Millennials identify with organized religion at a lower rate than previous generations. To quote Billy Joel, they “didn’t start the . . . Continue reading →
Scripture Is Sufficient
Seeing that Christ Jesus is he whom God the Father hath commanded only to be heard and followed of his sheep, we judge it necessary, that his gospel be truly and openly preached in every church and assembly of this realm; and . . . Continue reading →
Church Membership: The Assembly At The Foot Of The Mountain
From the outset, it is important to note that church membership did not begin in the New Testament, but rather in the Old Testament. Exodus 19 is considered the first church gathering in the Bible, because God commanded Moses to consecrate and . . . Continue reading →
The New Normal
Internet pornography is probably the number one pastoral problem in the world today. I wonder if it is set to become yet more so: as the social shame dimension passes away, it will be harder to maintain discipline on this issue. The . . . Continue reading →
When Pastors Go Rogue
The church always exists in some culture, somewhere. Prior to the new heavens and the new earth, the church will never be free of the influence of the prevailing culture where it finds itself. Because we’re in the culture, because we are . . . Continue reading →
Now in Czech: What Pastors Shouldn’t Tell Their Wives
When Is a Church Not a Church?
An HB Classic
I was searching for something the other day and ran across chapter 18 of the Scots Confession (1560) which speaks to the “Notes” (from the Latin, nota or “mark” or “indicator”) of the True Kirk (church). I’ll return to the Scots Confession . . . Continue reading →
How To Fence the Lord’s Table (2)
How to Fence the Lord’s Table (Part 1) There is irony in fencing the Lord’s Table. What should be a joyous celebration, after due preparation of course, and a communion of believers with their risen Lord and with one another, is for . . . Continue reading →
I Get Questions: How to Fence the Lord’s Table?
After the Central Valley Conference last month I promised to answer some of the questions submitted for the Q/A for which we didn’t have time. One of them asked essentially: whom should Reformed Churches admit to the Lord’s Table? There are three . . . Continue reading →
Kim Riddlebarger on the Keys of the Kingdom
Great stuff from Kim in TableTalk
More on Fencing the Table: Dutch Reformed Voices
I’ve been thinking more lately about the scandal of fencing the table. I should have thought to do this earlier. Researching an answer to another question I ran across some interesting Dutch Reformed (in this case, Christian Reformed) sources on this question. . . . Continue reading →
On Lapsing Members: Coping with a Transient Culture
Re-Posted from Sept 9, 2009. The HB has addressed the problem of “churchless evangelicals” before. This question is a little different. How should consistories/sessions address the problem of members of a congregation who simply seem to disappear as if they’ve fallen off . . . Continue reading →
Now This is the Way It's Done
It’s one thing for consistories, sessions, presbyteries, classes, synods, and general assemblies to make statements against the Federal Vision (and the New Perspective(s) on Paul). Those were and are necessary and important preliminary steps but those statements must be followed with ecclesiastical . . . Continue reading →
Audio: Guy Waters on Church Membership
One aspect of Reformed theology, piety, and practice that distnguishes confessional Protestantism from broad evangelicalism is a high view of the visible, institutional church. Calvin spent most of book 4 of the Institutes on the visible church. The Belgic Confession spends two . . . Continue reading →
If We Won't Discipline Are We Really A Church?
re-post from 12 September 2007 — One of the clearest commands our Lord gave during his ministry, before his crucifixion, death, burial, and ascension, was to practice discipline in the congregations (Matt 18). It has been abused, but more often it has . . . Continue reading →
If We Won't Discipline, Are We Really the Church?
One of the clearest commands our Lord gave during his ministry, before his crucifixion, death, burial, and ascension, was to practice discipline in the congregations (Matt 18). It has been abused, but more often it has been neglected. The Apostle Paul also . . . Continue reading →