In the wake of the Counter-Reformation and the increasing spread of the Jesuit missions movement, the King of Denmark, Fredrick IV (1671–1730), responded by launching the first Protestant mission. Franz Julius Lutkens, the chaplain to the king, founded the Danish Royal Mission . . . Continue reading →
Missional and Reformed
Ministry Update From South Africa
Editor’s note: The following is an update from Rev. Antonio Coppola on his work and ministry in South Africa. Earlier this year, he wrote an article discussing his church-planting efforts at Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, as well as his work at Mukhanyo Theological . . . Continue reading →
Jesus Versus The Movers & Shakers
For well over a decade now, I have heard Christians approvingly employ phraseology about social and ecclesiastical constructs—phrases such as “a seat at the table” and “power structures.” I have a friend who—when he was first coming into the denomination in which . . . Continue reading →
On Comity And Mission
Comity between churches is a topic that few in NAPARC dare raise. Darryl Hart, however, wrote this piece doing just that. Many are reluctant to talk about the comity agreement because it is not always observed—likely few church planters or pastors even . . . Continue reading →
Latest Ministry News From South Africa
Editor’s note: The following is an update from Rev. Antonio Coppola on his work and ministry in South Africa. Earlier this year, he wrote an article discussing his church-planting efforts at Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, as well as his work at Mukhanyo Theological . . . Continue reading →
Give Me the Hills and Hollers, Or I Die!
So, in general, there is some awareness in the wider church of this reality in underserved America’s small-town and rural regions. There is still, however, a greater need to raise up an explicitly Reformed and Presbyterian witness to serve these areas.
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The Gospel Makes Progress In Milan
On Sunday, January 29, 2023 we received a new member into our church. Federico Gobbo, 28, (pictured above, while Elder Vittorio Calderaro makes an announcement from the pulpit) stood during public worship and took vows of membership, entering into full communion with Chiesa Riformata Filadelfia. Continue reading →
Does Jesus Love Sinners In The Mountains, On The Plains, and In the Hollers?
The Mission to the Middle
On Tuesday of this week, HRA board member, PCA ruling elder, and co-host of the Presbycast, Brad Isbell published an important essay, which called attention to the lack of attention paid, in the confessional Presbyterian and Reformed world, to the forgotten middle . . . Continue reading →
“Do You Know Of A Good P&R Church Nearby?”
It happens often—a friend or listener sends a message with the question: “Do you know of a good confessional Presbyterian or Reformed church near X?” All too often, after searching online, consulting denominational websites, even asking other friends, the answer is no. . . . Continue reading →
Reformation in Africa: Reaching Africa for the Gospel
One hundred and fifty years ago, Africa was predominantly pagan in the south, and Muslim in the north. Yet incredibly, today most of the world’s Christians are found in Africa. There are presently an estimated 680 million (and rapidly growing) professing Christians . . . Continue reading →
An Update on the Reformation in Africa
In May, we opened our new training center in Meru, Kenya and had men attending our class on Covenant Theology from Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and two from Ethiopia. Nearly forty in attendance. I celebrated my 70th birthday during that . . . Continue reading →
Synod Of Dort On Missions
Dort was a missionary assembly, discussing how to evangelize unreached people groups. Continue reading →
Preaching To Soil
Pearls should not be cast before swine. This has its truth, but kingdom preaching pays no attention to this. Instead, the preaching here in this parable is undiscriminating, wild, even promiscuous. The Word is scattered randomly. There is no strategy, programming or . . . Continue reading →
Talking About Practice
The simple fact that a Reformed or Presbyterian church or missionary is engaged in the work of missions does not necessarily mean that the work is also being done in a Reformed fashion. With a view from the mission field of Germany . . . Continue reading →
Two Years Is Not Enough
A considerable percentage of church planting in the USA is done under the influence of a model that is likely to lead to congregations that are not Reformed in their practice and perhaps not in their theology and piety. That model says, . . . Continue reading →
The Five Points Of A Calvinist (On Having A Care For Visitors)
I do not remember exactly when I read Jack Miller’s 1986 critique of the NAPARC world, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, but I suspect it was about 1990. I was pastoring a small NAPARC congregation and I had been charged with helping the . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast For June 19, 2022: What Happens When Christians Try To Be “Relevant” And Why The Focus On The Confessions?
Despite our fondest wish to get back to the series on the Canons of Dort, the Science tells us that that it is time for only our second ever best of episode. In this episode we feature some audio from January 2010, . . . Continue reading →
A New URCNA Congregation Forming In Norfolk, VA
Here in Norfolk, VA, the Lord is working to build His Church. In the summer of 2021, a group of families began meeting regularly to study the Heidelberg Catechism and the Bible together. Over the next few months, these families met with . . . Continue reading →
Madison Reformed: Bringing Reformed Theology, Piety, And Practice To Southern Indiana
In 1850, a former slave named William J. Anderson built a church building in downtown Madison, Indiana. Anderson had escaped the clutches of slavery and made it just across the Ohio River into Madison. He became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and, . . . Continue reading →
Conversion, Church Planting, And The Due Use Of Ordinary Means
As a follow up to the recent post about the intersection between Acts 29, Mars Hill, and the PCA, someone sent a link to the application to be filled in/out on for the Spanish River Church Planting program. One of the questions on . . . Continue reading →