The Reformation, The Regulative Principle, And The Modern Church: Examining John Calvin’s Dedication To Purity In Worship (Part 2)

reformed worship church pulpit

When I first read Calvin’s Institutes, the clarity with which he described the absolute transcendence and holiness of God struck me, especially as I considered how often my younger, more charismatic self was willing and eager to dismiss concerns about my preferences in worship, even if the concerns came from Scripture itself. Continue reading →

The Reformation, The Regulative Principle, And The Modern Church: Examining Calvin’s Dedication To Purity In Worship (Part 1)

reformed worship church pulpit

Walk into any corporate worship service today and you will almost certainly observe that the congregational singing is accompanied by instruments. There is no doubt that the common worship style of today, filled with various instruments and too often supplemented by stage lights and smoke machines, differs significantly from the worship one would have observed in a seventeenth-century Reformed church. Continue reading →

Owen On Worship

In general, it is certain that God intended to declare hereby that the work which Moses had to do, —the tabernacle he was to erect, and the worship thereof, —was not, either in the whole, or in any part of it, or . . . Continue reading →

God’s Love Is Not Reckless

Wafting over the airwaves of the local Christian radio station came the predictable chord progressions of every modern worship song known to humanity. I had turned on the radio to quell the boys’ incessant bickering currently testing my patience, and after a . . . Continue reading →

Review: A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church By Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong

a history of contemporary praise and worship understanding the ideas that reshaped the protestant church edited

Whenever someone introduces himself to me as a worship pastor, my standard response is, “Me too.” Inevitably, my reply prompts inquiry about how I lead worship. So, I explain that I call the church to worship, I pray a lot, I read . . . Continue reading →

How To Give Up Instruments

As difficult as it was to reform the Dutch churches, rarely have Reformed people been in our situation: free churches (i.e., not state churches) that must persuade a free people to reform worship by giving up the only way of worship most have ever known. Continue reading →

Presbyterian Congregation Spends $1.8M On Organ

I understand that people love music. I understand that Christians are moved by instrumental music in worship. The question remains, however, does the Lord love instrumental music in new covenant worship? The question is: On what basis do we do what we . . . Continue reading →

Rejoice! The Lord Has Come

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled . . . Continue reading →

The Recovery Of The Call To Worship

Over the past several years, I have taught seminary courses on the theology and practice of worship in the Reformed tradition. The syllabus requires students to interact with worship services posted online, evaluating the elements, coherence, and execution of the liturgy. The . . . Continue reading →

John Owen And The Organ (Among Other Things)

In worship, their paintings, crossings, crucifixes, bowings, cringings, altars, tapers, wafers, organs, anthems, litany, rails, images, copes, vestments,—what were they but Roman varnish, an Italian dress for our devotion, to draw on conformity with that enemy of the Lord Jesus? In doctrine, . . . Continue reading →

What Is It?

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 →

Psalters!

When I began to become Reformed (c. 1980–81), the Reformed churches I knew were hymn-singing congregations. Typically, they used the blue Trinity Hymnal (1961), published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (and later by Great Commission Publications). There are Psalms (for singing and . . . Continue reading →