“And younger evangelicals are the ones most likely to want more in-depth teaching from their churches. Evangelicals under 40 are twice as likely as their seniors (39% to 20%) to want more substance from the pulpit.” Continue reading →
Worship
Five Reasons We Do Not Need Ken’s Doxology
In a recent essay I mentioned in passing that we do not need Bishop Ken’s seventeenth-century substitute (i.e., “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”) for the Psalms since there are five doxologies inspired by the Holy Spirit and included in the Psalter . . . Continue reading →
An Unusually Thoughtful Podcast: Presbycast On When Church Became Theatre
The Presbycast is one of my favorite podcasts and Harrison Perkins, a regular contributor to the Heidelblog, is one of my favorite writers and, in this episode, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the two come together: They are discussing Jeanne Halgren Kilde’s . . . Continue reading →
If We Sang Only God’s Word This Could Not Happen
If God’s Word is sufficient for anything, it is sufficient for public worship. If we sang only God’s Word then we would never sing a hymn about climate change. Continue reading →
A Little More Gospel
HT: Corby Hornoi and Inwoo Lee
Does Your Worship Need To Be “Elevated”?
I received a piece of spam mail late last week offering to “elevate” the worship service at my church.
Is Missing Church A Sin?
Joe writes, “Is missing church a sin? Like if my child has a game, if I’m on vacation, or have to work?” Over the years many people have asked me some version of this question. It is an important question, one faced by the New Testament church and by the church in the twenty-first century. Continue reading →
Video: With Chris Coleman On The Grounds, Reason, And Fruit Of The Second Service On The Lord’s Day
A video discussion with Pastor Chris Coleman on the biblical and historical grounds for and the fruit of the second service on the Lord’s Day. Continue reading →
What Church Is And Is Not
Church is not a concert with a TED talk. It’s an audience with the thrice-holy Lord of heaven and earth. Continue reading →
New Resource Page: Reformed Piety
Theology, piety, and practice— regular Heidelblog readers and Heidelcast listeners will be familiar with that formula. In classic and confessional Reformed Christianity these three things have always been understood to be intimately, organically related to each other. Our piety flows from our . . . Continue reading →
The Principles Of Reformed Worship
We want to be seeker-sensitive, but we must identify the true seeker in worship. Scripture teaches that “no man seeks God,” certainly not the unregenerate, rather it is God who seeks us (Romans 3:11). Our Lord taught us that the Father seeks those who will worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23). Therefore the primary focus in Reformed worship is our living, holy, righteous, awesome Triune God. Thus when we gather before his face (Hebrews 12:18-20) we are in a sacred assembly where he has promised to give us an audience. Continue reading →
Reconsidering The Offering As An Element Of Worship After Covid
Introduction: The Hypothesis Tested Way back in 2008 I asked the question whether the offering is an element or a circumstance of worship or neither? I argued that the offering is neither an element nor a circumstance and thus raised the question . . . Continue reading →
What If The Lord Does Not Accept Our Praise Music?
…We have been trained by the broader culture that how we feel when we come to worship is determined by the success of the instrumentation to create a good feeling. The assumption is that praise is created by the success of the . . . Continue reading →
The Dillenburger Synod Abolished Organs In Worship
Latin songs, as well as organs (first introduced into the churches by Pope Vitellianus about 665) are for the most part abolished in the churches of this land. Not that use of the Latin language or of music is rejected of itself . . . Continue reading →
Herman Witsius Contra Intinction
XXV. Next follow the actions of the disciples, and consequently of the other guests. And these, according to Christ’s appointment, are three: first, to receive both the bread and the cup; but each separately, for so Christ distributed them: in this manner . . . Continue reading →
The Contested Legacy Of Singing God’s Inspired Songs In The Reformed Churches In South Africa
The scope of this article is focused on an investigation of song in worship in the period leading up to and including the 150-year history of the RCSA. It focuses on the period from the dissenting ‘Doppers’ to the adoption of the . . . Continue reading →
Singing The Psalms Was A Powerful Weapon In The English Reformation
[T]he metrical psalms were the ‘secret weapon of the English Reformation,’ ‘perhaps the most powerful of the persuasive weapons in the armoury of English Protestantism,’ ‘a potent weapon’ against Catholicism….Psalm-singing was never universally welcomed (Queen Elizabeth seems snobbishly to have disapproved of . . . Continue reading →
Be Adventurous: Sing Psalms
Do you sing psalms in your church? I guess that in most Bible-teaching churches today the answer is “no,” or “not very often,” or perhaps “sometimes in a metrical version,” or “some of our songs are based on or inspired by psalms.” . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 145: I AM That I AM (13): Some Implications Of The Divine Attributes
With this episode we return to our series on the doctrine of God, I Am That I Am. We are thinking today a little bit more about some of the implications of the attributes of God. Remember we distinguish between God’s incommunicable . . . Continue reading →
A Guide For Your Devotions On The Christian Sabbath
If your congregation is streaming a service/sermon, then by all means, you should watch that and participate as you are able. If your congregation is unable to stream services/a sermon on the Lord’s Day, because of the Corona Virus, here is what . . . Continue reading →