When Denoms Disappoint: Setting Priorities (UPDATED)

UPDATE Below 7/9/13 Original Post July 2, 2013 On June 20, 2013 the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, the mainline (liberal) and oldest Dutch Reformed denomination in the US removed the “conscience clause” from its Book of Church Order. . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: Media Ecology And Ministry

Earlier this year the Rev. Greg Reynolds (DMin), gave the DenDulk lectures at Westminster Seminary California. He’s pastor of of Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire; author of The Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Preaching in the Electronic Age (2001); and editor of Ordained Servant: . . . Continue reading →

So You Want To Plant A Church?

The confessional Reformed churches face many struggles. In Recovering the Reformed Confession I classified some of them under two headings, QIRC and QIRE, the quests for illegitimate religious certainty and experience. There are others. We are still playing Whack-a-mole with the Federal . . . Continue reading →

Why Analogies And Illustrations Of The Trinity Fail

Michael writes to say that he recently read an article I wrote in 1999 on the Trinity and to ask if I’m willing to consider an analogy for the Trinity. I reply: Honestly, no. All illustrations of the Trinity end up in . . . Continue reading →

When And How To Draw A Line In The Sand? (Updated)

UPDATE 7/5/13 Below. Original Post 7/1/13 PCA Pastor Robert Dekker, pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church wanted to hold worship services this summer on the beach near Lewes, Delaware. He applied for a permit from the city to use public space. The . . . Continue reading →

Just In: Hart’s Calvinism: A History

D. G. Hart’s latest is just out: Calvinism: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013). It just arrived in the post so I’ve not had time to read it and we have a dinner guest arriving any minute. I hope to . . . Continue reading →

Strategic, Authentic, and Confessional

Introduction: What Do You Want? I spent an encouraging evening with a enthusiastic group of young people at pastor’s house recently. Over dinner we discussed the challenges of planting Reformed Churches. We agreed that whatever we do we need to be strategic, we . . . Continue reading →

Deaths From Church Shootings Rose 36% In 2012

A congregation at prayer, hearing God’s Word preached and responding by singing God’s Word should be the safest place in the world. According to a story in Christianity Today, however, in 2012 it was not. Security experts describe them as “soft targets,” places . . . Continue reading →

Ministers All?

The uniqueness and centrality of the official preaching of the Word is diminished when we  equivocate between the official, public, ordained administration of the Word and the unofficial witness to the gospel by the laity. The tendency among evangelical is to describe all . . . Continue reading →

Bog Standard Evangelicalism Circa 1962

I’m cleaning out my office and clearing out a great lot of books One of the volumes I found is Carl F. H. Henry, Basic Christian Doctrines (New York: Holt, Rhinehart, Winston, 1962). Included in this collection of very brief entries are G. . . . Continue reading →

How Many Mediators?

In a 15 May essay in The Christian Century, Richard Mouw argues that we Protestants should perhaps re-think the question of praying to deceased Christians. He confesses that he wasn’t really well acquainted with the Roman doctrine of prayer and the intercession . . . Continue reading →