Details from Bob Mattes. Here’s the text of the indictment. Here’s Bob’s bottom line at GB: As you can read, LAP has two options open to it: 1. LAP can repent of its errors and demonstrate this by conducting a fair and . . . Continue reading →
Church Discipline
FV Spreading into Southern Europe
Just got an email from a pastor in Southern Europe. He reports that one of the families in his congregation has become taken with the FV.
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 →
How Big is the SBC Really? (and Why It Matters)
CT has a story about the struggle within the Southern Baptist Convention to begin reporting real membership numbers. The reported number has long been 16.5 million. The real number of folks who actually show up is about 6.5 million.
Bucer on Pastoral Care Now in English
And available from the Bookstore at WSC.
Excellent Audio Resources
The White Horse Inn has been walking through 1 Corinthians and their discussion of church discipline was very helpful. CD is the third mark of the church but it’s not what you might think. The second is Hywel Jones‘ ongoing series of . . . Continue reading →
The FV is More Than Just a Theological Question
Mark Vander Pol asks us to think about the FV controversy using a different set of categories.
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 →
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 →
Is the Reformed Faith a Second Blessing?
In response to Jason Stellman’s monday post the question has arisen as to what should be required for membership in a confessional Reformed (e.g., Three Forms) or Presbyterian (Westminster Standards) congregation. The argument has been made that, in American Presbyterian churches, the . . . 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 →
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 →
Resources On Fencing The Lord’s Table
Some HB readers have been discussing the question of fencing the Lord’s Table. Fencing is a figurative way of speaking. There aren’t literal fences in Reformed Churches. It’s a way to describe the Reformed attempt to apply Paul’s instruction in 1Corinthians 11:27–32. . . . Continue reading →
In Defense Of Church Discipline
Jonathan Merritt has an interesting two-part post chronicling reaction to the struggles of The Village Church, a large (twice the size of at least two NAPARC denominations) multi-site Acts 29 congregation in Texas, with a church discipline case. In this case a woman discovered . . . Continue reading →
When Pastors Abuse
In the wake of the recent discussions about church discipline there have been many online discussions about whether churches should exercise ecclesiastical discipline (yes, it’s one of the three marks of the true church—see Belgic Confession art. 29), how, and when. In . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 85: Church Discipline Is The Second Key Of The Kingdom
In our late-modern (liquid), nominalist, it is widely regarded that truth claims and official acts are nothing but the exercise of power for personal gain. In other words, we live in a time of great suspicion. Whereas the dominant question of the . . . Continue reading →
When Elders And Ministers Cross The Line
In my experience, the vast majority of elders and ministers are selfless, gracious, kind, patient, and Christlike men. Most serve sacrificially. Most serve out of love for their Savior and out of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Unless one . . . Continue reading →
Church Discipline Is Not Mean
Rightly done, even if imperfectly, church discipline is an act of love that seeks the restoration of a brother or sister for that person’s well being. It is, after all, “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). He is a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). Continue reading →
Church Membership Is Biblical
“I am a member of the church universal. I do not need to be a member of an organized church.” “Our church does not believe in church membership.” “Church membership is unbiblical. It is a man-made tradition.” These are but a few . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 142: When Pastors Abuse
And What To Do About It
I am interrupting the series on the doctrine of God (again), I Am that I Am, to talk about a recurring problem in the church: abuse of the sheep by the shepherd. Recently Julie Roys featured audio from a public conference by . . . Continue reading →