Chasing coolness won’t work. In my experience, churches that try to be cool end up with a pathetic facsimile of what was cool about 10 years ago. And if you’ve got a congregation of businessmen and soccer moms, donning a hip veneer . . . Continue reading →
Evangelism
The Next Big Church Thing
One of the hottest restaurants in my hometown of Chicago is Next. Chef Grant Achatz’s first restaurant, Alinea, has three Michelin stars and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. Achatz wanted his second restaurant, Next, to be . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (4)
Evangelism properly is what the minister does in the pulpit when he proclaims the gospel to the world but each of us as Christians is a witness or gives witness to the faith (the objective facts of redemptive history and the basic truths of Scripture summarized in the creeds) and to our faith, i.e., to our personal appropriation of Christ by grace alone, through faith alone. Continue reading →
Spiritual Weapons For A Spiritual Battle
The radicalization of the vulnerable is a sobering reality. Guilt, shame, and the longing for lost innocence can make people do the most terrible things—as long as salvation awaits on the other side. Whether it’s drinking Kool-Aid or strapping on a suicide . . . Continue reading →
All Welcome. No Exceptions.
Yesterday we were motoring through Poway, a leafy suburb of San Diego, and we drove past a large Episcopal church with a large, temporary banner proclaiming, “All Welcome. No Exceptions.” That message was striking as it was brief. It struck me as . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: David Zadok On Reaching Israelis With The Gospel
In Romans chapters 9–11 the Apostle Paul addresses the difficult question of whether the Lord has abandoned his promises to the Jews. Paul concludes that God has not abandoned his promises. He appeals to himself as an example, even though he was . . . Continue reading →
With The Presbycast On The Lost Sheep
The USA is a vast place and there are relatively few confession Presbyterian and Reformed Congregations. You can find many of them listed via NAPARC. Regularly confessional ministers get the question: what do I do when there is not a confessional P . . . Continue reading →
Of Church Names, Christ, And Culture
The Foundry, Resonate, Relevant, The Bridge, and Passion City are just a few of the contemporary church names noted by Dennis Baker and mocked by Url Scaramenga in 2010. A search for “contemporary church names” brings up a wealth of resources offering . . . Continue reading →
Why Should We Plant Reformed Churches?
As true churches of Jesus Christ, the URCNA are obligated to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in . . . Continue reading →
AGR: With Chis Gordon On The Free Offer Of The Gospel
At the international Synod of Dort (1618–19) the Reformed churches across the Netherlands, the British Isles, and Europe confessed: “As many as are called by the gospel are sincerely called. For God has most earnestly and truly declared in His Word what . . . Continue reading →
AGR: What a Blind Man Can Teach Christians About Witnessing (with Mike Abendroth)
John 9 is one of my favorite places in Scripture from which to think about witness. There are few topics that most Christians dread more than witness but they dread it, in part, because they are afraid that questions will arise that . . . Continue reading →
New In Print: Faithful And Fruitful: Essays For Elders And Deacons
There are three major aspects to being Reformed: theology (doctrine), piety (our reverent approach to God), and practice (how we live out our Christian life in the visible church, at work, and at home). Of these three aspects, theology, whether biblical theology . . . Continue reading →
Talking With Unbelievers: Conversation Not Conversion
“Reformed evangelism.” I used to think this was an oxymoron, that Arminians ask people to choose, and that Calvinists let the Arminians do the work of the evangelists. I thought that the Calvinists would teach converts the doctrines of the faith once . . . Continue reading →
What Should We Think When An Evangelistic Crusade Comes To Town?
A correspondent wrote to ask for help thinking through how to respond to the arrival of a large evangelistic event in his town. This is my reply slightly revised for the HB. Continue reading →
Thinking Of Planting A Confessional Reformed Church On The Plains?
It is not easy to plant a confessional Reformed congregation on the American Plains (the area of the USA from the between the Rockies and the Mississippi River, from Canada to Mexico). In some places it is sparsely populated. The confessional Presbyterian . . . Continue reading →
Interested In A URCNA Church Plant In The Eastern USA?
Contact info. NB: A Classis is a regional assembly of Reformed churches. It is a Latin word that originally referred to a fleet of ships. The Presbyterians say essentially the same thing with the word Presbytery Resources How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 173: As It Was In The Days Of Noah (17): Defending And Giving Witness To The Faith
According to Peter, we are living in days like Noah, as our Lord said. People are marrying and giving in marriage, Noah was announcing the gospel of free salvation and the coming judgment, and then the flood came. So it is for . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: From England To New Zealand To Australia To California—Meet Nick Brennan
From England to the United States, to New Zealand, to Australia, and back to the USA. That’s been Dr Nick Brennan’s journey over the last 11 years. April 2021 finds him assuming his new position as Associate Professor of New Testament at . . . Continue reading →
What Does A Pastor Do?
This week I was chatting with someone who curiously asked me: “What does a pastor do?” Unsurprisingly, it’s a question I get from people inside and outside of the church. Sometimes it’s asked with a note of interested inquisitiveness, and other times . . . Continue reading →
Who Shared The Gospel With You?
Editor’s Note: Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to reconnect with Bob, the Christian layman who first shared the gospel with me in 1976, while I was spending part of one day at week at an elementary school near my high . . . Continue reading →