One of the trends in the evangelical church during the last decade or so has been the elastic use of the word “reformed.” What I mean is that the word identified a particular stream of the Protestant Reformation that produced creeds and confessions to articulate its beliefs: The Westminster Standards, The Three Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and the Canons…
A Congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
A Congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Reformed Theology (Page 2)
This summer I have been preaching a series of sermons on the Canons of Dort, in recognition of the 400th anniversary of their publication. Yesterday I preached a sermon entitled Corruption and Conversion, I. I spent quite a bit of time exploring the nature of the human will from the perspective of Adam before The Fall, Adam after the Fall, The Experience…
Some argue that worship is not authentic unless it springs from the heart, is spontaneous, and energetic. If you know anything about Pietism, then you know the source of that teaching. In contrast, the Reformed tradition is clear that worship is to be organized according to the word of God. This approach takes into consideration the consciences of those who are in…
Over at The Federalist, this article appeared the other day. The author makes many good points about what is valuable about a hymnal and what is deficient about singing music projected upon a screen. For me, this is not a new position. Twenty years ago I recall reading in Marva Dawn’s book, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, the necessity of going slow…
Each Sunday I observe what does on around me. On my way to the church I notice how few cars are on the road. While at church I see people out for a walk and cars on the road heading to the grocery store or to a restaurant for breakfast. In church I see those who are not paying attention, and on…
Many skip church on a regular basis to do other things – sleep in, eat out, shop, golf, kid’s sports, hunt, fish, and more. For some it is their day to catch up on laundry, groceries, cleaning, etc. No one begrudges those who stay home because they are sick or because something out of the ordinary makes it difficult to attend. But…
Now that is a provocative title, but it isn’t original to me. It is the perspective of someone who has led contemporary worship for nearly thirty years. What is the issue? The evangelical church has made worship all about having a “religious experience.” The lighting, the use of images on a screen, the use of smoke machines (or not), the songs themselves,…
Related to my previous post is this one, based on an article written by Dr. Robert Godfrey, former president of Westminster Seminary in California. Here is a snippet: “Many American churches are in a mess. Theologically they are indifferent, confused, or dangerously wrong. Liturgically they are the captives of superficial fads. Morally they live lives indistinguishable from the world. They often have…
The title of this post (which I modified slightly) comes from an article that I recently read. I wanted to post it here because it asks a very profound question. Here is the opening couple of paragraphs: “I have been involved in leading churches for four decades, with an emphasis on church planting in the last few years. I’ve also visited and…