Yearly Archives: 2017
2017 witnessed some large sale commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Conference organisers and publishing houses have worked hard to ensure that the long lasting implications of Luther’s ‘breakthrough’ are not lost on our own generation of believers, and for this we are much in their debt. The story less told, however, […]
Read‘You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?’ , James 4:4 In a most insightful blog in The Masculinist,1 author Aaron Renn takes up the issue of the American evangelical church and why we lack powerful impact in our culture. He writes of positive world Christianity, neutral world Christianity, and […]
ReadDerek W. H. Thomas, Guy A. Davies, and Steve Martin agree to answer questions on books that have impacted their life and faith. * * * Derek W.H. Thomas is the minister of First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina. Guy A. Davies pastors two Baptist churches in Rural Wiltshire. Steve Martin has been appointed the dean of students […]
ReadThe conference year ends with what we call the ‘Westminster’, or as it was once known, the ‘Puritan’. But back then the conference was nearer Christmas, school and university terms were over and college students, school teachers, and lecturers could attend. I like it then, during the days immediately before Christmas. Now it is in […]
ReadThere was always my dear cousin Bobi. Being an only child, my cousins were important to me and none more so than Bobi who was nine years older than me. He would become my best man on my wedding day in 1964 and we would live more than five decades together in the same small […]
ReadIn the first part of our discussion on Worship we were concerned to make the distinction between what would generally be called the body of worship and the heart of worship. We used another illustration of hardware and software to press that distinction. We have thus far identified two key issues which make for the […]
ReadContent is at the heart of worship. It is a sad thing to hear people in worship mindlessly repeat things. Most worship services will differ little from the chanting and frenzied episodes of oriental mysticism or African ‘spirit-ism’. Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle writes, ‘If I am asked to define worship in one word, […]
ReadWe were in Uganda two months ago and happened to attend the only church we believed to be reformed. We had this impression because friends of ours had in previous years come to this church and found it to be not too bad. We were rather disappointed when we went in to find that it […]
ReadPaul Levy, George Macaskill, and Billy McCurrie agree to answer questions on the books that have impacted their life and faith. * * * Paul Levy is a Welshman and the pastor of the International Presbyterian Church in Ealing, London. The church is currently involved in a massive building programme. George Macaskill is a retired pastor in […]
ReadRegular exposition of the Scriptures in one church fellowship places certain unique demands on the preacher. Remaining fresh while remaining faithful, and preaching consistently without preaching predictably can be significant challenges. A perennial problem for any settled preaching ministry, however, is that of remaining Christ-centred and gospel focused in our ministry of the Word, while […]
ReadJim Elliot’s wife, Elizabeth, once said of him, ‘At 21, Jim began an adventure that would require the ultimate sacrifice.’ That adventure was to follow Christ toward the mission field of Ecuador and, ultimately, martyrdom at the hands of the Auca Indians he loved so much. A Habit of Reading A big personal part of […]
ReadKeith Underhill, Andrew Roycroft, and Hugh Ferrier agree to answer questions on the books that have impacted their life and faith. * * * Keith Underhill now lives in Liverpool but was a minister for over forty years in Nairobi, Kenya. Andrew Roycroft is a baptist minister in Northern Ireland. Hugh Ferrier is a Free Church minister […]
ReadMany of us can recall the intense light and surprising warmth conveyed to our hearts when we first read the exemplary history of the Reformers and the Reformation Martyrs, along with their expositions of Scripture. Their brave and strong standing fast in the faith (1 Cor. 16:13) reached across the centuries and led us to new heights in serving […]
ReadIn the mid-twentieth century, those Christians who were willing to call themselves ‘Reformed’ or ‘Calvinistic’ were relatively few in number. Liberalism had done its work in the large mainline denominations to discredit ‘Reformation’ doctrine. Evangelicalism had fallen so low that many dismissed theology altogether by saying that doctrine only divides. ‘Calvinist’ was a slur to denigrate a Christian and to advise […]
ReadMack Tomlinson, Gary Brady, and Garry Williams talk to us about books that have impacted their life and faith in this new series. * * * Mack Tomlinson is a pastor and author in Denton, Texas. Gary Brady has pastor of Childs Hill Baptist Church, London, NW2, for thirty years. Garry Williams is the director of Pastors’ Academy, […]
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