Resources by Roycroft, Andrew

The close of December can be a time when well-intentioned resolutions are made about reading the Scriptures in their entirety in the year to come. An honest desire to know God’s Word more can quickly flounder, however, when pushed back by the reality of busy days and divided attention. While this can be symptomatic of […]

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, […]

Regular 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 […]

There has been some online debate in recent days concerning pastoral visitation – chiefly in response to Thom Rainer’s blog post on church member visitation, where he provided 15 reasons why those in pastoral ministry ‘shouldn’t visit much’. While the risk of being viewed by one’s congregation as a sanctified social worker or life coach […]

I believe that the Bible is not a metal-tweezered promise box from which we can select our favourite passages and promises at random. I believe that the pulpit is not a stable in which I get to show off my favourite hobby horses to a weary congregation. I believe that the authority of the preacher is […]

I’m really enjoying the 1541 Institutes,1 and have now reached around page 160. I had been working through him at a fairly fast pace, but came down with a really bad dose of tonsillitis last week, and spent a few days in bed with a high temperature. It’s so frustrating to have time off and […]

The Inadequacy of Modern Man’s View of Sin Eddie, 39, wants compassion from the general public. He fears that the world judges him and his type, and it is high time that better understanding was directed towards him. He is concerned at the caricature that often surrounds people like him, and is pressing for greater […]

BOOK REVIEW: Christ our Life, by Michael Reeves [Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2014], 112 pages, paperback, £9.99, ISBN 978 1 84227 758 4. In Christ our Life Michael Reeves follows up his widely appreciated treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity, The Good God, with a volume which presents a brief yet wide-ranging portrait of Reformed […]

On 30th August 2013 the news broke that Seamus Heaney had died in a Dublin hospital, following a short illness. A measure of the legacy left by the poet’s life and work was given by the widespread sense of sadness across cultures and continents that a man of greatness and forceful intellect had passed away. […]

On Monday 10th September 2012 I had the privilege of attending a minister’s fraternal in Mount Merrion Free Presbyterian Church, Belfast, where the guest speaker was Dr Joel Beeke. Dr Beeke is minister of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. The subject he had chosen to […]

The World-Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight Dan Phillips Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011 315 pages, paperback, £11.99, $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-82543-908-7 Dan Phillips is best known as a Christian blogger, contributing both to his own site, and the world-renowned Pyromaniacs. His posts at either location are always articulate, often provocative and are […]

Engaging with Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The life and legacy of ‘the Doctor’ Andrew Atherstone & David Ceri Jones (Eds) Nottingham: Apollos/IVP, 2011 376 pages, paperback, £16.99 ISBN: 978 1 84474 553 1 This title is a collection of essays, part appreciation, part analysis of the work and legacy of Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Lloyd-Jones stands astride […]

Iain H. Murray, born in Lancashire, England, in 1931 was educated in the Isle of Man and at the University of Durham. He entered the Christian ministry in 1955. He served as assistant to Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel (1956-59) and subsequently at Grove Chapel, London (1961-69) and St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Sydney (1981-84). […]

Protestantism can be an embarrassing concept at times . . . For the first twenty years of my life the term was identified with the Troubles which raged around my generation, and the ugly notion of taking aggravated and hostile sides against ‘the other sort’. As school life at a Protestant boys’ school gave way […]

Just as the world finished marking the 5th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, another natural disaster of epic dimensions shattered the snow-laden news broadcasts within the United Kingdom. A 7.0 earthquake struck just 13kms below the surface of the earth close to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on 13th January, bringing down over […]