Topic Archives: Church & Ministry

One of the off-the-shelf suggestions for church growth is to ‘open the front door and close the back door’ meaning that welcoming and retaining new people will fill the pews. The subheads under that strategy include meeting people’s needs, providing the music they like, activities for children, etc. But Dr Mark Dever, a pastor and […]

These are not easy times but we have known some genuine encouragements in the past two weeks–in the midst of much that could undermine our conviction that the Lord is reigning. A month ago four of us were planning the Grace Baptist Assembly for May next year. We have some men speaking who take the […]

In the extraordinary opening ceremony to mark the opening of the Olympic Games one of the climaxes of the evening was to see that one word that hung suspended from the giant arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The word was ‘ETERNITY’. It had also been hanging there on January 1 to greet the dawning […]

During June this year I was able with God’s help to make a fortnight’s visit to Tiumen, Onokino, Tobolsk, Niagan and Priobye. In all places there is steady progress, much fervent prayer and faithful robust evangelistic preaching of God’s gospel with souls being added to the church. Nowhere did I find any spirit of complacency, […]

As I write these lines a series of violent riots have taken place in the south of Spain after a girl was murdered by a North African immigrant who tried to steal her money. Hundreds of people thought it was time to take some revenge. They destroyed the slums where all these workers from the […]

A Quiet Revolution; a Chronicle of Beginnings of Reformation in the Southern Baptist Convention by Ernest C. Reisinger and D. Matthew Allen, pb., n.p., Published by the Founders Press, editor@founders.org and distributed by Christian Gospel Book Service, 107 pp. This book, written in part by the oldest of the Banner of Truth trustees, Ernest C. Reisinger, […]

This year’s annual evangelical ministry assembly organised by the Proclamation Trust at St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, London, at the end of June was well attended with nearly a thousand present. Visiting speakers included Tim Keller and Don Carson from the USA and Phillip Jensen from Australia. The main theme was church planting. One always appreciates the […]

An edited extract from Mr Murray’s new book Evangelicalism Divided (Banner of Truth) * * * In his book on Evangelicalism, James Davison Hunter wrote: ‘A dynamic would appear to be operating [in Evangelicalism] that strikes at the very heart of Evangelical self-identity’. What is this ‘dynamic’? I believe that all the evidence points in […]

The following article was written by Lisa Loden. Lisa and her husband, David, are well known in Israel and Palestine for their musical gift and for their important contribution toward the creation of a local Christian hymnody in Hebrew. Lisa is also active in cultivating relations between Jews and Palestinian Arabs in Christ and serves […]

The modern evangelical church does everything to music — even the sermon ends with soft chords and melodies from the organ. Music taps into an emotion a congregation is already feeling, and then manipulates it powerfully. City stores know the power of music to loosen the purse strings and open credit card wallets. Psychologists are […]

The Reformed churches in Liverpool have a monthly officers meeting on Fridays in the winter, and I was invited in February, at the last minute withdrawal of Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, to speak to them on the subject of worship for 35 minutes to be followed by discussion. There were about 25-30 […]

The local pastor often wonders what is happening in the other churches of his community. David Marshall is the pastor of Hamilton Reformed Baptist Church in New Zealand. Recently he needed to take a break from the rigours of pastoral ministry and so was granted a month’s leave. It was not convenient to go away […]

After a decade of theological teaching with the Qua Iboe in Nigeria, Martin Bussey has gone to teach theology in Kenya alongside Keith Underhill and the Trinity Reformed Baptist Church. this is the first letter he has written about settling into East Africa. * * * That’s how long it is since we landed. And […]

The British law known as Section 28 prevents public money from being spent on the promotion of homosexuality in schools and elsewhere. It has curbed the excesses of many local authorities, but taxpayers’ money is also being funnelled into pro-gay schemes through Health Authorities, whose actions are not subject to Section 28. The government is […]

Two hundred years ago was the beginning of the golden age of missionary expansion from Europe and North America. At that time there were 174 million professing Christians in the world which had a population of 730 million, so Christians set up missionary societies. The first was founded in 1794, plainly called the Missionary Society. […]