Topic Archives: Church & Ministry

All of us know the experience of reality not matching expectations. Sometimes the problem is with the reality. We buy a cruise on the internet. But, when we take the cruise we find that it falls far short of what was advertised. Other times the problem is with expectations. We get married expecting we are […]

‘Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain.’ (Jude 11) The deceitfulness of the human heart is a truth recorded in Scripture and borne out in daily life. Believers discover it increasingly in their own lives as well as around them. One of the ways this deceitfulness shows itself is the […]

As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ one of my chief concerns is the efficacy of the Gospel message. In fact, I am more and more convinced that the potency of the word is bound up with the character of the preacher. Keeping this in mind, it becomes needful for the Christian minister […]

‘The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments.’ (2 Timothy 4:13, ASV) As the Apostle Paul writes his second epistle to Timothy, he does so from the confines of a Roman prison awaiting trial. These are some of the last words he pens, or […]

Mark writes about the three women who were at the tomb of the Lord Jesus; ‘And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid,’ (Mark 16:8). The women who came to the tomb that first Easter morning showed […]

PowerPoint and the Death of Preaching I have nothing against PowerPoint presentations when it comes to missionary spots, illustrated talks or lectures, etc. But I take issue with the use of PowerPoint in the pulpit. A preacher told me recently that a church he was due to visit asked him not only for his hymns […]

For 16 years David Feddes has preached each week on the Back to God Hour, the radio ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. He followed Peter Eldersveld and Joel Nederhood, two splendid preachers. We heard them both with great profit, and also David. This is the opening of his final Back to God Hour message. […]

Alexander Somerville (1813-1889) was a close friend of Robert Murray M’Cheyne. They went to school and university together. As divinity students, they met for the study of the Bible using both the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) and the Hebrew original. More often still they met to pray and share their Christian […]

Most church denominations today ordain women as pastors, elders, and deacons. The Presbyterian Church in America, the denomination to which I belong, is not one of them, and for this reason we, and a few other like minded ones, are increasingly held in disdain by people both within and without the professing church. Those denominations […]

Send in the clowns! Trinity Episcopalian church on Wall Street, New York, had a ‘clowning’ good time at a Sunday worship service. The congregation was encouraged to come as clowns, red noses and all, while the choir and clergy all wore clown outfits with oversized shoes and painted faces. The whole service was done in […]

Paul says, “An overseer must be above reproach,” (1 Timothy 3:2) and yet we hear of pastors falling into sin all too frequently. How should such pastors (and I would add Ruling Elders and Deacons) be viewed by the church and how should they be disciplined? Surely most evangelicals believe these pastors ought to be […]

Does it matter how we worship God? Why was Abel’s offering accepted by God, and Cain’s rejected? Geoff Thomas comments on the beginning of Genesis Chapter 4… Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a […]

Today there is a widespread cry for relevance in preaching. But, generally, relevance is measured by the subjective feelings of those who sit, or might sit, in the pews of a particular church. Latching on to such feelings, a community church in Arizona advertised: “Stronger family relationships … greater satisfaction at work … and you […]

As leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) navigate the shoals between Christ and culture, artful dodgers craft statements that sound Scriptural while giving license to those who have no use for the Word of the Lord. The resulting duplicity has often left those who love the Bible in a quandary: Are the words, policies, and […]

We learn from Jonathan Edwards that the inner spiritual life of the minister is the most important part of his life. The scriptural proof of this statement is plain. It is found, for instance, in our Lord’s examination of Simon Peter before the disciple is commissioned again to serve Christ: ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do […]

Could Winston Churchill have spoken to the English speaking world as he did during the struggle with the Nazis if he had not spoken of the realities of those times in the emotional qualities of those realities? by Geoff Thomas How emotionally Paul can write to the Philippians. He says things like “I feel this […]

He has provided pilots and captains – whom He calls pastors and teachers – whose duty it is to obey His directions, to study and follow the chart, and to explain and commend it to others by G. Liebenrood Some years ago, I was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Quebec to Liverpool, in the liner […]

ARE THERE CARNAL CHRISTIANS? Exclusive Principles by James R. Graham The expression “carnal Christian” is not a New Testament term. In fact it is a complete contradiction in terms. A “Christian” is a “Christ-One” – joined in vital relationship to Christ as Lord and Head, and by virtue of this union, indwelt of the Spirit […]

NEW COVENANT WORSHIP either God is adored by outward symbols as among Brahminists, Romanists, Puseyites, and other idolaters; or else he is worshiped through ritualism, as among too many who claim to be orthodox by C.H .Spurgeon A great deal has been made of the symbolical worship of the Jew, as if it were an […]

BASIC ATTITUDES FOR TRUE WORSHIP Let us make it a matter of heart-searching as to whether we ourselves have been in the habit of worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth by C.H .Spurgeon Let us be particularly jealous of anything which looks at all like going back to ceremonialism. As a matter of […]

MY SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE FROM THEISTIC EVOLUTION TO CREATION I still had no answers to the really important questions that nagged me; questions such as: What is the purpose of everything? A. J. Monty White In Autumn 1963, at the age of eighteen, I found myself a fresher student at the Aberystwyth campus of the University […]

Greenville Seminary Theology Conference Focuses on ‘Communing with Our Glorious God.’ In Taylors, South Carolina (March 12-14, 2002) Reformed Spirituality was the theme for Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s Spring Theology Conference. The three-day event, which focused on “Communing with our glorious God,” challenged the participants with regard to personal piety, including Sabbath observance; and also […]

MODERN DISPENSATIONALISM AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF SCRIPTURE the rejection of the Old Testament, in part or in whole, was one of the numerous errors of the Gnostics by Oswald T. Allis   No doctrine concerning Scripture is of more practical importance to the Bible student than that which affirms its unity and […]

DO GYPSIES SPEAK IN TONGUES AND PERFORM MIRACLES? If we doubted what we saw or seemed to question authority, we were seen as rebels, unsaved, or just plain unspiritual by Gary Nixon As a Christian brought up in a Pentecostal church, recognised as an evangelist, combining work in Romania and planting my own church in […]

WORSHIP AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD Think what is involved – personal communication and communion with the living God. by Graham Harrison   Worship has been hijacked and debased by many today. It is often reduced to a set of preliminaries lasting anything from a half to one hour, usually consisting of repetitive chorus singing, […]