Topic Archives: Church & Ministry

The Willow Creek Church is in a suburb of Chicago, one of the ten most wealthy and powerful cities in the world. It is a booming educational, medical, cultural, legal and economic centre with a hinterland of 6 million people. It is the ‘Bible button’ of the Mid-West, the city of Moody Bible College, Wheaton […]

The following is the current editorial (December 1 & 8, 2000) of the “English Churchman” (1843) and “St. James Chronicle” (1761), and used bypermission:- A correspondent says it would be helpful to know in which direction the “English Churchman” considers “Reform” should have decided to move at its October’s Conference (“Readers Write” 17 November). “Reform” […]

How few are the followers of the Lord Jesus with whom we are personally acquainted.Then one day a window is opened upon another life and we are permitted a view of transforming and sustaining grace. So it was when the Times published an obituary of Dr Leigh Ashton (Tuesday, December 19, 2000): “A Life in […]

Charles Woodrow is an American surgeon who has been working for years in Mozambique and now is building a hospital. He also pastors a growing congregation in the vicinity of the church, and writes the following in a recent letter… For the past few months I have felt God’s undertaking in an extraordinary way (for […]

[Earlier this year the late Dr James Montgomery Boice delivered a series of three messages – the Den Dulk Lectures – at Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, California. The following are his opening words which appeared in ‘Update’, the Westminster Seminary in California magazine and used by permission:-] These are not good days for the evangelical […]

The Proclamation Trust exists to encourage and help preachers to teach the Bible better and more clearly. In addition to the ‘Cornhill Training Scheme’ and ‘Evangelical Ministers Assembly (EMA)’ held each June, the Proclamation Trust also runs a series of residential study conferences for preachers and teachers of the Word. The Conference for younger ministers […]

There is in the heart of man a longing for the holy. The psalmist declares, “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7). There is an abiding dissatisfaction with the sense of cosmic lostness that has gripped the human race ever since our first parents lost their intimate communion with God and were expelled from the garden […]

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 […]

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 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, DonReis@aol.com 107 pp. This book, written in part by the oldest of the Banner of […]

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 […]

By Iain Murray 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 […]

Preface 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 […]

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 united […]

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 that’s why the […]

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 174m professing Christians in the world which had a population of 730m. So Christians set up missionary societies. The first was founded in 1794, plainly called the Missionary Society. This became […]

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31, NIV) For years I’d thought Timbuktu […]

We are in contact with church and mission agencies all over the world and the one thing they all have in common is that they need workers. Most are even praying for those who will come short-term and help in the task. The bigger demand is for long-term workers of some level of maturity. It […]

Pastoral Challenges For Our Ministry In The New Millennium, By Brian Edwards [February 15, 2000] Brynygroes Conference Centre, Bala, at the annual Day Conference of the evangelical ministers of North Wales. We are living in unique days. Could it ever have been so hard to be in the ministry of the gospel as today? Consider […]