When it comes to today’s church music, we have run so far from the actual, God-given standard that most don’t even know one exists. I was struck by this reading Abraham Kuyper’s comments about church music in Our Worship. Think for a minute how far we drifted from the originalContinue Reading
There is one huge difference between the altar call and the Reformed understanding of the sacraments. In the altar call, the qualification was “if you truly meant it”, which made the subjective state of the sinner the critical factor in whether or not one actually benefited from going forward. DidContinue Reading
There are many who are ignorant of the danger that they’ve placed themselves in by trying to make their heavenly pilgrimage apart from the local church. We face a far greater threat than a rattlesnake; we stand against the smooth-talking serpent of Genesis 3, one who “prowls around like aContinue Reading
There are two truths that have to be acknowledged in this discussion at the outset: Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is the Christian Sabbath. God’s Word grounds the Sabbath principle not in the Mosaic legislation (i.e., in the judicial or ceremonial laws) but in creation. The Old Covenant, Mosaic, Sabbath has expired,Continue Reading
If we believe that “grace does not destroy nature but perfects it”, we must believe that God’s ordained means of worship are not designed to engage Christians in piecemeal fashion but holistically. Further, if our observance of the ordained means of worship leads us to spiritually separate man, body fromContinue Reading
What is the purpose of English language ministries in the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA/ GKSA)? Add-ons to existing Afrikaans confessional Reformed churches? Missional church plants? A combination of both? Out with the old in with the new? Plenary speakers: Revs. Arthur Miskin (RC Tshwane) :: Simon Jooste (RCContinue Reading
In his essay entitled “Industrial or pastoral?: The Techniques of Church Growth,” church historian and elder DG Hart begins by asking the probing question: Can measurements of “customer satisfaction,” which have largely been borrowed from the industrial and mechanical world, be helpfully appied to something that is fundamentally organic andContinue Reading
Reformed minister and church planter with the United Reformed Church, North America, Rev. Danny Hyde, shares in an essay a question that he often gets from visitors to his church: “Why is the worship in a Reformed church so different from the worship at almost every other church I haveContinue Reading
Pastor and President of Westminster Seminary, CA, Robert Godfrey, once wrote: One area in which the differences between evangelical and Reformed can be examined is the matter of worship. At first glance, we may see more similarities than differences. The orders of worship in Reformed and evangelical churches can beContinue Reading
Increasingly, Christians are using “Reformed” to describe what they believe concerning the teachings of the Bible and the practices of the church. On one level, I think this is encouraging. More and more folk are being exposed to the doctrines of grace, which means there is a deepening understanding ofContinue Reading