There are those who see a tension between being Reformed and being an outward-looking church. I want to put out a number of theses about being missional and Reformed. I’ll divide them into negative and positive theses. I offer the thesis and then a little explanation/commentary (asking you to realise thatContinue Reading
I received a piece of spam mail late last week offering to “elevate” the worship service at my church. I can think of a number of verbs that might pique the interest of a Reformed church: purify, reform, sanctify, solemnize are some that come to mind but elevate is notContinue Reading
There is an alternative to the Gnosticism and Marcionism of Modern American Christianity. It is the Reformed confession. It seeks to be biblical, ecumenical (or catholic – that is, adhering the ancient ecumenical or catholic creeds – for example, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Definition of Chalcedon andContinue Reading
Pastor Chris Coleman of Peace United Reformed Church of Vancouver, WA interviews Dr R. Scott Clark on why Reformed churches worship twice on Sundays. Watch the interview on YouTube. Questions: 1. 3:22 Make the case, from the Word of God, that Christians should worship twice on the Lord’s Day. 2.Continue Reading
We want to be seeker-sensitive, but we must identify the true seeker in worship. Scripture teaches that “no man seeks God”, certainly not the unregenerate; rather it is God who seeks us (Romans 3:11). Our Lord taught us that the Father seeks those who will worship in spirit and truthContinue Reading
All the Protestant Reformers, including Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin, held to infant baptism. Though these three great Protestants disagreed on many things, they all agreed on the Protestant doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. They also agreed that infant baptism isContinue Reading
R. Scott Clark writes: Because we do not think of the two sacraments as having the same function, the Reformed churches have not practised paedocommunion. We do not admit infants to communion because communion is the sign of covenant renewal, not initiation into the visible church. Whereas baptism is forContinue Reading
R. Scott Clark writes: The Baptist and Reformed traditions are not, as is often assumed essentially identical in method and conclusions but diverging only on some minor issues. No, the two traditions read Scripture very differently, i.e., they have a different hermeneutic, a different reading of the story of redemption,Continue Reading
R. Scott Clark comments on episode 3 of Christianity Today’s podcast series on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: By any objective measure, Mark Driscoll was never Reformed. He was predestinarian, but he was never Reformed. I am sorry that Mike Cosper makes the assumption that all predestinarians are Reformed.Continue Reading
Christianity Today has released a new NPR-style podcast series hosted by Mike Cosper, Who killed Mars Hill?. It is well done and deserves your attention. So far they have released a couple of trailers and two complete episodes. Those who are not Reformed and those who are (or who areContinue Reading