By Brad Isbell Thesis: No confessional Presbyterian church will long remain confessional or Presbyterian if it loses Reformed worship. First, some definitions: Confessional: orthodox soteriology and doctrine (doctrine of God, Christology, covenant) according to the Reformed confessions. Presbyterian: government by ordained male (per scripture) elders organized in accountable, graded courts.Continue Reading
Pastor Chris Gordon and Dr. Robert Godfrey ask what’s really motivating people to go to church on Sunday. They discuss Reformed worship and how its God-focused structure isn’t particularly attractive to many. They look at modern culture and how it has led some churches to focus on entertainment and emotion,Continue Reading
Dear Friend in Christ, We would like to take this opportunity to re-/introduce Reformed Church Southern Suburbs (RCSS), now a congregation of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). RCSS began as a mission work in Cape Town, South Africa, under the oversight of Reformed Church Bellville in 2012, with a Bible study.Continue Reading
Dear Friend in Christ, We would like to take this opportunity to re-/introduce Reformed Church Southern Suburbs (RCSS), now a congregation of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). RCSS began as a mission work in Cape Town, South Africa, under the oversight of Reformed Church Bellville in 2012, with a Bible study.Continue Reading
The confessional Presbyterian and Reformed (P&R) churches […] begin with the assumption that it is not the function of singing in worship for us to say whatever we want to God but to repeat God’s Word after him. The role of a song in worship is not for us toContinue Reading
In this podcast, pastor and church historian R. Scott Clark talks about how Reformed Christians have thought about Christmas and why this season is both a blessing and a curse. On Christmas morning, most Christian congregations will gather for worship, but it was not always this way. Indeed, when someContinue Reading
By Simon Jooste and Johannes Potgieter It is our opinion that the 1942 RCSA revision of Article 69 was based on a church historical hermeneutic that set the stage for her more radical revision in 2012. As described above, the decision of the 2012 Synod turned on the assumption thatContinue Reading
By Simon Jooste and Johannes Potgieter By 1930 the tide appears to have begun to change within the RCSA relative to song in corporate worship. That this shift coincided with a similar change in the convictions of Totius (as described above) should not go unnoticed. Between 1930 and 1942, theContinue Reading
By Simon Jooste and Johannes Potgieter Undisputed is the fact that the Doppers desired and realised a return to the 1619 Church Order of Dort (Louw 1999:597). Scholars are in agreement that the secession of the VGK from the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (NHK) had much to do with what wasContinue Reading
By Simon Jooste and Johannes Potgieter The Synod of Dort that convened in the Dutch town of Dordrecht during 1618–1619 is best known for its formulation of the Canons of Dort. Not unrelated to, and arguably even more important than, this seminal Reformed creedal statement is the church order andContinue Reading