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 The question of driving concern in this article is whether there are historical–theological reasons to critique the 2012 Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA) Synod decision to revise Article 69 of the church order to read as follows (RCSA 2012): [I]n the churches onlyContinue 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
By Simon Jooste and Johannes Potgieter The key question to be explored in this article is whether the Reformed Churches in South Africa (RCSA) possess within her tradition the resources to perpetuate her predominating legacy of singing Scripture only. Did her 2012 General Synod decision to revise Article 69 ofContinue Reading
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
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
One of the distinct marks of the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions is the belief that the public worship of God should be governed by the revealed will of God in Scripture. There are a number of arguments in favour of what is known as the regulative principle of worship. BelowContinue Reading