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
By Rev. Simon Jooste As South Africa’s second-largest metropolis (after Johannesburg), Cape Town not only has a rich history but is also a melting pot of scenic views, cuisines and skin colours. She boasts incredible beauty but also thrombotic veins of prejudice and inequality, which are still fed by theContinue Reading
What unites […] various reactions to the collapse of Christendom is the marginalising of doctrine. Anyone who knows the history of Christendom, however, will not be surprised. As Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) observed as part of his argument for the revision of Belgic Confession article 36, the church-state complex (Christendom) wasContinue 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
These are notes from an adult Sunday school class taught by Dr W. Robert Godfrey at Escondido United Reformed Church, California, this month. You can listen to the teaching at Abounding Grace Radio. We have come to a time of dramatic change in the West. We are experiencing the endContinue Reading
There is much more to “end-times” or ultimate things (eschatology) than what we say actually happens in the last days. We say what we do about eschatology because of what we think God is doing in history. At the centre of the debate is the question of “the Israel ofContinue Reading
For Christians, the earthly city of Jerusalem has no religious significance. Scripture is fairly straightforward about this. Writing to Jewish Christians, who were tempted to go back to the Old Covenant, back to a temporary, typological system that had fulfilled its purpose, the pastor reminded them of a fundamental ChristianContinue Reading
Dear Friend We greet you as fellow pilgrims on the way to the celestial city. We have so much to be grateful for, chief among which is Jesus Christ crucified and risen for our sins. We rejoice in watching the Lord continue to provide for RCSS spiritually and otherwise asContinue 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
Theology, the truth that is from God and about God, is for the life of the church. Jesus is building His church by making disciples who follow Him, confessing the truth that He is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Disciples are those to whom JesusContinue Reading