The Nature of Responsibility
Let us all acknowledge our responsibilities: personal responsibility for ourselves, leadership responsibility for our people, and shared responsibility for fixing systemic problems while trusting in Christ.
There are many examples of people rightly taking responsibility in the Bible—and many examples of people trying to avoid it. The latter was a major component of the Fall. Adam and Eve both tried to avoid their responsibility by blaming others, but God still held them—and Satan—accountable for their own sins. A great example of... Continue Reading
Good Authority Submits
It’s hard to say it loud enough: good authorities submit. If you cannot listen and follow, you should not lead.
A leader who doesn’t view himself as being inside an accountability structure effectively becomes a law unto himself. He teaches everyone under him to fear him, when it’s only God whom we should fear. Loyalty to a leader is indeed a good thing, but good loyalty is loyalty to his leadership under God and anyone else... Continue Reading
Reflections on the Evangelical Fracturing, Ten Years In
Not only has reformed evangelicalism lost the steady leadership provided for so long by Piper, Keller, and Don Carson, but also the underlying modes of thought and the specific contexts that helped to shape those men in the first place.
During times of instability we naturally seek out allies to stand back to back with us as we feel attacked. Yet this ecumenism of the trenches can be quite dangerous. It causes us to abandon faithful brothers and sisters who we ought to persist in working with, as well as encouraging us to form quite... Continue Reading
Dear Retired Pastor: Off with the Slippers, On with the Boots
Abraham was “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). This life isn’t a stroll but a hike, and a long one at that.
As retired pastors, we have years of experience and wisdom to share with others. Take inventory of what you’ve learned. Don’t think for one moment your ministry is over. Some of your best years have just begun. You’re in new territory with seasoned wisdom ready to be delivered to those coming behind you. Anyone... Continue Reading
How to Properly Wrestle a Church Opossum
And other lessons learned in rural ministry.
It was early and no one would be at church for another hour or so. Since I was alone, I jumped down the last two steps, belting out the wrong words to one of the hymns we were going to sing later that morning. As I landed on the sanctuary floor, there was a large... Continue Reading
A Misguided Pastoral Motive
As pastors, we can lead our people to a lot of things. Godliness must be at the top of the list, both for ourselves and our congregations.
Leadership is not an end in and of itself; it naturally implies a destination. It’s kind of like application and illustration in a sermon—these elements serve as means to other ends. We don’t just do application in our sermons; we apply something. We use application to demonstrate how the truth is to be lived out.... Continue Reading
It Doesn’t Work: Reformed Church in America
The RCA has a long history of agreeing-to-disagree going all the way back to 1880. Then they hit the buzzsaw of different views on marriage and sexuality. The result was being cut in half.
What happened in the RCA? In the words of one former RCA pastor, the RCA had gangrene in their right foot but amputated their left hand. “What would have made more sense is the progressives to go to the PCUSA or UCC if they were willing to leave,” said Bremer. “They were in the minority and... Continue Reading
Top 50 Stories on The Aquila Report for 2023: 1-10
Numbers 1-10 of the top 50 articles for 2023
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here... Continue Reading
Top 50 Stories on The Aquila Report for 2023: 11-20
Numbers 11-20 of the top 50 articles for 2023
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here... Continue Reading
Top 50 Stories on The Aquila Report for 2023: 21-30
Numbers 21-30 of the top 50 articles for 2023
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here... Continue Reading
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