Too many American Christians have a bias against formal Bible translations, theological texts (such as old catechisms), and hymns. These were great crowning achievements of the Protestant world. Now they’re perceived as too stuffy and churchy, and we mock them or even imply that they send people to Hell, because people don’t find them “relatable”... Continue Reading

Your size does not determine your worth. It does not determine whether God sees you. It does not determine whether He cares for you or will work through you. The church at Colossae was small. And God wrote them a letter that the whole universal church still reads. The metric of success that the world... Continue Reading

Paul says (rather uncomfortably for us) that his listeners should follow his example as he follows Christ. He says variations on this several times in his letters. Paul thinks that if you lived with him, and you watched his life closely, you would notice that he really believes what he is teaching. He is practicing... Continue Reading

To read the Bible publicly is to stand before other people and read aloud words that God himself has written. This is a tremendous honor and a weighty privilege, and it deserves to be taken seriously.   There are some elements of public worship that receive a great deal of attention. These elements are taught,... Continue Reading

There is no shame in your suffering. It does not mean your faith is small or your righteousness is lacking. For the righteousness that you have, the righteousness that gains you eternal life, which gives you the promise of glory, is not your righteousness. It is Christ’s. It is a gift given freely to you... Continue Reading

If we want to ensure that autistic people don’t fall through the cracks, apostatize, or reject the messages we try to deliver, we need to take seriously the work of contextualization for the autistic population. The good news is that Christianity has been doing this for a long time. We don’t need to reinvent anything.... Continue Reading

The PCA can rejoice with us as we see how the Lord has worked powerfully in and among the people serving as staff, volunteers, and partners in the ministries of MNA.   I used to be a RADAR technician for F-4 fighter aircraft. Doing that job, I learned that there are times when ground clutter... Continue Reading

The preachers whose names have endured most powerfully across the centuries are very often the ones who fought hardest against their own legacy in their own lifetimes. Whitefield, Calvin, Edwards, and others all share this instinct. They wanted Christ to be the only Name lifted up. The Lord, in His providence, has often kept their... Continue Reading

Although some among us would defend both biblically and historically the practice of referring to lay volunteers as deacons or deaconesses, others find this to be a distressing refusal to abide by the BCO as currently written. Overture 71 would prohibit this nomenclature even more clearly than the BCO currently does. However, keeping the lay... Continue Reading

Words matter, and the words we use matter when we talk about Christ’s Church. The Book of Church Order can be unclear to many people, and even long term BCO students disagree over particular portions. We should not make it more difficult by conflating terms and words. BCO 9–7 is extremely clear, and if the Session desires to have... Continue Reading