Our society trains us to be complacent in how others live. “You do you and I will do me” is the motto of a whole generation. But the gospel doesn’t allow us to be complacent in relationships. We don’t let relationships just drift along; we pursue people for Christ and we build one another up... Continue Reading

For both our son and daughter, it was vital for them to have people they looked up to outside their family, especially college students who modeled Christian faith, giving visible validity to what they had been learning at home and from the pulpit. The ministries of the church are also playing a big role in... Continue Reading

It is popular to assert that evangelism cannot be effective without “fitting” the gospel to our contemporary cultural moment. One writer even went so far as to say, “Any church that only does evangelism without first studying the culture in an effort to contextualize does not fully understand the gospel.”   A substantial portion of... Continue Reading

The disciples watched as a flask of ointment, worth approximately an entire year’s salary for a working man, was poured out and gone in an instant. They saw a lost opportunity. They saw a loss of incredible financial resources. They saw waste. But Jesus saw an act of worship.   “What a waste of talent.” I... Continue Reading

It doesn’t matter whether it has come from Wesley or Getty, Townend or Toplady, what we need is the truth, undiluted and distinct. When we gather this Sunday I need you to tell me the truth in song, I need you to engrave the greatness of God, the unsearchableness of his grace, the majesty of... Continue Reading

“This Report is made because a majority of the members of Westminster Presbytery and many members of her churches are aggrieved by the public reports about the Christian character of Teaching Elder Greg Johnson, and we have a desire to pursue the peace, unity, and purity of the Presbyterian Church in America, for the sake... Continue Reading

Without a proper vision of who God is, we cannot cast God’s vision to God’s people. Gospel-centered leadership begins with an understanding of what is true. This prayer serves as a reminder that, ultimately, success is found in beholding God and the valley is where God is seen most clearly. As I lead each day,... Continue Reading

For centuries, Europe’s Roman Church attempted to exercise substantial control over the state and the state returned the favor. Sovereigns wanted everyone in their realm to adopt their religion and to belong to state churches that they controlled. English and Scottish Presbyterians attempted to correct that. The Westminster Confession of Faith specified that God ordained... Continue Reading

Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns what can happen when roe respond wrongly to hurt. “The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own laws, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly.... Continue Reading

Being a biblically faithful church in rural Massachusetts was challenging.  Yet over two decades, the church grew in numbers, a Sunday School building was added, and the sanctuary was expanded as the 1950 red brick church proved insufficient to hold its people. Challenges to Biblical faithfulness from within slowly decreased even as opposition from without... Continue Reading