If I serve in something that is easy enough for me, that I can put in my diary and then tell myself I have fulfilled my service duties, I can keep my guilt at bay. So I serve, and am happy to do so, because it stops me feeling guilty that I’m not. But what... Continue Reading

Perhaps we no longer hear about the worship debate because everyone is simply tired of fighting. Positions have calcified. No matter how well-intentioned, few minds are being changed. Bringing up the subject only tears open wounds that haven’t quite healed.   A couple of decades ago, churches split in a grand debate over worship. Contentious... Continue Reading

The sad reality is that many people have witnessed fighting, church splits, abuses, hatred, contentions, jealousies, all undergirded by a hard kind of legalism within the confines of a closed community that demonstrates little of the joy of Christ.  What are we to think of these things? Are there legitimate criticisms of Reformed theology, piety, and... Continue Reading

I’m writing this because that season feels like it’s over.  There was a sense of overlapping, simultaneous tragedies, where wherever we turned, all we could see was someone crying.  This morning, it feels that life has moved back into a more normal season, where pastoral issues come singly. They will come again, but probably not... Continue Reading

The creeds, confessions, and catechisms of the church form the core curriculum for teaching Christians the faith. Catechesis is a word that simply means teaching. Catechisms, however, are usually a specific format of teaching through questions and answers. Children learn catechisms at an age where memorization is easy. Later in life, when young people ask lots... Continue Reading

The church has many ministries that address the social or physical needs of people, but it must remember that its core calling is the ministry of the Word. God entrusted to the church this unique gift: his special revelation in its authority, clarity, necessity, unity in Christ, efficacy, inerrant veracity, and sufficiency. Like the apostles,... Continue Reading

Today many people, including widows, are financially wealthy but relationally impoverished. There is a great plague of loneliness in society in general and among the elderly in particular. The church has the opportunity and even the duty to provide for that relational need and many other needs among its members who are elderly or alone.... Continue Reading

Church history is messy because of the fact that God uses fallen humanity to advance his kingdom. Church history is messy because the world’s history intersects with the church’s. Church history is messy because we cannot consider all unforeseen consequences of decisions and choices. Church history is messy because theology has a people-story connectedness. Church... Continue Reading

From the very beginning, Spurgeon sought to make the gospel the central theme of his preaching ministry. His very first sermon as pastor at Waterbeach was from Matthew 1:21, “Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.”[2] Every sermon, no matter what text he was preaching, Spurgeon sought... Continue Reading

I have had the privilege of sitting under some of the very finest Bible teachers, and yet, by dismissing one poor preacher, I missed a great opportunity for growth. Poor preachers are gifts from the Lord. That’s what I learned, ironically, from one of the greatest preachers who ever lived.   My family had recently... Continue Reading