There is a quiet pragmatism creeping into North American churches which measures the rightness of an action by man’s assessment of whether or not it works. Actions are justified or condemned based on the perceived benefit they accomplish. These benefits can be made to sound very spiritual, but in the end they are subjective, dependent... Continue Reading

We assume our people are drinking in everything we say when the reality that that – whilst some of what we say goes in – they don’t hear all of it and they certainly don’t retain all they hear. There can be an assumption that if we keep saying certain things we are just rehashing old... Continue Reading

Discipleship is not just for those who are young. Our calling is not just for those who can physically come to church. We are called to shepherd and to disciple all God has entrusted to us.   The renewed call to gospel-centered discipleship in the last two decades has been extremely helpful in clarifying the... Continue Reading

Paul’s warning was taken very seriously by many churches and ministers in the controversy between fundamentalists and liberals in the 1920s. Fundamentalists seeing their churches and schools deserting historic Christianity viewed liberals as devious, deceptive, even demonic. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, in the most valuable and enduring critique of liberalism written in the 1920s, Christianity and... Continue Reading

I belong to a What’sApp messaging group with scores (or more) of Brad and Megan’s family, friends, and fellow church members. Brad offers updates, which alternate between the grieving and the inspiring. His friends offer encouragements and prayers. On Wednesday morning—five days after normal ended—Brad shared the following (lightly edited, including removing children and church’s... Continue Reading

There is a truth that every person in ministry must eventually confront: God may only give you a small audience. He may only grant you a few supporters. He may only bless you with a small team, a short reach, a limited influence. The question for us back then was how would we respond?   “If... Continue Reading

The Aquila Report is celebrating its 10th anniversary of providing news and information for the Reformed and Evangelical family of churches. We thought it would be interesting to see what the top articles were for each of the years; they are list below. The board and staff of The Aquila Report enjoys offering this news... Continue Reading

Reconciliation that results in fruit that is in keeping with a repentant heart does not happen in a vacuum (Matt. 3:8). It is only as you and I are brought into right relationship with God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to one another (2 Cor. 5:18-19). Only as our... Continue Reading

First-century Christians seemed “strange” to their pleasure-pursuing contemporaries (1 Peter 4:3–4). They trusted in a cross-centered message that looked feeble to some and foolish to others (1 Cor. 1:18–25). How, then, should they and we live among those who do not share our faith?   Christians often wrestle with how to balance grace and truth in our... Continue Reading

Jesus Christ calls us as his followers to love our neighbors. The people he had in mind weren’t those who shared our view of the family, sexual ethics, religion, or the economy. Our neighbors include the very people who sometimes get on our nerves. Jesus even took it a step further when he said that... Continue Reading