One week after sharing the good news of four nations no longer needing child sponsors due to the passion of millennials, the ministry shared the bad news of another nation that will probably not need child sponsors due to government interference. A little more than a year after the Indian government told Compassion that it could no longer receive funding from outside the subcontinent, the humanitarian organization will likely be closing its last operations there.

The United States of America, for all her greatness, is not the “my people” of 2 Chronicles 7:14. That people was God’s temporary, national people Israel. That national covenant expired at the cross. Since that time God has had no national people, though many have thought and apparently still think that they must be God’s special, national people. God made that promise to national Israel not the USA or to any other civil people. The USA has no more standing before God, as a national people, than pagan Rome or the “Holy Roman Empire,” neither of which exist any longer.

As Burrell restated on Facebook this week, she directed her Sunday sermon at LGBT people within her church, a Pentecostal congregation she founded in Houston in 2010. A two-minute clip of the message, filmed on a phone and posted on YouTube, shows Burrell describing sex acts and saying, “The spirit of delusion and confusion, it... Continue Reading

“My Muslim friends have a strong confidence in their faith and would not be at all happy if a passage like John chapter 1, which affirms Jesus is God, was read out in their mosque,” Mr. McCarthy said. “So why did the leadership of the cathedral allow a recitation from a book which Muslims believe... Continue Reading

I don’t mean that we’re often so crass as to visibly fall foul of this particular obsequious practice – although such thoughts may never be too far away. It’s just that the sin of prejudice can express itself in a plethora of run-of-the-mill prejudicial acts, thoughts & expressions: ageism, sexism, racism, class-wars; shunning or shaming others because they are too young or old, a nobody or somebody, weak or powerful, scorned or famed, educated or uneducated, cool or square, trendy or unfashionable, popular or unpopular, home-schooled or state-schooled, the in-crowd or the out-crowd, and of course, your dress, status or bank-balance! Have churches not been tyrannised by nepotistic favours done for friends & family? If this is just the tip of the iceberg we need to snorkel beneath the water!

Just because a biblical argument can be made for the change, does not mean it is the right time to make the change. So many young pastors walk into an existing church, make quick, needed changes because, “It’s in the Bible” and think nothing of shepherding a congregation through those changes. Then they wonder why eighteen months into their pastorate, half the church remains and there is a general lack of trust and suspicion towards the pastor. That’s because the new pastor was too busy figuring out what “had to change” instead of first loving and shepherding that congregation so they would later be receptive to the change.

Congregational singing is far from dead, mainly because it’s connected to a source of life higher than cultural trends or modern comparisons. Even so, it receives less attention and adulation than it should—and there are several reasons. First, people tend to be attracted to larger churches where the “performance” of music approximates the professional; in principle, there’s nothing wrong with that. Second, the music in most churches tends to be so loud that the congregation simply cannot hear itself sing. Third, smaller churches with less ability to produce professional-sounding music tend to minimize singing altogether, so as to minimize embarrassment or perceived weakness.

The Confessionalist wants to engage the world but recognizes that what binds Reformed Christians together is not an agreed cultural agenda or even an eschatology (a vision of the future) but the Word of God as confessed by the churches. Thus, sometimes the interests of the Confessionalist with intersect with those of the Kuyperian (e.g., Machen’s defense of private Christian schools) and sometimes it may diverge (e.g., Machen’s libertarianism). He recognizes that the church’s confession of the Word has clear implications for the way the faith is lived both on the Christian Sabbath (Sumday) but also Monday through Saturday.

It does not matter how well you think you know someone in the church. It matters not how long so-and-so has been serving (Remember what we have already said about successful predators). You must insist that everyone working with children and youth in your church comply at all points with the policy. That includes submitting to a background check. If Aunt Millie who everyone has known for 40 years refuses to comply then she should not be allowed to work with children. Simply put, anyone worthy of working with other people’s children will understand the current climate and willingly submit to the stipulations of a wise policy.

“Youth ministries too often exert more energy trying to be trendy and fun than faithfully teaching Christ. And the teaching that does take place is usually topically-driven and moralistic in content.”   For seven years, I have led a small group Bible study for teens. For seven years before that, I ministered alongside my husband... Continue Reading