The message seems clear: the national leadership can communicate as it wishes, while the rest of us should practice restraint. For commissioners who care deeply about the EPC’s future, this feels less like a call to unity and more like an attempt to avoid dealing with the real issues. It is an approach that risks... Continue Reading

I discovered that I had some gifting in public ministry. This was confirmed by the people whom I served. Theologians refer to this dynamic as the “external” call, that is, the confirmation by others that this might be what the Lord has in store. Of course, the consummation of the external call is the confirmation... Continue Reading

There are many different kinds of gifts that God gives His people (see, for example, 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Pet. 4:11). We should help one another recognize our gifts and encourage one another to use them for the edification of the church. Our gifts are “for building up the body of Christ”... Continue Reading

So how can America become more Protestant? That project is not mainly political or even cultural but evangelistic, ecclesial, and catechetical. Churches will need to focus on making new converts, reclaiming lost converts, and teaching their own flocks about the Protestant tradition. They will have to be less afraid to identify as “Protestant” or as... Continue Reading

Established in 1903, First Presbyterian Trenton was one of the founding churches that formed the EPC 44 years ago….Despite this long and historic connection, the congregation reached a point where they were no longer in “theological alignment” with the EPC.   Concerned by “theological progressive leaning” within the EPC, one of the largest churches in... Continue Reading

Christ is at work in Germany even now. We see God’s Spirit working, especially among the younger generation. In 2009, John Piper returned to Munich for the first time since his PhD studies in the early 1970s. He met with a group of roughly fifteen German pastors and theologians, most of whom had served in... Continue Reading

The work of discipleship and church planting cannot take place unless non-believers are evangelized and born again. At the same time, we cannot leave new converts on their own simply because they claim to be Christians. They must be grounded in their faith, taught what it means to turn their backs on the world and... Continue Reading

The gathering of the church must be carried out according to God’s revealed will. We want to worship God in the way He has prescribed as best as we can. We should acknowledge, however, that “The New Testament does not provide us with officially sanctioned public ‘services’ so much as with examples of crucial elements.”... Continue Reading

When a pastor finds himself avoiding the company of others, operating in isolation from other leaders in the church, or pushing back against accountability, heed the warning signs of compromise. If not addressed, a pastor will drift away from the biblical standards he once held and start living and leading in the questionable realm of... Continue Reading

Vern S. Poythress (VSP): I was grateful for the conference being held at all. In the completed statement, I was grateful also for several things. First, there was a clear positive statement of what the doctrine of inerrancy is. Second, there were statements designed to head off misunderstandings and caricatures. For example, some opponents have... Continue Reading