“As a new elder you will likely feel the pressure to “prove yourself.” Don’t fall into this trap. Jesus has called you to serve, and the church has recognized this calling. Listen to the other elders, especially those who have served for a long time. During meetings, listen to how the conversations progress and keep... Continue Reading

This month five congregations from the Illiana-Florida Classis of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) are transferring to the Chicago Metro Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.  Rev. Ben Kappers is the pastor at First Church (PCA) in Lansing, IL (formerly First Reformed Church), and writes of his reflections on the upcoming transfer.  ... Continue Reading

“Efficacious grace is misunderstood if it is perceived as duress brutally exerted upon the soul. Grace is irresistible in the sense that it operates with the compulsion of overwhelming love. It so inclines the enslaved will that it abandons base affections and desires the good and holy that is supremely manifested in Christ.”   There... Continue Reading

“Church members in Germany are required by law to pay tax to fund church activities, which is collected by the government. Under German law, anyone who was baptized as a child is automatically a member of the church and obliged to pay the tax, charged as a percentage of their income, regardless of their beliefs... Continue Reading

Last October, the congregation of Bonhomme voted 722 to 71 in favor of disaffiliating from PCUSA, following a discernment process that lasted over two years. Since leaving the largest Presbyterian denomination, however, Bonhomme has been the subject of legal action over its church property.   A Missouri church that recently voted to leave Presbyterian Church... Continue Reading

The Court found that “the Constitution and Canons of TEC have no provisions which state that a member diocese cannot voluntarily withdraw its membership.” The ruling found that had there been such a provision, it would have violated the Diocese’s “constitutionally-protected right” to freedom of association. “With the freedom to associate goes its corollary, the... Continue Reading

We must resolve conflict at every level in the church. Try to prevent it before it begins. The seeds of conflict often begin in small, invisible ways.  It is the duty of the church to prevent and resolve conflict because as we have read, God is not the author of confusion and Christ’s Body should... Continue Reading

Rather than making the church yet another busy segment of our lives, what would happen if we scaled down our involvements in order to make Sunday worship the central and most vital and well-attended day of the church’s week? What would happen if our services were not marked by the flash and bounce of the... Continue Reading

Be watchful for those who are only in it for the money and are always trying to get increases in salary or take up special offerings for themselves, for those who try to rule the church with an iron fist, those who redefine salvation, those who say that we are the only true church and... Continue Reading

It is important to realize that the regulative principle as applied to public worship frees the church from acts of impropriety and idiocy — we are not free, for example, to advertise that performing clowns will mime the Bible lesson at next week’s Sunday service. Yet it does not commit the church to a “cookie-cutter,”... Continue Reading