Churches can hire secret shoppers to parachute into the pews and generate a report based on their observations A graduate student at DePaul University, atheist activist Hemant Mehta avoided being a church hater by becoming a church rater. Enlisted four years ago on a lark to attend about a dozen Chicago-area churches and honestly rate... Continue Reading

The CRC allows congregations to make their own decisions about whether to ordain women. In addition, each classis is allowed to decide whether women officeholders from individual congregations may be delegates to classis. Opposition to women’s ordination has prompted a local church to pull away from a regional church group in its denomination. Second Reformed... Continue Reading

A touch that Hansen particularly appreciated was that the elders’ spouses were also interviewed to make sure they supported their husbands’ endeavor. Pastor E.C. Bell — with his trademark baseball cap and straight forward attitude — and two elders were officially installed as the executives of Chehalem Valley Presbyterian Church, a plant from Evergreen Presbyterian... Continue Reading

“…that until or unless there are constitutional amendments to change our BCO, each court is to be reminded to be faithful in upholding the constitutional views of the Church….” The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America will be meeting in Nashville, Tenn., June 29-July 2. This overture was adopted by the Northwest Georgia... Continue Reading

Liberal church activists are reluctant to acknowledge that African Christianity has a firm mind of its own. Fast growing African Christianity, both evangelical and Catholic, is transforming global religion and affecting American Christianity, particularly its debates over homosexuality. The U.S. Episcopal Church, of course, has been prominently roiled by controversy since its 2003 election of... Continue Reading

Earlier in the day, the Synod newly approved Covenant College of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, for its list of recommended colleges . The Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States voted Thursday (May 20) to suspend Dordt College from its list of colleges recommended for support. The vote came a day after Dr. Carl... Continue Reading

Lewis is among a group of pastors in the PCA who are preparing to host an event this summer called Revival 2K10. Organizers of the June 4-6 conference in Baltimore, Md., plan to launch a movement to counter the “heresy” of the prosperity gospel. (Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on March 26th. We have... Continue Reading

Critics complained that (President) Zylstra failed to provide satisfactory defenses for charges that some Dordt (College) professors are deviating from historic views of a literal six-day creation of the world. Concerns over further modernization of the Heidelberg Catechism, a new church visitation program, and future pastoral needs were among issues tackled by more than 80... Continue Reading

“I have had misgivings over the Church of Scotland for a number of years. I believe there is a general drift away from Biblical orthodoxy.” An entire congregation has quit the Church of Scotland in the Bahamas after its minister resigned over the issue of the first gay ordination. Around 800 members of the Kirk... Continue Reading

Both place GAMC-endorsed comments on overtures to this summer’s General Assembly (GA) related to the Israel-Palestine issue. (One overture deals with views of Palestine Christians; the other with “Declaring Israel policy ‘apartheid’”) (Editor’s Note: Following this article is a brief description with links detailing the work of the GAMC.) The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly... Continue Reading