Elizabeth Prentiss left behind a legacy of ministry to countless suffering women, devotion to her husband and children, many stories and books that helped others grow in Christ, and the hymn “More Love to Thee.” She did all this despite frequent waves of grief and sorrow, sickness and poor health. Though well-known as a published... Continue Reading

Elder, it is your job to make sound moral judgments, to shine light into dark places. Morality is an invisible reality and the sheep under your care are looking to you for moral clarity. They look to you to speak with clarity and conviction on what is right and what is wrong. This is not... Continue Reading

Spurgeon believed suffering could benefit believers in various ways, and he particularly reflected on the good a variety of evils could produce for pastors. In times of ease and prosperity, pastors might rely on themselves and not look to God’s promises, consider eternity, or lean on the strength that comes from the Spirit. Through suffering,... Continue Reading

In season and out of season he met his engagements. His custom was to catechize at regular periods, throughout his charge, and not only the children but also the heads of families—households. This was done by announcing from the pulpit certain days in the week, to meet those of a particular district, at a place... Continue Reading

Augustine was a remarkable figure, a towering intellect with unmatched rhetorical skills. He exhibited an unprecedented capacity for self-reflection with a contemplative and even mystical streak. His impact continued throughout the Western church through the Protestant Reformation. He was a major influence on Reformers such as Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, and John Calvin. And... Continue Reading

I don’t write this in anger or seeking my “pound of flesh” as I was accused of at a presbytery council meeting when seeking to expose this behavior at the presbytery level. We must all pursue the path of forgiveness just as we have been forgiven. So, I must pursue it as well. Yet we... Continue Reading

Owen cared about worshiping the triune God properly. His theology of public worship is established on the triune God and beholding him by faith now. It’s practiced in a church’s worship service by actively communing with Christ—by looking at him—through the prescribed ordinances of worship found in God’s Word. Expressing spiritual affections by faith in... Continue Reading

Bringing together, then, the “permanency of the gifts which qualify for the office,” and the church’s judgment “that Christ is calling this man to the exercise of the office,” Murray considers it inconsistent for the elder to be installed for a specified period (despite the PCA’s “perpetual” ordination, this does not preclude churches from specifying... Continue Reading

Schaeffer stands as a positive example for the Church today as someone who understood what was truly behind the culture war raging around him. It was not a war that just began in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade; it had started in the Garden. He was no scholar’s scholar, but he was a man... Continue Reading

A third point for Spurgeon was unity, especially unity among minsters of the gospel. In a day with much division, Spurgeon’s point is a good reminder. He said, “Whenever the foot is at enmity with the hand there must be something like madness in the body; there cannot be a sound mind within that frame... Continue Reading