We are the Church; we are not a business. Our unity is found in Christ and under the authority of His Word. We seek the wisdom of the church of all times and ages. Various pastors and ministries are able to assist in that, but no one pastor will be able to do that in its entirety. This is in part what distinguishes the Reformed Churches from the cults. Jesus Christ is the sole head of His Church.

While I respect and honor the work of the men at Ligonier, I have never seen them as the face of a Reformed Brand, or even JI Packer, RC Sproul, or John Mac Arthur (who have all gone to be with the Lord) as the face of a nebulous Reformed Brand. In part, because my religious life has not been grounded online, but in the life of the local church and in the life of the classis or presbytery. That said, I know that the scandals connected with Ligonier will be trying to the faith of some Reformed Christians.

As a side note, this article from Pastor Steven Wedgeworth, encouraged me to reflect on this.

So the first word is this. Don’t put your faith in people or ministries, even if they appear to be respected clergy. Respect the clergy, because God has called ordained men to serve in His Church (Heb. 13, I Peter 5, I Tim. 3). But don’t put your faith in rockstar ministries and big brand names. That goes for anything, whether Canon Press, King’s Hall, Theopolis Institute, or well respected pastors and clergy, or even less well respected pastors and clergy. We all have clay feet and rely daily on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

How do we look upon the Reformed world?

One of my starting commitments when I approach the Reformed world or conversations about the Reformed world, is my commitment to Reformed catholicity. This means that I am not a tribalist, or a brand-name guy. I will get scrappy when it comes to false doctrine or errant doctrine or sin. I am committed to the creeds and the central doctrines of Reformed confessions, I am committed to the Church of Jesus Christ, but I am not committed to a brand-name. I am dedicated to the CREC and service within it, but that is not to the exclusion of other denominations within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

I consider the Reformed world as a network of churches and denominations, that are grounded in creeds and confessions, with a love for Christ and the Scriptures. The Church world, of course, is bigger than that. Here I am thinking specifically of the Reformed form, in its presbyterial government, its commitment to the doctrines of grace, and historic creeds and confessions. I’ll throw infant baptism in there too, even though I mention James White.

TM Reformed

I think what we might be seeing is the death of the TM or Trademark Reformed branding that has taken over the Reformed world in the last 25 years. These were the guys who kept the typologists, the guys excited about political theology, or liturgy and sacraments, and some of the so-called “fringe” Reformed in check. They kept everyone on the straight and narrow of their interpretation of the confessions.

An effort at gatekeeping in the broader Reformed world has been funnelled through ministries like Ligonier, TGC, and now it is moving onto new ministries.

The problem is, the modern world is so diverse, so many pastors know how to use social media, that we now have moved into a world where it is not so much boards and seminary professors who push certain content to the foreground, but it has been pushed to the foreground by the internet masses.

Now we see pastors like Douglas Wilson and Michael Foster in the Reformed & Presbyterian world. In the Reformed Baptist world, James White holds a lot of influence. In the broader evangelical culture (that is often included among the Reformed in the public eye), we see pastors like Dale Partridge, Joel Webbon, the men of Ogden. I don’t know as much about Rome and the East, but someone like Father Josiah Trenham would be known as a well-known internet name from the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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