This article is based on remarks made to Christian Schools International (CSI). District 8, administrators’ meeting, April/93. The Editors Christians are school builders. Our history as school builders reaches back many centuries and continues today. We build schools for our covenant youth close to home, and we build schools on foreign mission fields to support the […]
A former editor of a church periodical once referred to church music as the “War Department” of the church. He was writing about something most of us have experienced personally: disputes about “good” and “bad” church music. In some congregations these disputes center upon the tastes of a choir director or an organist. In the most […]
When the subject of family values is raised, polls show that most people respond by citing “Golden Rule” ethics rather than political issues. A survey by the MassMutual Life Insurance Company a few years ago demonstrated that most Americans think of family values in terms of mutual support and give-and-take, not in terms of social […]
The Calvin College Women’s Caucus, including 149 Calvin Faculty members, has signed a document submitted to the Board of Trustees of the College entitled, “Justice or Prudence: A Response to Synod 1992.” In the document the signers state that the 1992 decision of synod had damaged their relationship with the CRC. and they call for a […]
Do you think everyone has a God-given right to have life? First we better understand what we mean by the word life. Good ol’ Webster’s Dictionary has much to say about this little word. Here is just the first part of its definition: “That property of plants and animals which makes it possible for them […]
In the first chapter of the book of Acts, we are told that the disciples, when they were in the presence of the risen Lord, inquired about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel: “And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring […]
At the end of February, 1993, I boarded a Boeing 747 in Chicago, bound for Frankfort, Germany, Budapest, Hungary and finally Beius, a small city in Western Romania. I was rather enthused, never having been to Europe before. I was also a bit hesitant, having little idea what the next 15 days would bring. […]
Some time ago, the biggest Christian Reformed church in my urban area split over the issues that currently divide our denomination. Some 23 of the 25 office-bearers of the Mount Hamilton CRC, including the pastor, Rev. Raymond Sikkema, along with the bulk of the membership, decided the time had come to sever ties with the […]
Every overseas mission agency I know, denominational or non-denominational, is finding it harder to raise missionary support. Part of this is due to the recession. The recession provoked a crisis that all churches and mission organizations now feel. Besides the recession, other factors make missionary support more difficult. People who traditionally supported missions are getting […]