I believe [in] a holy catholic church-in many churches this statement of faith is expressed when believers say the Apostles’ Creed, a creed that has been used virtually from the beginning of the church’s history. This expression of faith stands alongside of affirmations of faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the […]

It is hard for some in mainline Protestant churches to understand, but a few denominations like my own, the Christian Reformed Church, are still debating whether women should be allowed to serve as ruling or teaching elders (elders and pastors). For many on both sides it is strictly a question of being faithful to Scripture. […]

Do we need ministers? This somewhat strange question came to my mind after reading two quite different news reports. The first was in the December 6, 1993 issue of The Banner. This issue ran several news items on some differences within and among Christian Reformed churches in Orange City, Iowa. At the conclusion of one […]

1 Peter 4:1–6 Key Verse: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the […]

1 Peter 4:7–11 Key Verse: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.” 1 Peter 4:7               Time for an alternative lifestyle (read 4:7) In the preceding verses Peter pointed to the coming judgment as an incentive to endure suffering […]

I recently returned from the Netherlands where I attended the third meeting of the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC). I was there as an official observer on behalf of Trinity Reformed Church of Lethbridge. There were also three other observers from the Independent churches (having recently seceded from the CRC) in Canada. The others […]

On December 8, 1993 in Chino, California, I attended the 15th in a series of 22 “Listening Conferences” put on by the Office of the Executive Director of Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church. This is the event that includes the controversial “understanding opinions” exercise. The understanding opinion portion of the conference has drawn charges […]

It has been customary in the history of theology to divide the Bible’s teaching about the future into two parts, the first dealing with the future of the individual believer and the second dealing with the future of the creation. These two divisions are sometimes termed “individual eschatology” and “general eschatology.”1 The first addresses such […]

In the last two articles in this series, I made several observations in the course of establishing a pastoral strategy for the care of older members. The first was to argue that elders and deacons, not to mention preachers, have a heavy responsibility to care for those in nursing homes. Their special needs, brought about […]

Dear Editors: On the whole I have enjoyed The Outlook very much. But the article of December 93 (p.14) carried such an awful blasphemous prayer that made me wonder how that ever got in The Outlook. It was a prayer for an excuse form Jesus to mix Santa Claus in with the celebration of our […]