A question can be read with the emphasis on anyone of the words in a given sentence. The title question can be read: Is it the Lord’s Day?; Is It the Lord’s Day?; Is it the Lord’s Day?; or Is it the Lord’s Day? In this article the question will be read with the emphasis […]
Recent involvement with several wounded believers, grieved by the failure of prominent pastoral leadership in regard to the care of their souls, has underscored for me at a profound level the urgency of what I wrote in the last Update (Vol. 5, No.5, 1996) (reprinted in the January issue of The Outlook). I began a […]
They almost passed each other in the hallway when one of the men stopped and said, “Hey, are you still in the (one of the ministries of the church)?”, to which the other man said, “Oh, didn’t you know? I quit the —-.” The guy next to him said the same thing with the same […]
When Ebenezer Scrooge meets a group of Londoners collecting for the poor in Charles Dickens, classic “A Christmas Carol,” he dismisses personal responsibility for his fellow men by asking if there are not enough poorhouses and debtors prisons in the country. Flash forward to 1996 and the state of Maryland where recently a group of […]
A reader in North Dakota wrote me asking, “When is it appropriate to applaud in church?” This man and his family had noticed in their small, rural church that sometimes the small children were applauded when they presented the special music. He was looking for a guideline, and he thought someone at the Church Herald […]
When I first met her she was a spirited feisty young teenager. I supposed she was born that way. When she was eight years old, her family attended a conference where her father was one of the speakers. One evening there was a musical program during which the enthusiastic leader encouraged, “Let’s give God a […]
The apostle Paul urged the New Testament church to “make melody in our hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). So far in our visits together we have centered our attention upon the structure and appropriateness of the texts and tunes of our praise. But we must probe beyond the printed page and ask a more […]
Sometime during the Christian School convention that was held some time ago, someone, I don’t recall who, asked the above question and thereby stirred up a rather animated set of responses. The question was, who is teaching Reformed doctrine to our children? The answer, I am afraid, at least in most of our so-called “Reformed […]
Having recently participated in a week-long theological conference in Hungary, I had the unique opportunity of interviewing five prominent Reformed Christian ministers about our beloved “Kalvinista Zion.” In my humble opinion, it is imperative to understand the historical background before dealing with the slow recovery of the severely wounded Hungarian Reformed Church. A BRIEF HISTORICAL […]
Last month, I wrote to you about building men of God. I promised to show you a plan of action that you could use to develop servant-leaders, men of godly character and keen Biblical minds, husbands who know how to love their wives, pastoral elders who know how to love Christ’s Wife, the church. […]