Last Sunday, when the members of our young church gathered for two services, more than three hundred people attended. Seventy eager believers crowded into our new members’ class. Worship that day was what most of us would call formal: the congregation stood to receive God’s blessing from the minister, sat for prayers (which included a […]
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous statement about the Great Depression, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” doesn’t fit as an analysis for the Y2K computer bug, it may be coming close. Disruptions from the bug undoubtedly will occur — even the National Basketball Association, citing Y2K fears, last week was considering calling […]
Twenty years after the emergence of the so-called “Religious Right” on the American political radar screen, it is time to assess the impact and future prospects of the greatest political-religious movement since Prohibition. How close are religious conservatives to obtaining their announced goals of outlawing abortion, blunting the gay rights movement, winning the war on […]
When I was a boy growing up in East Texas, we lived near some railroad tracks. In those days, homeless men (whom we called hoboes) often rode the rail cars from town to town. Occasionally, one of those men would show up at our front door and ask my mother for a meal. Without asking […]
Life is filled with struggles, each day a brand new test. We learn new things from others while striving for our best. In competition always, we often come up short, Whether failing on a test, or losing on the court. Excellence is hard to find, while trials seem to stay. And when we need […]
Last month we observed the fact that just as a young fruit tree needs to be attached to a stake in order to grow straight and tall, even so a child needs to be attached to the standard of the Word of God applied. I say applied because, although it is essential to teach the […]
In the last issue of The Outlook we looked at the need for a revival of the Sabbath among Reformed people in our time. Since writing that article I observed a billboard the message of which reinforced my conviction that a Sabbath revival is urgently needed. The billboard’s message was: “Let’s meet at my house this Sunday […]
…if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23–24) If your brother sins against you, go… (Matthew 18:15) In your […]
The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church is scheduled to meet for its annual session from June 12–19, 1999. Instead of its usual meeting place at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this Synod will gather on the campus of Redeemer College in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada — a suburb of Hamilton. Delegates from 47 classes […]
One of the dangers attending the appointment of a study committee is that the committee may recommend some “novelty” otherwise unknown in the history of the churches. There is always the possibility that such a committee will come with recommendations that either exceed its original mandate or ignore the Biblical wisdom reflected in the long […]