In the midst of the perennial debate about whether the church ought to set aside a special day to celebrate the birth of our Lord, one finds some interesting statements. It is often remarked that the early church did not celebrate Christmas. But I recently read an addition to that: “they were too ashamed.” Unfortunately, […]
When we look at the ecclesiastical landscape of our time is it any wonder that the Church has lost its relevance to modern man? With scandals involving money, sex, and power; with its meddling in the realm of political agendas; and with its irrelevant message of “don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t go with girls […]
It is that time of year again. With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, we once more make the month long journey toward Christmas. For about thirty days, we see decorations on homes and businesses; we hear Christmas music in the grocery store; we get Starbuck’s coffee served in red cups; and we watch the mall […]
In our last article, we considered the responsibility of elders in teaching, taking note that it was an elder who directed John to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah—the Lamb slain—as the One who has prevailed and is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals (Revelation 5:5). In this article […]
In this past year we have had over 110 articles written by over fifty different writers from ten different federations/denominations. You may have noticed some changes that took place this year. The most obvious one is that we went to color covers and color pictures. Less obvious, but still noticeable is the fact that most […]
Without compromising the core principles of the Reformation—grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone—can we honor and still understand the role of the blessed Virgin Mary in the history of redemption? To phrase the question in another way: Why does the Reformed tradition show little or no interest in the virgin Mary? Are we afraid to […]
With a Shepherd’s Heart: Reclaiming the Pastoral Office of Elder By John R. Sittema Pastors have the privilege and duty of reading scores of books on the subject of church leadership and management. Elders usually don’t have this luxury or time. For this reason alone John Sittema’s book ought to receive a wide distribution among […]
Eastern Orthodoxy Before we continue the story of the church’s practice in the West, we need to pause a moment to comment on the distinct development of the practice of the eastern church. Even though the formal schism between the eastern and the western church did not occur until 1054 A.D., for our purposes it […]
On October 11, 2005, Classis Michigan of the United Reformed Churches in North America met for the nineteenth time. Delegates from the dozen churches in this classis met at the Bethel URC in Jenison, Michigan. The officers of the day were: Chairman – Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen; Vice-Chairman – Rev. Wybren Oord; Clerk – Rev. […]