With God’s help, in 2001 I graduated from The Center for Biblical Studies Institute and Seminary in the Philippines. That same year I received a call to pastor the congregation where I previously did my internship. The year 2021 therefore marks my twentieth year in the ministry. Throughout my life as a pastor, I […]
During the course of my ministry, I have often been asked by elders a question about what might be termed “pastoral tenure.” The question often arises within the context of a church’s vacancy and its search for the names of ministers to whom the congregation might extend a call. In the course of their search […]
My name is Tess Van Dyk. I am from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and attend Covenant United Reformed Church in Kalamazoo. I have always been in a Christian atmosphere, having gone to Kalamazoo Christian school since preschool; I will be going into my senior year at Kalamazoo Christian High School. This past week I attended the Reformed […]
The book Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher is so relevant for Christian families in these times that I want to introduce it to you and hope you will read it. It explains how a soft totalitarianism is taking control of our society and how Christian families can keep living in truth amid all […]
The book of Job is the story of a righteous man who experienced horrible suffering and total disaster. Job loses all of his children and property, and then he is afflicted with a devastating disease. How does Job react to these terrible tragedies? Job 1:20–22 (New International Version) tells us: [He] fell to the ground […]
Do you have a favorite psalm? The Psalms have been my favorite book of the Bible for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, each New Year my family would make a list of goals to accomplish in the coming year. I remember writing, “Read a book on the Psalms,” and […]
James chides his first-century Christian readers for boasting about tomorrow as though the providence of God didn’t exist. Afterwards he writes, “And so” or “Therefore,” indicating that there’s a result or consequence that follows his teaching. What’s that result? Here we find a doctrinal nugget, supported in other parts of Scripture, that all Christians understand […]
Maybe you are asking, “If the dominion of sin and Satan and the world has been defeated in Christ, then why are we talking about fighting against worldliness? Ought we not to just rest in the finished work of Christ?” While the dominion of sin and the world has been broken through union with Christ […]
In the Beginning: Listening to Genesis 1 and 2, Cornelis VanDam. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2021. 371 pages. Hardback. $23.00. In only a few years Reformation Heritage has published two significant books on the subject of Genesis. First came William Van Doodeward’s The Quest for the Historical Adam. Now, we have this gem by […]
Long-time readers of The Outlook will be well aware of who Rev. Thomas C. Vanden Heuvel is. Rev. Vanden Heuvel and his wife, Laurie, served as editors for many years of this magazine. Rev. Vanden Heuvel passed away on July 7, 2021. A funeral service was conducted in the Seventh Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, […]