My fIrst impressions of the Psalter Hymnal Supplement were not good. Not so much because of the words (though there are a few of questionable quality on that score too) as the tunes. I thought to myself: How many of those tunes will we actually be able to sing in the average Canadian Christian Reformed […]
“It’s time,” says Rev. Jelle Tuininga, to clip the wings of our Boards and make them small, humble servants of the churches again—as they were intended to be in the first place. And one step in that direction is decentralization. Rev. Tuininga is pastor of the Christian Reformed Church of Smithers, British Columbia. The danger […]
Ecumenicity begins at home, among brothers of the same household. No doubt the greatest obstacles often appear there too, and that brings with it the temptation to look for closer relations with more distant relatives. But that does not make it right. In 1972 Synod ceased any kind of official contact with the Canadian Reformed […]
As far as the matter under discussion is concerned, we’re going to need something a whole lot better, a good deal more substantial, and considerably more convincing than the report under consideration before the church is going to be ready to change something it has believed to be biblical for over 1900 years. The CRC […]
Our Christian Reformed Synod had to deal with an overture from Iron Springs, Alberta, asking to stop quota support for the Calvin Graduate Studies Program, and also with several overtures from both north and south of the border, asking for society control of Calvin College. As could be expected, these overtures did not gel to […]
“DOUBLY STRANGE, UNBELIEVABLE” Dear Mr. Editor: Thank you for keeping your readers informed and up-to-date on the progress of the Reformed Seminary among the Tiv in Nigeria. It is now more than a decade ago that our Synod first urged the Foreign Mission Board to come to the establishment of a Reformed Seminary in Nigeria […]
Editors, TORCH AND TRUMPET, Grand Rapids, Mich. A salute to Mrs. Vanden Heuvel for her well-written article re the “underground church” in the May issue of your magazine. She deserves tribute for her courage and forthrightness. I must confess, I can’t understand how the faculty of Calvin Seminary and the Board of Trustees can even […]
WE NEED EACH OTHER Two dangers that have afflicted God’s people in the past and that are still with us today are what may be called “intellectualism” and “anti-intellectualism.” (Note the “ism’s”) Both have done and do untold harm to the body of Christ. A form of (rationalistic) intellectualism was very much present in the […]
Of late, more and more leaders in the Christian community are raising questions concerning the practice, in that community. of putting up beautiful, expensive church buildings which are generally used only a couple of hours a week, and for the remainder of the time stand empty. Specifically, the question is: Can the Christian community still […]
THE FORM IS SECONDARY The traditional Sunday worship service as we have known it and still know it today, is coming under increasing attack. The most vocal of these attacks come from inside the church itself, particularly from the side of certain leaders and (some) young people. There is a call for more “involvement” in […]