How a Church Can Care for Former Prisoners
Discrimination against felons is acceptable in the world. Brothers and sisters, it cannot be acceptable in the church.
We ought to accept a person’s conversion as real until and unless he shows us something different. If a person comes into our congregation and he came from prison, we ought not to make him “prove himself” to us. Rather, we must trust that he is converted and wants to worship in a church that... Continue Reading
What Is Right, What Is Wrong?
Doing what the law forbids, and not doing what the law commands are both considered sin.
There is a quiet pragmatism creeping into North American churches which measures the rightness of an action by man’s assessment of whether or not it works. Actions are justified or condemned based on the perceived benefit they accomplish. These benefits can be made to sound very spiritual, but in the end they are subjective, dependent... Continue Reading
Don’t Be Afraid to Repeat Yourself
The best way to help your people know the gospel is to tell them the gospel frequently.
We assume our people are drinking in everything we say when the reality that that – whilst some of what we say goes in – they don’t hear all of it and they certainly don’t retain all they hear. There can be an assumption that if we keep saying certain things we are just rehashing old... Continue Reading
Walking Saints Home
God gives pastors three specific ministries to help his people finish well.
Discipleship is not just for those who are young. Our calling is not just for those who can physically come to church. We are called to shepherd and to disciple all God has entrusted to us. The renewed call to gospel-centered discipleship in the last two decades has been extremely helpful in clarifying the... Continue Reading
A Call to Thoughtful Vigilance
What can we learn in our day about being vigilant in defending and promoting biblical Christianity?
Paul’s warning was taken very seriously by many churches and ministers in the controversy between fundamentalists and liberals in the 1920s. Fundamentalists seeing their churches and schools deserting historic Christianity viewed liberals as devious, deceptive, even demonic. Dr. J. Gresham Machen, in the most valuable and enduring critique of liberalism written in the 1920s, Christianity and... Continue Reading
A Pastor, His Dying Wife, and Their Church—A Group Text
"Would you know what I am doing? I see God; I see Him as He is; not as through a glass darkly, but face to face."
I belong to a What’sApp messaging group with scores (or more) of Brad and Megan’s family, friends, and fellow church members. Brad offers updates, which alternate between the grieving and the inspiring. His friends offer encouragements and prayers. On Wednesday morning—five days after normal ended—Brad shared the following (lightly edited, including removing children and church’s... Continue Reading
Beyond the Numbers Game
Would it feel worth it if only a handful of people responded?
There is a truth that every person in ministry must eventually confront: God may only give you a small audience. He may only grant you a few supporters. He may only bless you with a small team, a short reach, a limited influence. The question for us back then was how would we respond? “If... Continue Reading
Top 10 Stories on The Aquila Report In Each of the Last 10 Years
The Aquila Report presents the top10 articles run for each year of its service.
The Aquila Report is celebrating its 10th anniversary of providing news and information for the Reformed and Evangelical family of churches. We thought it would be interesting to see what the top articles were for each of the years; they are list below. The board and staff of The Aquila Report enjoys offering this news... Continue Reading
The Era of the Angry Black Christian
In 2008, black liberation theologian Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright pronounced the anathematic “God damn America!” upon this nation because of its history of slavery.
Reconciliation that results in fruit that is in keeping with a repentant heart does not happen in a vacuum (Matt. 3:8). It is only as you and I are brought into right relationship with God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to one another (2 Cor. 5:18-19). Only as our... Continue Reading
Walking in Wisdom toward Outsiders
Christians need wisdom to interact with folks who are indifferent to, uncomfortable with, or hostile to our faith.
First-century Christians seemed “strange” to their pleasure-pursuing contemporaries (1 Peter 4:3–4). They trusted in a cross-centered message that looked feeble to some and foolish to others (1 Cor. 1:18–25). How, then, should they and we live among those who do not share our faith? Christians often wrestle with how to balance grace and truth in our... Continue Reading
