Grown-ups prevail at the PCA General Assembly
Let the Baptists issue statements; we've subscribed to a confession.
The practical impotence of in thesi declarations is why I think them corrosive to the Church's well-being. Church officers are free to agree or disagree with them with whatever degree of openness they prefer; disagreement brings with it no automatic sanctions
Discerning Discernment?
What did the communicant know, and when did he know it?
What are the theological maturity qualifications for ‘joining the church’? I know the wrong answer. I know churches where you ‘join’ around high school graduation time, so you join and then leave town, maybe never to find your way back to church again.
From PCRT to Ligonier to Gospel Coalition
Not too long into the 1980s, however, Calvinists lost their swagger and mojo
The OPC found a way to avoid J&R with the PCA and in the process recovered something of its older polemical edge. The PCA became a refuge for disaffected Orthodox Presbyterians of a New Life persuasion. The CRC debated and finally gave its blessing to women’s ordination. As the OPC hardened, the PCA softened, and the CRC amended, Reformed Protestantism fractured.
Are Calvinistic Congregationalists To Be Counted Among the Reformed?
I, for one, am not ready or willing to give the definition of ‘Reformed’ such a narrow meaning
Thus, it is the Congregationalists who also believed in a gathered church of visible saints. It is true that they continued to practice paedobaptism, but the fact is that they, by their statement of faith, believed that only those who were visible saints who were visibly repenting of sin and visibly turning to Christ were the only proper subjects for church membership. It was also the Congregationalists who, like the Baptists, embraced the completeness of the local church in such a way that connectionalism in the Presbyterian sense is not needed and not Biblical.
Can Baptists Be Reformed? Is this a contradiction in terms?
“Reformed” and “Baptist” don’t go together any more than Darryl and the Bayly.
Now I married a blond, green-eyed Baptist. This does not put me in the category of Hosea, but it does say that what I saw trumped theological differences. Moreover, I have had and have quite a few Baptist friends. (In the South one would be hard up for friends if he did not include Baptists.) I have also had Baptists preach in my pulpit a number of times
Is Most of Reformed Deformed?
The much-discussed and derided "new Calvinism" arose in the last several decades as a critique movement.
Why are so many of our churches small and dying? Why do we baptize so few new believers? Why don't we have more large churches welcoming thousands of new members? Why does so much of our supposed growth come from church transfers? More importantly, what's our solution?
A Different Opinion on the PCA’s Insider Movement Study Committee
"The permanent committee had already approved a concise and strongly worded statement that spoke to this issue clearly and adequately."
Recently I had an exchange of FB messages with a PCA Teaching Elder concerning the story we published a few days ago on The Aquila Report entitled ‘Ad Interim Study Committee on Insider Movements Overwhelmingly Approved’ While not willing to have his entire message reprinted, he did state this purpose for writing: The... Continue Reading
Toward Denominational Unity in the Reformed Church in America
Truth-filled, grace-saturated, gospel-centered, Bible-grounded unity is precious beyond measure
We must not only affirm the gospel when having it presented to us. We must teach our people to articulate it. We must sing it strong and preach it loud. We must be passionate about clarity and be clear with our passions.
Why We Must Celebrate Grace
Because of that grace, obedience is a privilege, worship is a privilege, sacrifice is a privilege, and ministry is a privilege.
Apart from God's gift of grace I would make up my own laws, worship the creation, sacrifice only for what would bring me personal comfort and pleasure, and seek to be served rather than looking for ways to serve others.
Prodigal Children: If It Can Happen to John Piper, It Can Happen to You
There's nothing we fallible parents can do to ensure our kids will keep the faith.
"One of the most resilient and cherished myths of parenting is that parenting creates the child…Many Christian writers and parents have…drifted into what could be called spiritual determinism. We have absorbed the cultural belief in psychological determinism but spiritualized it with Bible verses, and one verse in particular." --Leslie Fields