Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1 (Take 2)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FRwAic8Qr8?rel=0] Ava, age 3, answering the first question of the catechism.
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I am a victim of church abuse
I am a victim of church abuse. As a poor and young church musician in the late 1990s, I was taken advantage of and guilt-tripped into serving to the point of exhaustion. You may blame my own stupidity for this, but no pastors actually took me aside to explain the concept of free grace. During
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Two Kingdoms: Natural Law, Common Grace and the Spiritual Nature of the Church
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV) In my previous post, I discussed how social justice has played a factor in the development of my worldview. I’ve sought
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Social Justice and the Christian
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” (Lk. 6:20-21a, NIV) “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” (Lk.
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Law & Gospel
One of my favorite books. Two of the things that have really helped me grow up spiritually in the last few years have been coming to an understanding of covenant theology as a framework for interpreting the Old Testament, and a right understanding of the relationship of Law and Gospel. Before I discuss matters of
Attributes of a Healthy Church
I jotted down a couple thoughts during a recent worship service at the local Presbyterian church: Tiny church: you feel alone, like it’s you vs. the world. Big church: you worship God in community, gathered, hundreds of voices together. You don’t feel like it’s “us vs. world”. Driving around downtown Chico on a Lord’s Day
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The Marks of an Abusive Church
Before I discuss the marks of a healthy church, which I will do in my next post, I need to go into some background a little bit. I have a lot of baggage when it comes to churches. Through several years of chaos since experiencing a painful church split a decade ago, and then having
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Historic Confessions vs. the Contemporary Statement of Faith
A page in the PC(USA) Book of Confessions “[W]e do not approach God’s Word as if we were the first people to read and interpret it. In fact, we draw upon 2,000 years of study, exegesis, reflection, and interpretation that testify to the truths of Scripture.” —Daniel R. Hyde The doctrine of the perspicuity of
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Diversity and the Nature of the Church
“The great strength of Presbyterianism is its uncanny knack of fostering a fellowship in which people of different viewpoints continue to dialogue.” —David Robert Ord Here is a very concise statement on the nature of the true church: “The true church is one where the Word is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered.”
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Why not “Mainline”?
More than a decade ago, I was part of a church that sent “missionaries” to Scotland to try to show the Presbyterians how to do church, and I went on two such mission trips myself. In the years since, I have come to see that it’s all the rest of us who need to ask
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