Perhaps some of the most famous words ever spoken on the topic of holiness by a pastor came from Robert Murray McCheyne. He said,
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Category Archives: Church history
St Patrick the Irish Evangelical
Life
St Patrick’s Day is a Saint’s day. There is nothing wrong with celebrating saint’s days, though there is nothing particularly right either. As our Apostle says: “One man esteems one day as better than another while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).
Legendary stories make it hard to know the truth about early saints. We do not know anything about some saints, like St Valentine, and what we know about other famous ones, like St Nicholas, is contradictory and confusing. Even for some Biblical saints there is very little information, like St Matthias or St Bartholomew. (more…)
Notable anniversaries in 2013
Couldn't Help Noticing, Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel
I always love Joy Horn’s annual round up of Christian anniversaries for the coming year. Great ideas for introducing a bit of church history into bulletin articles, blog posts, and occasionally even sermons. (more…)
When to jump ship?
Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel
Anyone in a mainline denomination infected by liberalism, or some other divergence from the evangelical faith, will have faced the question of when to stay or when to go? How bad does the denomination have to get before you decide to abandon ship?
BCP’s 350th!
Life, Sola Panel
I love my historical anniversaries. (Regular readers will know this, as do members of my church!) Anyway, 350 years ago today, on 19 May 1662, The Act of Uniformity received the royal assent in England. This enforced use of the Book of Common Prayer. There is a sad side to compelling the consciences of some Christian ministers, who preferred different ways of ordering their public church assemblies, but I will return to that another occasion. (more…)
What is an evangelical?
Review, Sola Panel
“Labels are for boxes and dieters” a friend told me after I asked him his theological
persuasion. Many of my new Christian friends tell me basically the same thing. Most of them are under the age of forty, and none of them want to be labelled. They don’t want to identify themselves as Baptist or Presbyterian or Calvinist or conservative. They just want to be known as Bible-believing Christians. (more…)
A second anniversary for Sunday
Pastoral Ministry, Sola Panel
Many North Americans readers will know the second great anniversary that occurs this Sunday is that 200 years ago today, Adoniram and Ann Judson sailed from Massachusetts, on February 19, 1812, apparently the first Protestant American missionaries to travel overseas. (more…)
Anniversary number 1 for Sunday
Life, Sola Panel
This Sunday, on February 19, two very different anniversaries occur.
Because Australians are not always very good at history and The Briefing originates here, I think they are worth noting. They may be of interest to others too. (more…)
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders
Pastoral Ministry
There is a famous phrase about intergenerational dependence: that ‘we stand on the shoulders of giants’. It reminds us that whatever we have we owe to those greats before us. But let me remind you of Isaac Newton’s specific use of the phrase: “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. In other words, the upshot of standing on a giant’s shoulders is that you tend to have a better view than the giant himself does. As we build sensibly on the greats of previous generations, we also have the privilege of seeing better than they.
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in)
Pastoral Ministry
It can be very tempting as an elder (in whatever context: family, school, youth group, church, denomination, organization, committee, etc.) to just do things yourself; you’re more experienced, more capabable, and can get things done quicker. And as time goes on and you keep doing things yourself for those very reasons, those reasons become self-perpetuating: you are more and more experienced than anyone else will ever be because they are never given a go.
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations
Pastoral Ministry
There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you may have heard it: the first generation wins or establishes the gospel in their context, the next generation assumes the gospel, and the third generation loses the gospel.
Have we got the right Bible?
Thought
Who selected the books in the Bible? Was it all just a power play between leaders? Mark Thompson surveys the history of our biblical canon, and the central role of Jesus in its formation. (more…)
The editor’s fault
Thought, Sola Panel
One of the many crosses my children have to bear in having me for a father is that I find it hard to stop being an editor.
“Me and Elle are going to the beach today, Dad. Can you give us a lift?”
“Not until you can say: Elle and I are going to the beach today.”
Complementarianism and egalitarianism (part 9): The future of egalitarianism (iv)
Pastoral Ministry
If it happens that ongoing developments encourage a rethink among some of those people who consider themselves egalitarian, a move to a more biblical understanding by former egalitarians will be aided by two main gestures by complementarians. (more…)
Complementarianism and egalitarianism (part 8): The future of egalitarianism (iii)
Pastoral Ministry
This is the third post in this second segment of Mark Baddeley’s series on complementarianism and egalitarianism. (Read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.)
We have been considering some of the reasons why there may be some moves out of the egalitarian ‘camp’ in the foreseeable future—say, over the next twenty years or so. In this post we’ll consider the problems that arise when champions of women’s ordination cease to campaign for their cause, but have to rule on the basis of it, and conclude in the next by considering how complementarians can respond to these opportunities. (more…)