Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Practice of Piety, Prayer, Puritans & Puritanism, The Sacred Ministry, Vital Godliness on December 28, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“Prayer is a debt: ‘God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you,’ saith Samuel; [1 Sam 12:23] and in regard of our particular parishes, a bond, a specialty: ‘We are bound to thank God always for you,’ 2 Thess 1:3. The minister’s prayers, as well as his parts [abilities], are the common stock of the parish, in which all have a share.”
-George Swinnock (1627-1673)
Posted in Commerce & Christianity, Establishments, Gathered Church Ecclesiology, Ordinary Means Ministry, The Church in America, Theology of Community, Worship, True & False on December 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Funny, but damningly true. Again, reinforcement that Adam Smith was dead wrong about leaving religion purely to market forces.
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Benevolence & the Diaconate, Contemporary Parochialism, Parish in American Context, Parish in Perspective (Qualifications), Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, The Romance of Locality, Theology of Place, Visitation Evangelism on December 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. 3:8).
I do door-to-door evangelism and actually believe in it – in 2018. In making that admission, I suppose I should feel like Sarah Sanders trying to tap-dance around a newly minted presidential tweet. But I simply don’t.
I’m not a JW or a Mormon. Nor am I a Fundamentalist Baptist. I’m a confessional Presbyterian, relatively well educated, and (somewhat) comfortably middle-class. So why embrace what many Reformed and evangelicals consider pointless at best and counterproductive at worst?
Since I was converted back in the early 90s, I’ve practiced a number of methods of evangelism. I do not consider any one of them ‘the’ silver-bullet, nor do I think that door-to-door is always and in every case the most ideal method. But for the last thirteen years, I’ve engaged in regular, door-to-door evangelism as key part of my overall outreach effort. I do not presume to have the final answer on all questions, nor can I boast impressive success. Do I do this perfectly? Not at all. I’m always going to be on a learning curve. And consequently, I’m open to other suggestions and critiques. But after these many years and after many, many discouragements, I still keep coming back. I still plod and hope.
Here are a number of reasons why I believe it’s worth a serious re-think.
(more…)
Posted in Confessional Subscription, Historiography, Practice of Piety, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar on December 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »
“We show and teach daily in our sermons, that God took upon him our nature: but how do men hear them? Who is there that troubleth himself much to read the scripture? There are very few that attend to these things; every man is occupied with his own business. If there be one day in the week reserved for religious instruction, when they have spent six days in their own business, they are apt to spend the day which is set apart for worship, in play and pastime; Some rove about the fields, others go to the taverns to quaff: and there are undoubtedly at this time as many at the last mentioned place, as are here assembled in the name of God. Therefore, when we see so many shun and flee from this doctrine, can we marvel that there is such a brutishness, that we know not the rudiments of Christianity?”
– John Calvin, sermon on 1 Tim. 3:16
Posted in Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, The Romance of Locality, Visitation Evangelism on December 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a great article in New Horizons featuring Pr. Lowell Ivey, OPC minister in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on his efforts at neighborhood, door-to-door evangelization.
West Port Experiment 