Posted in Catechesis, Ordinary Means Ministry, Sacraments, The Lord's Supper, The Visible Church, Theological Diagrams on August 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Another theological diagram as a teaching aid for my next lesson on the Westminster Shorter Catechism this Sabbath. I designed this some time back and got some feedback on it from a couple of my ministerial colleagues.
Like any diagram, it doesn’t say it all. But I think it helps distinguish the Reformed position from extremes on either side. What think ye?
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Psalmody, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Theological Diagrams, Worship, True & False on August 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Designed the diagram below as an aid in teaching catechism last Sabbath. Focusing on the 2nd Commandment at the moment.
![S Cat 049-052 Sorting Worship [CCat]](https://westportexperiment.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/s-cat-049-052-sorting-worship-ccat-2.jpg)
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, The Visible Church, Thomas Chalmers on July 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »
We often say (and rightly so) that the church building is not the church. After the advent of Christ, true worship was untethered to a sacred site. And yet, while the structure of a Christian congregation possess no inherent sacredness, it is the theater where the drama of eternal things is played out. Chalmers put it this way:
“What is to be done here may tell on the everlasting destiny not of ourselves only, but of our children’s children throughout many generations. We are sometimes told of the mighty doings which go on within the walls of an exchange, where the bargains that are made from week to week, the commercial transactions which are there settled bear on the state and fortune of whole classes of society—or within the walls of a university, where the lessons daily given are deposited (more…)
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Church of Scotland, Gospel Tactics, Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, Thomas Chalmers, Vignettes from the Old Parish Way, Visitation Evangelism, Visitation Journaling on July 28, 2020| 2 Comments »
My recent journal article, “Pastor and Parish Redux: Thomas Chalmers’s Conversion & Kilmany Ministry, 1811-1815” (submitted copy), published in the July 2020 edition of the Puritan Reformed Journal. Images used by permission. To purchase a copy, click here.
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Public Health, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Sacred & Secular, Social Issues, Two Kingdoms Theology on April 1, 2020| 3 Comments »
A few striking observations from a favorite anecdote in John G. Paton’s autobiography, below. If I’m not mistaken, this would be referring to a cholera outbreak in 1832 in the U.K.
1. Healthy believers long for the courts of the Lord and don’t let lesser things get in their way. 2. However, it appears that godly Scottish Presbyterians in the early 19th century believed that public health crises could warrant church closures (or at least effectively cause them by population controls). 3. And apparently, the same believed that the state could mandate such closures (or at least effectively, etc.) in the interests of public health.
Not an argument that any of our churches must necessarily close under the present circumstances; just an observation to help put some strong opinions out there in context.
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on November 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
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Music courtesy of Ernst Stolz, “Psalm 72 Genevan Psalter – setting by Claude Goudimel – viols & organ.” All images not my own are from the public domain (attributions here).
Posted in Care for the Youth, Catechesis, Diets of Catechizing, Evangelistic Catechesis, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Ordinary Means Ministry, Puritans & Puritanism on September 13, 2019| 1 Comment »
The second installment of my recording of Doolittle’s treatise on catechizing. With each page, I am more and more convinced that this is truly a masterpiece of pastoral and pedagogical wisdom. In this most recent installment, I’m stuck once again with how truly evangelistic catechesis should be. Hardly a clinical exercise! And he pleads with ignorant adults to come under the yoke as well.
Posted in Ministerial Fidelity, Ordinary Means Ministry, Preaching on March 19, 2019| 1 Comment »
“When I am preaching, I see Dr. Jonas sitting there, and Oecolampadius, and Melanchthon, and I say to myself, ‘Those learned doctors know enough already; so I need not trouble about them. I shall fire at the poor people in the aisles.’”
-Martin Luther
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.
West Port Experiment 