Posted in Parish Theory & Practice, The Gospel & the Poor, The Romance of Locality, Thomas Chalmers, West Port experiment on February 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
In Grand Rapids? Join us! Or sign up and/or watch it this Friday, February 9 by Facebook Live.
Note: this is a distinct, public event after the earlier PRTS Student Society lecture below. Both, however, are livestreamed (yet not including the short RPM slideshow as these include unedited photos of personal mission contacts).
Posted in Free Church of Scotland, Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish Theory & Practice, The Gospel & the Poor, Theology of Community, Theology Proper, Thomas Chalmers, Vignettes from the Old Parish Way, Visitation Evangelism, West Port experiment on April 27, 2023| 1 Comment »
Unless otherwise noted here prior to the event, the lecture will be livestreamed here:
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Confessional Subscription, Contemporary Parochialism, Free Church of Scotland, Gospel Proclamation, Missiology, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, The Gospel & the Poor, The Romance of Locality, The Sacred Ministry, Thomas Chalmers, West Port experiment on June 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“Chalmers’ method was simple, systematic, spiritual, and unadorned. It was concerned with reaching souls rather than building brands; it sought them out. A gathered team of committed individuals connected with their local community and the lives of individuals through visitation and interaction. Such a method has massive challenges in a society where community has disintegrated but that is not to say it is impossible. No doubt something resembling it is bearing fruit in some communities.”
In this article below, my good friend Matthew Vogan recounts the old national vision of our Scottish Presbyterian forbears like Thomas Chalmers, who maintained confessional fidelity while also aggressively engaged in home missions. Does anyone among the theological heirs of Chalmers have such a national vision? Or even more pointedly, does anyone care?
Well, I for one deeply believe that they do care. And that they have the almighty Spirit of God dwelling in them and resting upon them. Nothing can defeat the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, nothing can stop these ‘sons of oil,’ for it is “not by might, nor by power, but by [His] Spirit, saith the LORD.” They will hear their charge, and they will go, shaking off all inhibitions and possessing the good land that rightly belongs them–and much more, to the Heir of all!
(There. That’s the closest this stodgy Presbyterian will ever get to ‘naming and claiming!’)
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This article is found in The Bulwark, popular magazine published by the Scottish Reformation Society. To read it more easily, you will likely need to download and rotate view.
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Free Church of Scotland, Locality & the Law of Residence, Missiology, Moral Suasion, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, The Romance of Locality, Theology of Community, Theology of Place, Thomas Chalmers, Vignettes from 19th Century District Visitation, Visitation Evangelism, West Port experiment on April 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »
My 2018 journal article, “Desert Rose: Thomas Chalmers’ West Port Experiment (1844-1847),” published in the 2018 edition of The Confessional Presbyterian. Images used by permission. To purchase a copy, click here.
Posted in Thomas Chalmers, Vignettes from 19th Century District Visitation, Visitation Evangelism, West Port experiment on September 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
‘We remember of having the seventh successive door slapped in our face ere we had time to tell our message, and of then going to another tenement and entering house by house only to find men and women rolling on the floor of a desolate dwelling in indiscriminate drunkenness; whilst mingling with their curses and their blasphemies, the heart-piercing looks and cries of their infant children assailed us with irresistible appeals for bread to allay the cutting pangs of hunger.’
-Rev. William Tasker, 1845
This link gives an introduction to Thomas Chalmers’ West Port experiment. The above quote is drawn from it.
West Port Experiment 