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Fasting & prayer during COVID-19

March 28, 2020 by westportexperiment

00019767The following is a list, though not exhaustive, of Reformed & Presbyterian bodies who either have observed a day of fasting & prayer during the COVID-19 crisis or who have appointed and/or commended one. If we cannot coordinate our days, perhaps we may be encouraged that we are not alone when we take our part “on the wall.”

“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God” (Joel 2:12-14)?

 

[Updated 4/18 @ 5:49 p.m. EDT]

Wednesday, March 25. ARP Canadian Presbytery.

Wednesday, March 25. RPCNA Pacific Coast Presbytery.

Lord’s day, March 29. Free Church of Scotland (Cont.). [Statement from the Public Questions, Religion and Morals Committee.]

Wednesday, April 1. Various Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC) & Free Reformed Congregations (FRC). [Prayer and Fasting Outline, with help from Th. Boston.]

Saturday, April 4. The Midwest Presbytery (RPCNA). [Full communication & helpful suggestions.]

Thursday, April 2 or 9. RPCNA Synod.

Wednesday, April 8. OPC Presbytery of the Southeast.

Monday, April 6. Calvary Presbytery (PCA). [Days of Fastings RPCNA]

Saturday, Ajpril 18. Several congregations in the Presbyterian Reformed Church (PRC).

I’ve also heard from / about some individual OPC congregations who have observed fasts.

* * * *

[Image above, “Nineveh Repents“]

Posted in Fasting & Days of Fasting, Prayer, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Services during COVID-19?

March 25, 2020 by westportexperiment

Smellie, Thomas. “Fenwick Church.” 1905

During the recent COVID-19 crisis, many Christian churches have closed their doors, cancelling regular public worships services, though often utilizing telecommunications to facilitate God’s worship in private home contexts. What principles do confessionally Reformed and Presbyterian elders consider when making their decision? These are the ones that factored in to my mind.

1. Worship is priority number one. God’s honor comes before man’s honor, His being before ours. “Thy love is better than life.” We should sooner join the three Hebrew children and lay down our lives than surrender an inch of God’s worship. The First Table comes before the Second, and if there is an apparent conflict, the general rule is to surrender our own interests.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Articles, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Sacred & Secular, Two Kingdoms Theology, WPE Editor | 6 Comments »

Of sin, the Creator, and our wit’s end

March 18, 2020 by westportexperiment

To reduce cluttering your inboxes, I’m posting several memes I’ve finished recently:

Murray, Essence of Sin

Boston, Beautiful Fabric

Willison, Wit's End

Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Natural Theology, Vox Patrum | Leave a Comment »

“The Cause of Church Extension”

March 6, 2020 by westportexperiment

Here is the latest edition to the “Chalmers Audio Library,” a work composed in 1835 entitled “The Cause of Church Extension, and the Question Shortly Stated, Between Churchmen and Dissenters in Regard to It.”

In this essay, Chalmers clarifies the true goals of the Church Extension movement in Scotland in the 1830s, indicating that it is much more than an effort to build more churches for the establishment. It is a means to Christianize the entire home population of the nation, including the poor. The essay is rather encumbered with historical details that will seem remote to the modern Christian. However, if one perseveres, he will find that this contributes significantly to the body of Reformed missiology and offers much of enduring value for the Church’s contemporary witness.

For more about the Church Extension movement, see The Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology, p. 182.

Posted in Finance & the Maintenance of Ministry, Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish Theory & Practice, The Gospel & the Poor, Thomas Chalmers | Leave a Comment »

No rain, no results

March 5, 2020 by westportexperiment

IMG_0229Chalmers made no bones about the fact that the parish method of home missions was best. And with the confident precision of an engineer, he detailed how it should work. But he was no Pelagian mechanist:

“Let us not forget that, however indispensable the things for which we plead, they are, after all, but ‘the outward things of the house of God,’ — most important no doubt, as being the aqueducts for a diffusive and general conveyance of spiritual blessings; yet a vain and useless parade, if the grace only given to those who ask it, shall not light upon our tabernacles. With all our value for the mechanism of a well-ordered church, we must remember that its great master springs are in the hands of Him who casteth down the imaginations of the confident, and delights in lending Himself to the supplications of the humble, — so that, whatever glory may accrue from the wisdom of its rulers, it is in its of men of faith and prayer that the main strength of our Establishment lies.”

– Thomas Chalmers, Works 18:138-139

Posted in Missiology, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Thomas Chalmers, Vital Godliness | Leave a Comment »

RPM: Fatima & the ratios of Jesus

March 3, 2020 by westportexperiment

المدرسة_المستنصرية_في_بغداد_(3)Some time back, my fellow elder and I met “Fatima” in my parish. Since then, I have had multiple opportunities to visit her with my wife and family, have her over to our house, and once she has come to church. As an Iraqi refugee, she’s experienced hardship; and things have not always been easy adjusting as a “stranger in a strange land.”  She is a very sweet, special lady, who is hungry for friendship. And our hope is that she will find that greatest of all friends, the Friend who laid down His life for His friends.

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Posted in Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts, WPE Editor | 1 Comment »

The bankrupt & the Surety

March 2, 2020 by westportexperiment

Tennent, Adam's Stock

Posted in Covenant Theology, Redemption Accomplished, Vox Patrum | Leave a Comment »

Of two trees

February 28, 2020 by westportexperiment

Irenaeus, Tree & Tree

Posted in Patristics, Vox Patrum | Leave a Comment »

RPM: More on “Tyrone” and “Leah”

February 22, 2020 by westportexperiment

PGP 185.5One apartment, two stories. Way back, I had met “Tyrone,” a truly broken soul who has been in and out of jail. Now that he’s back in jail, I’ve heard from him and have gone to pay him a visit. I wasn’t able to take a Bible in, or anything for that matter. So for about an hour I preached the Gospel to him from texts in my head as we sat without privacy in a large, open room with others, seated in our little tête-à-tête. We were one of many, but here was conversation into which the angels desired to look.

Among other things, I spoke of our Lord being about His “Father’s business” from Luke 2. Who was His Father after all? Was it Joseph? No. Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus’ conception. He was formed by the Spirit, coming down upon upon the Virgin. He was formed as the God-man, with two distinct natures in one person. Why was this? The Savior who had come for him, to save Tyrone’s soul, had to stand on both sides of the equation. He had to reconcile. What is reconciliation? Bringing hostile parties together; and in this case, bringing offenders, spiritual criminals, back into a right relation with the offended God. O Lord, make this seed sown to bear forth fruit unto righteousness and praise!

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Posted in Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts, WPE Editor | 3 Comments »

Reformed Parish Mission in Grand Rapids

February 13, 2020 by westportexperiment

I’m heading to Grand Rapids to share about my urban evangelistic outreach in the greater Providence, R.I. metro. A meeting for the general public will be held at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary at 7 p.m., this coming Monday, February 17.

For those unfamiliar with the work, the Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) is an outreach effort of the Presbyterian Reformed Church (PRC) of R.I. A major focus of RPM is bringing the Gospel and a confessionally Reformed witness to South Providence through regular, neighborhood visitation, in the conviction that minorities, immigrants, and the less privileged are easily neglected and are often more receptive. This effort aims at the gathering of folks to the regular Lord’s day services of the congregation, their conversion and upbuilding, and the offering of practical and constructive life-help as we are able.

In my slideshow presentation, we’ll be talking about Thomas Chalmers, his parish mission vision and method, and my attempt to operate on these principles in 2020. If you are a confessional Presbyterian or Reformed believer with a passion for advancing the Gospel and live in the Grand Rapids area, please join us! And if you don’t live in the area, but know someone who might be interested, please pass this along.

More about RPM.

RPM Bulletin Insert

Note, 7/25/24. This meeting is one of many presentations I have given over the years to raise awareness about my urban mission work, at that time in Rhode Island and now in S. Jersey. With the blessing of my presbytery, I have been raising support within and beyond our churches to dedicate myself to this work full-time, as a kind of full-time home missionary. I am very grateful to PRTS for the use of their facilities, their encouragements over the years, as well as many supporters throughout the HRC and FRC denominations. For updated information about RPM, go here.

Posted in Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts, The Gospel & the Poor | 1 Comment »

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