If a close friend were to ask you if a group of people who gather at a local auditorium for a sermon on Sunday is a true church, how would you answer, "yes" or "no"? How will you decide? What will be your criteria? What distinguishes true churches from false churches? This question does not […]
We all know someone who tells us, "I don't need to go to church. I worship God in my own way." In this issue of Modern Reformation, we will explore the idea of the church as it is instituted by God and understood in the modern world. But we must begin at the beginning, with […]
It is a tragedy that much of the current discussion of worship takes place apart from the doctrine of the church, which has always been the context for this very important subject. The separation of worship from ecclesiology betrays the individualism of American culture which has been "baptized" and uncritically carried over into the church. […]
When we are reading Scripture, what is our primary method for understanding its contents? Do we seek signs in the sky to discern its meaning? Do we close our eyes, let the Bible fall open where it may, point to a verse to determine "this is what the Word says to me" and end at […]
There is a growing trend among adherents of the Church Growth movement to treat the church as just another business. It should come as no surprise, then, that a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article discusses the latest developments of this trend, the megachurch. This trend is not an aberration based on misapplication of Church […]
What is the “electronic church”? If you turn on your TV, you will find a variety of religious broadcasting, from Roman Catholic masses to traditional Presbyterian services to charismatic talk shows. Some of these programs are rather amateurish local broadcasts of local worship services. Others are sophisticated and expensive programs syndicated all over the world. […]
"How can I find a church where I will hear Christ preached from his Word, without all the fluff and distractions?" That is a question I have asked myself on many occasions. It is easy to understand the concern and even frustration that accompanies the search for the right place to worship. First, as with […]
Evangelicalism as a whole seems to have guarded its fundamental teachings better than its more liberal opponents, there is, by and large, no distinct form that one can expect evangelical worship and piety to take. In the past, evangelicals did not see this as a problem, for they believed that doctrinal substance was separable from […]
