Christian Church

Hannah Allen – Rescued from Serious Mental Struggles One of the most moving, honest, and encouraging stories of a battle with mental disturbances comes from a 17 th -century English Puritan, Hannah Allen, born around 1638 to pious parents. Her father, John Archer, a merchant, died when she was...

If someone were to ask you what passions, pleasures, or desires you have, what would you say? Upon further reflection, how would you respond if they asked how these passions, pleasures, and desires cause fights with those who stand in your way of them? When we think about passions, it’s important...

Introduction “Moses said to the Lord, ‘ Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and of tongue .’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? … Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak…’” (Ex. 4:10-12, cf. Jer. 1:6-9) “For Christ did not...

On March 7, 1557, a French ship landed into Guanabara Bay, near modern-day Rio de Janeiro, carrying fourteen French Protestant men ready to bring the gospel to this new continent. One of them, 23-year-old Jean de Léry, kept a detailed journal. These men, according to Léry, were sent in response to...

We often see ourselves as the heroes of the stories we read. We identify with noble characters like Atticus Finch, Elizabeth Bennett, and Frodo Baggins—rarely do we align ourselves with flawed figures like Bob Ewell, Mary Bennett, or Gollum. This tendency extends to how we view the early church in...

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” (Heb. 12:11). We don’t like discipline—in our personal lives, in the family, or at church—because it hurts. No balanced person enjoys giving or receiving corrective instruction. Correction wounds our pride and threatens our imagined...

The visible church is an institution. Like any other organization the church has structure. Anyone who takes the Bible seriously realizes that the gathered community of God has leaders, doctrine, and rules for membership. As unpopular as it might be to say, Christianity is a religion and the...

“A Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble.” [i] Like a lion hoping to snatch prey that wanders alone Satan aims to devour professing Christians who are disconnected from God’s family. We need the church. To become persuaded of this truth we need to know what the church is. It isn’t an...

Article two of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy reads: “We affirm that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture. We deny that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have...

As Stephen Nichols writes in his biography, R. C. Sproul: A Life , “The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy made and makes some wince.” [1] Perhaps the main reason for that wince is the nature of the Statement. It is a line in the sand. It is a boundary marker. In our day, when something as...