local church

"One's Own Fashions!"

Jeffrey Stivason
Mar 1, 2023
In Edith Wharton’s, The Age of Innocence , Newland Archer, the young man set in the ways of old New York, has a conversation with Countess Ellen Olenska, who has recently returned from Europe after leaving her wealthy husband for his many affairs. Olenska doesn’t fit into old New York for a variety...

Note Taking in Worship

Persis Lorenti
Sep 21, 2021
One of the joys of gathering with my local church on Sundays is sitting under the ministry of the Word. This is especially dear to me after having been un-churched for many years. I was spiritually malnourished by the time God providentially led me to the church I now call home. Hearing sound...

Vital Churches Podcast

Jonathan Master
Jun 14, 2021
Vital Churches Wendell McBurney is our special guest. He’s been dean of research at Indiana University and has done a lot of writing in academic circles. Dr. McBurney has also been a valuable member of the RPCNA—the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America for many decades. Today’s topic is...

City-to-City Evangelism

Nick Batzig
Jun 24, 2019
Many of us who grew up in the D. James Kennedy era of Evangelism Explosion embraced the idea that spiritually mature Christians should be involved in formal and methodical one-on-one evangelism. The same is true of those who were influenced by the Way of the Master approach, spearheaded by Ray...

When Discontent Sheep Show Up

Nick Kennicott
Jan 10, 2019
Most pastors have heard the complaints of visitors coming from other local churches. It is not uncommon for believers to grow discontent with their circumstances and begin looking elsewhere for a new church family at some point in their Christian lives. In America, it is all too easy to leave one...

Keeping the Para- in the Para-Church

Brian Cosby
Dec 7, 2018
I benefit from a number of para-church ministries, and I'm grateful for those who serve as leaders and volunteers of those groups for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. Over the years, however, I have become increasingly aware of my generation's low-committal, take-it-or-leave-it approach to the...

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Nick Batzig
Jul 26, 2018
I recently wasted four of five minutes of my life watching a clip of a segment of a sermon by a well known mega-church preacher. Over the past five years, this individual has reinvented his preaching style. Once a more relaxed speaker, he now effectively works the crowd over with high energy, moral...

Benefits of Theological Education in the Local Church

Sean Morris
May 26, 2018
In the previous post , we considered the rationale behind a local church model of theological education. In this post, we want to turn our attention to five potential benefits of such a church-based theological education model: In-person instruction, mentoring, and discipleship. There is much to be...

Theological Education and the Local Church

Sean Morris
May 7, 2018
Theological poverty is rampant in the majority of the Western Church today. North American evangelical/Protestant churches are suffering an endemic deficiency with regard to biblical and theological understanding. This is no new assessment,1 and the consequences to our spiritual health have been...

As Jesus Sees It

Adam Parker
Jul 17, 2017
One of the benefits of having young children while being a pastor is that it affords you the opportunity to get plugged into the local school system. When we first met with someone who worked at the school, we told them the name of our church. Their immediate response was, "Oh we used to go there!...