Briefly Considered: The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John and was said to have met with numerous people who knew Jesus. He was held in very high regard among the churches as is indicated by his being titled "holy" Polycarp in the letter concerning his martyrdom from the church at Smyrna. We do not know the date of this let...

Clement writes a letter condemning the sin of envy that was manifesting itself in the church in Corinth in the form of ministers being kicked out of office. Clement writes a treatise against envy that is relevant in a multitude of situations. ...

I read of a Southern Baptist Church in Florida which is growing through an internet membership. Despite concerns that those who are members via internet will not be able to really connect with the church, Flamingo Road Church is determined to make it work. They insist that they are, indeed, "faithful members" who interact with the church by watching videos and through onli...

What happens when someone argues that their own private times with God are more important than corporate gatherings of the church as a whole?Each of us, I'm sure, have heard those who have questioned the necessity of corporate worship, thinking that it is less "spiritual" than their own private times of reading and meditation.Well, R. Scott Clark, professor of Church Histo...

In the introduction to "Give Praise to God, A Vision for Reforming Worship," Philip Ryken describes how the late Dr. James Boice (who died in 2000, and in whose memory the book was written) was (rightfully) troubled by what he saw happening in the contemporary church. Ryken writes:"Given the priority that he placed on honoring God in our worship, Dr. Boice understandably w...

In the introduction to "Give Praise to God, A Vision for Reforming Worship," Philip Ryken describes how the late Dr. James Boice (who died in 2000, and in whose memory the book was written) was (rightfully) troubled by what he saw happening in the contemporary church. Ryken writes:"Given the priority that he placed on honoring God in our worship, Dr. Boice understandably w...

During the time of my first church plant in another state, we had a statewide meeting of church planters during which a representative of the North American Mission Board provided us with some software that would help us with the administration of our churches. The software included membership tracking, time management helps, etc.But also included in the software was a col...

On November 11, 2011, Wayne Rice, one of the founders of the largest, most influential student ministry organization, Youth Specialties, confessed: "We got what we wanted. We turned youth ministry into the toy department of the church. Churches now hire professionals to lead youth ministry. We got relevance but we created a generation of teenagers who are a mile wide and a...

While there is no one particular form that we can point to as being the only form for genuine worship, there are some forms which are better than others at being faithful to what God has called for in our worship of Him.We should take warning from the story of Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu found in Leviticus chapter 10. They had just been installed as priests and took it u...

The following comes from some of the notes from a membership class I did at a church plant in Virginia. It borrows heavily from the membership class of Capital Hill Baptist. First a consideration of "membership" in the Bible. There is no denying that the word "membership" is not in the Bible. However, the concept of church membership is certainly implied. How so? Whe...

In other words, why do we gather on Sunday mornings in the first place? Various people may answer in various ways, but to get at the answer we cannot simply take a poll, we have to look to see what the Bible says. And what we find is Paul speaking to the Christians in Corinth concerning their weekly gathering saying, "So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifesta...

This is a transcription I did some time ago of excerpts from a conversation between James White and Thom Aschol. I felt that what James White shared below hit such a nerve with me. I could relate so well to going to seminary and then into ministry, wanting to do the will of God and to preach and teach, but being taught, directly and indirectly, that man's methodologies wer...

This is something I wrote back in 2006 and I just came across it today. Since writing this, my wife and I have had a chance to visit the Billy Graham museum and, honestly,I feel like the criticisms of the cow were a bit overblown. Nevertheless, the sentiment of what I shared here still stands. "We have become so performance oriented that it is hard to see how compromise...

Yesterday, Tim Challies wrote a post he called "The Worst Consequence of Skipping Church." In it he articulated something that I reminded the members of my previous churches often from the pulpit: "Sunday morning is not about having some one-on-one time with God, it is about the gathering of God's people together to worship Him as one, to encourage one another, and stir on...

In a message entitled "The Issue in the Church," J. Gresham Machen (preaching sometime before his death in 1937) said some things as relevant and important for us to hear as they were in his day: "The world of today is hoping for something new. Things that seemed to be new have proved to be old; the newness of modern inventions has been found not to touch the depths of li...

"The thing is," he continued, "I would have never gone to him if it weren't for you pushing me to that night. In fact, even after you told me what I should do, I knew you were right, but I did not intend on acting upon it until you told me that you were going to hold me accountable. After you said that, I knew that I needed to act before the next time I saw you and I did, ...

Jesus commands those in His church to "love one another, just as I have loved you also are you to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). The love that exists between followers of Christ should be the type of love that gets noticed by the world at large, but does that mean that our demons...

After nearly two decades of overseeing the Lord's table, I came to embrace the belief that the best practice of the ordinance is by following what is called "closed communion." This is not to say that I am not able to practice communion with those who do not share my convictions. I am willing to submit to the authority of the elders who rule over their church and practice ...

"This ain't the South, this is Blacksburg." Such was my introduction to living in the New River Valley in Virginia. This neighbor of mine was expressing out loud what many of my neighbors must have been thinking to themselves when Michelle and I took the initiative to go door to door introducing ourselves to our new neighbors when we first moved in to town. I had comment...

Formal on-campus seminary training has an honorable past and tradition and my desire is not to take away from that history. However, I believe that with the good that seminaries have provided, there have been negative unintended consequences for the local church. In an age of online training, I believe that new opportunities have opened up for local churches undertake thei...