Topic Archives: Church & Ministry

This is the second of four posts from Peter Schild (translated by Michael T. Schmid) which together constitute his booklet The Church and Missions. ‘As they ministered to the Lord and fasted…’ — Acts 13:2 There is a real danger that a church becomes stagnant in self-satisfaction. The church at Antioch could have said, ‘We […]

This is the first of four posts from Peter Schild (translated by Michael T. Schmid) which together constitute his booklet The Church and Missions. ‘Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the […]

The following article is featured in the present issue (743–744) of the Banner of Truth Magazine, Aug–Sept 2025. The world is a needy place; it lies in darkness and the only remedy is gospel light. This should weigh on us, as it weighted on the Lord Jesus. As he himself was engaged in preaching the […]

This is the text of an address delivered at the Leicester Ministers’ Conference, 28 April, 2012. It is included, along with four other addresses, in Iain H. Murray’s Evangelical Holiness and Other Addresses. J. Gresham Machen once wrote: ‘If we are going to avoid controversy, we might as well close our Bibles; for the New […]

The following post first appeared (on October 24, 2016) on www.reformation21.org, a blog run by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is posted here with their kind permission. After a cracking day at the Evangelical Library in London on “Reading John Owen” (opening, it has to be said, with Nigel Graham giving what may be […]

The following address, published in Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions, 1942–1977, was given at a conference of leaders of the Crusaders’ Union, Sion College, London, on 7 February, 1942. The presentation of the gospel is a subject which is always important. It is always important because of the eternal consequences that depend […]

The following article first appeared in The Founders Journal, Issue 74 (Fall 2008) and was featured on the Banner website in January 2010. By ‘posture’ I do not refer to the alignment of one’s body when standing. Good posture, of course, is advisable, for one breathes better, projects his voice better and shows respect for […]

Maggie Paton’s letters ought to be read alongside Paton’s autobiography. James Paton wrote that he was eager to publish these letters because “they present another picture of mission life and experiences in the New Hebrides from that portrayed in the now famous Autobiography of her husband.  The story of John Gibson Paton (1824-1907), Scottish Presbyterian […]

The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pages 249–273.  Note to the reader: before this section, Baxter spends time considering how a minister may winsomely prevail upon his people to submit to being catechised. With this treated of, he proceeds to outline how a shepherd of God’s flock can best carry […]

In the recovery of biblical exposition that has marked the church in our own time, it has not always been recognized that in addition to such exposition the Reformers and Puritans placed great stress on catechizing. We tend to think of this as children learning catechetical questions and answers by rote. But what the Puritans […]

The following extract is taken from Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (256 pages, £5.75), pages 168–177. The Duty of Personal Catechising and Instructing the Flock Particularly Recommended Having disclosed and lamented our miscarriages and neglects, our duty for the future lies plain before us. God forbid that we should now go on in the sins […]

Original Editor’s Note: Contributed by a minister to whom many other Christian workers will be grateful for expressing what they have often felt. The man in the pulpit is much more likely to be ill than the man in the pew. As an ordinary mortal and private Christian he is as susceptible to illness as […]

In the last few months, the church I serve has been working through ‌the updated version of Eshcol, John Owen’s little treatment on church life now entitled Duties of Christian Fellowship: A Manual for Church Members. The volume is divided into two main sections. The first contains seven ‘Rules for walking in fellowship with respect […]

It seems as if a lot of people are heading to Asbury. I have not been to Asbury. At this point, I do not anticipate going to Asbury. Why are they going to Asbury? It is because, in the last few days, something has taken place in the chapel of Asbury University. If the reports […]

I often make the same pastoral mistake. It is not deliberate, it is often well-intentioned, sometimes it is even hopeful. It is this: to presume upon the biblical knowledge of the people to whom I speak. I do not at all mean by this to deliver a backhanded insult, appearing to confess a shortcoming of […]