Topic Archives: Church & Ministry

Renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:21) John Girardeau, the Old School Presbyterian1 minister from Charleston, SC, in 1851 turned down the opportunity to pastor a large Presbyterian church in order to begin a church with African slaves, out of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston. Girardeau’s methodology was to hold a weekly prayer meeting, to […]

My work before me is less with man and more with God. Isaac Ambrose Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything. John Eliot For thy name’s sake, lead me and guide me. (Psalm 31:3) O man of God, go on, go on; be valiant for that Plant of Renown, for that […]

How lonely sits the city. (Lamentations 1:1) The Apostle John’s vision of the glorified Christ reveals the Son of Man’s zeal for his glory and the work of his church. He is clothed with a robe, reaching to his feet, girded across his breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hair are white, […]

If anyone in the ancient world wanted to know how to write, he read Marcus Fabius Quintilianus’ Institutio Oratorio. Among other things, Among other things, Marcus pleaded that if you wanted to win the assent of your readers you must begin with a ‘courteous and natural opening.’ Sounds like sane advice. However, when Paul wrote […]

This is the final section of a paper given at the Theological Conference of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 2008. Its full title was, ‘James Fraser of Alness and the Preaching of the Gospel’. The previous two sections were: (1) James Fraser, the Man, and (2) James Fraser’s Magnum Opus.1 3. James Fraser […]

On 12 September,1983, the Rev. William Still, Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen, universally recognized as the senior parish minister, both in years and influence, among evangelicals in the Church of Scotland, gave the following address to some fifty ministers at an In-Service course of his denomination, convened at St Andrews. The address was published in The […]

The Bible’s Own Assessment of the Gospel Preacher [This is the Graduation address given at the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI, in May 2010 by Edward Donnelly.] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:15). Preachers and preaching are […]

Dr. David P. Murray is Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was a pastor for 12 years in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). He was Lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament at the Free Church (Continuing) Seminary in Inverness until he […]

Clarifying the term ‘Expository’ In a number of circles today ‘expository preaching’ is in vogue, and it is being urged on preachers as the way to preach. If this means that the preacher’s one business is to confine himself to the text of Scripture, and to make the sense plain to others, there is nothing […]

Consider what has happened in the church over the past decades. The 1970s were an exciting time. We saw an unprecedented rise in conservative evangelicalism, the explosion of Christian broadcasting and publishing, a number of excellent new Bible translations and study aids, the proliferation of small-group Bible studies, and tremendous growth in Bible-believing congregations. In […]

Let’s admit it, many, many preachers have preached borrowed sermons taken from others, sometimes to good effect sometimes not. If it is the result of laziness to prepare thoroughly, it is both wrong and sinful. Is it always out of place? I think not. In my first pastorate after I had read Spiritual Depression: Its […]

This is a summary of a message given by Bill Dyer of Pontefract, Yorkshire at the conference immediately following the annual assembly of the Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales, in Newtown on 15 May 2010. 1. A disciple is personally devoted to Jesus Christ. The religious authorities burdened people but learning from Jesus is a […]

After World War II there was a movement in the arts known as minimalism. This approach involved stripping down a work to its most fundamental features. What was really essential to the existence of a piece of music, an object of design, or a sculpture? We live in an age of church maximalism. Churches provide […]

I never preached a sermon which did not cost me prayers with strong cries and tears. Thomas Shepard It is not marriage that spoils ministers, but sloth, self-indulgence, and the fear of the cross. Oecolampadius Men are ever to be prepared for the Gospel by the preaching of the Law. Theodore Beza Pray often, for […]

In 1880 J.S. Curwen wrote his fascinating and rare book, Studies in Worship Music with its many observations on the psalms and hymns sung by the different denominations in the United Kingdom, the place of the organ if one was used, chanting, harmonizing, and how to train a congregation to sing. The last third of […]