Monday's Catch: 'A Question of Character' and More

A Question Of Character: Getting Unstuck Is Not The Church’s Biggest Problem

It’s getting harder to blame small or stuck congregations for what’s wrong with the church. Read More

I Believe in [a Relevant] Church

I have to admit that I have a degree of sympathy for those in my generation who think the church is irrelevant. That's because, if I'm allowed a moment of criticism, the American "church" has trivialized itself into insignificance. Read More

Is Your Church Ready for Generation Z? [Video]

Is the church ready for Generation Z? Maina Mwaura sat down with some members of the generation and many don’t believe the church is prepared. Watch Now

Is It Sinful to Observe (or Not To Observe) Lent?

This is the time of year when I receive a lot of questions about Lent. Is it sinful to observe Lent? Is it sinful not to? Is there spiritual benefit in observing it? Or could there even be an element of spiritual danger? I am going to offer a few comments of my own, then direct you to some contemporary writers who have been helpful to me. Read More

This is a thoughtful article which is why I am posting it. But I do have several problems with Tim Challies’ conclusions. The first problem is his characterization of Anglicanism as “high church,” the second is his juxtaposition of Anglicanism alongside Roman Catholicism, the third is his omission of Lutheranism—a Protestant tradition that observes Lent, and the fourth is his exclusion of the Anglican Church from the Reformed Churches. The English Reformers identified with the Continental Reformed Churches. The Continental Reformers like Heinrich Bullinger regarded the Church of England as a Reformed Church. Phillip Schiff classifies the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion as a Reformed confession of faith.

While the reformed Church of England retained the traditional Church Calendar, its primary use was catechetical. Its retention was consistent with Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s philosophy of retaining the old where it may be well-used.

In the 1662 Prayer Book, as in its predecessors the 1552, 1559, and 1604 Prayer Books, the first day of Lent is marked by the Commination, a service which includes the reading of imprecations—the pronouncement of God’s anger and judgment against sinners. The Gospel readings appointed for the Sundays in Lent in the Prayer Book focus on the events in the life and ministry of our Lord leading up to his suffering and death on the cross at Calvary.

Based upon the 1552 Prayer Book (whose Communion Service gives liturgical expression to the New Testament doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ) and his writings Cranmer may be regarded as a leading sixteenth century Reformed theologian in his own right.

Challies’ own Reformed Baptist tradition is an offshoot of the Anglican tradition diverging from that Reformed tradition on the issue of infant baptism and adopting the position of the Puritans on other issues. Puritanism was a school of thought within Anglicanism. Its adherents only split into two different schools of thought at the Restoration—the Churchmen inside the Church of England and the Non-Conformists outside the Church of England. The chief difference between these two groups was that the first group accepted the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and retained their livings. The second group did not accept the Prayer Book and were ejected from their livings. While Puritanism is sometimes associated with Presbyterianism, its adherents also included Episcopalians and Congregationalists.

In the nineteenth century the Ritualist movement reintroduced into the Church of England the imposition of ashes, fasting, and other practices associated with the observance of Lent in the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of England’s Evangelical wing fiercely opposed the reintroduction of these practices. A Protestant Dictionary published in 1904 contains a number of articles written by Evangelical scholars and theologians. The article on Lent notes that our Lord did not encourage his disciples to fast. It also notes that John Cassian, a monk and theologian who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, wrote that the primitive Church did not observe Lent. Rather its observance was a later development.

Be Gentle So That God May Grant Repentance

Paul writes to Timothy, encouraging him and explaining how Timothy ought to defend his flock against false teachers (2 Tim 2:14–19). Two particularly troublesome men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, had wrongly claimed that the resurrection already happened (2 Tim 2:18).

His advice to Timothy, however, is somewhat counter-cultural for us today. Paul tells Timothy to pursue virtue, gentleness, and patience so that God may grant Timothy’s opponents repentance. Read More

Cut Off Your Hand—How Far Will You Go to Save Your Soul?

Losing a sense of God’s holiness is the first warning sign of entering a spiritually dangerous place. Read More