Ministry

What is faithful preaching of God’s word? How does one know whether one has heard, or is hearing on a regular basis faithful preaching of God’s word? The central importance of these questions and their answers hits us when we recognize that the Second Person of the Trinity is identified by the...

Every preacher knows – at least in some sense – that we are called to ‘preach Christ’ as we expound the Scriptures. We heard it in our homiletics classes in Seminary and we’ve been challenged about it in the numerous seminars, conferences and workshops on preaching we attend in the course of our...

Anne Cooke Bacon – Patron of Puritan Preachers Anne Cooke Bacon made her mark on the Church of England in 1563, when she translated John Jewel’s Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae, which became a statement of faith for the Church of England under Elizabeth I. Immediately, her work was praised for its...

Reformed Preaching: Biblical, Doctrinal, and Practical Joel Beeke is a prolific author, professor, and president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He’s also the pastor of Heritage Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, MI. Beeke recently published Reformed Preaching: Proclaiming God’s Word...

According to N. T. Wright, it is now generally agreed that an overall theme in II Corinthians is “Paul’s defense, not of his apostolic ministry in itself, but of the particular style or character of that ministry.” [1] For Wright, these arguments concerning the nature of Paul’s ministry form the...

Join us in Pittsburgh, PA for a special evening with Jonathan Master The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals invites you to an evening gathering to hear Dr. Jonathan Master speak on "Wisdom: The Need of Our Contemporary Age." Dr. Master is the Alliance editorial director, co-host of the Alliance...

Anne Bradstreet and Her Songs of Daily Providence Late in her life, Anne Bradstreet wrote a letter to her children, retelling her story for their “spiritual advantage” and for “the glory of God.” [1] She started with her childhood in England, where her parents, Thomas and Dorothy Dudley, gave her...

In 1996 I attended a reformed conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That year was my first as a seminarian and my second as a Calvinist. If I remember correctly it was the first reformed conference I’d ever attended. Although it has been over twenty years ago, I still remember the opening night...

There once was a time – within living memory for many of us – when you could go to a place of worship and have a reasonable sense of what to expect during a service and not be taken aback by something that seemed out of place. Those days are rapidly disappearing and it is increasingly the norm that...

For those of us who are pastors, one of our regular responsibilities is to use scripture to minister to the specific needs of our people. This should never merely be spiritual equivalent of offering placebos to those who are struggling – a kind of psycho-spiritual pick-me-up to make them feel...