Church Life

While Shepherds Watched is a great hymn.

Please pass this on to anyone you think may be both interested and suitable. Further information can be obtained at http://www.stjamesaudley.co.uk/job.php.

Liberalism is no longer spoken of as a church tradition. Does this mean that it no longer exists? Quite the reverse. It's on a mission to take over entirely, eclipsing all the previous churchmanships within the Anglican church. Read on to see what I mean

At St James, Audley we are about to start a sermon series on Exodus – the whole book in 8 sermons.

I get to preach on 1:1-7:7, 12-14, and the first of the tabernacle sections.

Phew… it’s hard work. And I’m trying to work out why.

Brilliant!

The whole thing isn’t long, but here are a couple of paragraphs

I’m always trying to find these. So to save me hunting, I’ll put them somewhere.

(William Perkins, chapter 7 of The Art of Prophesying, entitled “Use and Application”)

What do I notice when I read what Perkins is actually saying (as opposed to what people imagine him to be saying)? He’s saying:

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Andrew Towner is very helpful on how a band leader can best serve the whole church.

Extremely helpful quotation.

(OK, I can't resist writing this: James reads David who quotes Barb listening to Lusk quoting Leithart)

http://davidpfield.blogspot.com/2006/09/baptism-and-covenant.html

In particular, I've never before seen the conceptual link between the covenant community / elect distinction and the creature / creator distinction. Thanks David for fishing these things out for us.

The debate has often gone on: Should someone experience a personal call from God to pastoral ministry before they start out? Some say yes (DMLJ), others have said that there is no evidence for this in Scripture, and the wisdom of the church is what counts.

Does it help to consider the parallel debate about assurance (or, more properly, reflex faith). Can I know that I have faith or not? The Roman Catholic church teaches that this cannot be known. Scripture, by contrast, tells us to be motivated in certain ways by our reflex faith. This presupposes that it is possible to have this kind of assurance.

I've just read a beautiful phrase from my friend Dan Young.

The gospel should not "be watered down or diluted to taste, like orange squash".

Helpful for the vivid way it puts it!