Churches, Get a Calvinist Pastor! by Tom Nettles

Earlier today the Founders Ministries blog posted an article by Tom Nettles entitled Churches, Get a Calvinist Pastor! Here are the reasons Tom listed that churches should seek Calvinist pastors:

1. A Calvinist firmly believes in the divine inspiration of Scriptures.

2. A Calvinist firmly believes the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.

3. A Calvinist firmly believes the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.

4. A Calvinist firmly believes in religious liberty.

5. A Calvinist firmly believes in missions and evangelism.

6. A Calvinist firmly believes in Christ-centered preaching.

7. A Calvinist firmly believes in holiness of life.

8. A Calvinist firmly believes in regenerate church membership.

I recommend reading the article, with which I happen to agree, because I am convinced that the Doctrines of Grace are revealed in Scripture.

Soon There Will Be Four Books in the Baptist Reprints Series

In earlier posts (e.g. here) I announced the availability of the first two books in the new Baptist Reprints series by Free Grace Press. forthcoming title will include 10 Influential Sermons of Charles Spurgeon and Reprobation Asserted by John Bunyan. I will be sure to let our readers know when they are available. If you have ideas for reprints you would like to see made available for the Reformed Baptist community, please leave a comment to let Jeff know.

"The Church: Why Bother?" On Sale This Week

The picture pretty much says it all! The Church: Why Bother? eBook is on sale this week only for just 99 cents!

The Second Edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" Is Now Available!

Jeff Johnson announced earlier this morning that the new edition of The Church: Why Bother? is now
available for sale on Amazon. If you want bulk discounts, please contact Jeff. Here is what John MacArthur has said about the book:

In one way or another, virtually every troubling trend in the current world of evangelical Christianity is rooted in misunderstanding about the church. What is her proper mission? What is her role in an increasingly secular culture? What should her priorities be? How should a local church function? Why is church membership necessary? or is it? What is the basis for true unity? This excellent book shines the clear light of Scripture on those and many other questions. Since Christ loved the church enough to die for her, every believer ought to share that passion. Jeffrey Johnson clearly does, and I believe you will find his enthusiasm contagious.

I highly recommend this book. It is an excellent overview of the Bible's teaching on the Church, and it is a great book to give to other people in your church.

The Second Edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" Coming Soon!

Jeff Johnson has just announced that the second edition of The Church: Why Bother? will be available in just a few weeks. Here is Jeff's announcement from his Facebook page:

The second, edited, and expanded edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" will be released in just a few weeks. It carries a new endorsement from Mark Dever and a new chapter on missions. If you or your church is interested in bulk orders, please private message me.

I have read the first edition of this book and found it to be a very helpful and Biblically faithful work. A number of people in my church have also read the book and found it very helpful in understanding the true Biblical nature of the local church and there place within it.

I look forward to reading the new edition, and I highly recommend buying a copy, or perhaps ordering a number to hand out to people in your church family.

Baptist Reprints by Free Grace Press

Free Grace Press (FGP) has begun to reprint important books from past Baptists. These books have been specially selected for their importance for Baptist history as well as their helpfulness for the church today. They are of special interest to Reformed Baptists. FGP has recently released the second in this Baptist Reprints series. The book is called The Glory of a True Church by Benjamin Keach. Here is a portion of the description from the website:

Free Grace Press has had the privilege of adding another book to our Baptist Reprints set: The Glory of a True Church by Benjamin Keach. This book was last printed in the early 1880’s.

Benjamin Keach was one of the best and most well-known Baptist, Puritan theologians of the 1600s. He was instrumental in introducing hymns into the church’s worship, and also was one of the framers of the 1689 London Baptist Confession. He also had a profound love for the church.

He began preaching at 18, and pastoring at 28 and his ministry was tremendously blessed by God with growth in truth and defense against error. He was despised by the authorities of the Church of England and often persecuted for his faith. His church had to be added onto many times; and a little over 100 years after his death a preacher by the name of Charles Spurgeon took up the office of pastor there in his church.

This little book was written to be easily and readily available to all, even the poor. Many Congregationalists had written large books on the subject, but Keach was the first of the Baptists to put forth a book on church discipline; and he made it short in hopes that it would spark a Baptist discussion that would show the order and beauty of the Baptists in the midst of the Church of England’s persecution on them.

Though it is short, it is packed with practical examples on church discipline, and a contagious love for the church. You will find it very easy to read, and the book is sure to grow you in your love for Christ and his church, and to bring order to the church.

I would also recommend reading the first book in the Baptist Reprints series, which is Baptists: The Only Thorough Reformers by John Quincy Adams. Here is the description from the website:

What does it mean to be a Baptist? Though ideas abound, we must go to the one man for a sure answer, John Quincy Adams. For with unashamed boldness and clarity Adams articulates the fundamental distinctives of the Baptist Faith. These fundamentals include the importance of Sola Scriptura, believer’s baptism, the separation of the church and state, equality of the saints, and liberty of conscious. Even C. H. Spurgeon, calling it “the best Manual of Baptist Principles he had met,” included the text in his Pastor’s College curriculum. First published in 1858 and reprinted multiple times since, this work has become a classic tome upon Baptist principles.

In addition, you will find a great price on both of Jeff Johnson's outstanding books on Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology, namely The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism (in my opinion, the best ever written by a Baptist on the subject) and The Kingdom of God.

Jonathan Leeman Identifies "Twenty-Two Problems with Multi-site Churches"

I recently came across an interesting and thought-provoking article by Jonathan Leeman, the Editorial Director of 9Marks, entitled Twenty-Two Problems with Multi-site Churches. Here is the introduction to the article:

I love my gospel-loving friends in multi-site churches—both leaders and members! But as Christians we work continually to reform our churches in light of Scripture. So I trust a little push back on the multi-site structure serves everyone, assuming my concerns turn out to be valid. Below are 22 misgivings I have about the multi-site model. All of these apply to churches that use a video preacher. Over half apply to churches who employ a preacher on every campus.

Here are the first four problems listed by Leeman:

1. There’s no clear example of a multi-site church in the New Testament, only supposition. “Well, surely, the Christians in a city could not have all met…” (but see Acts 2:46; 5:12; 6:2). 

2. If a church is constituted by the preaching of the Word and the distribution of the ordinances under the binding authority of the keys, every “campus” where those activities transpire is actually a church. “Multi-site church” is a misnomer. It’s a collection of churches under one administration. 

3. For every additional multi-site campus out there, there’s one less preaching pastor being raised up for the next generation. 

4. What effectively unites the churches (campuses) of a multi-site church are a budget, a pastor’s charisma, and brand identity. Nowhere does the Bible speak of building church unity in budgets, charisma, and brand.

I recommend reading the rest of the article here. As always, your comments are welcome.

Dr. Bob Gonzales on the Validity and Value of Confessions

To continue the theme begun by Jeff Johnson regarding the importance and necessity of confessions (here and here), I would like to bring to your attention some articles by Bob Gonzales at his new blog, It Is Written, where he has been writing a series of posts on the validity and value of confessions. There are three:

1) The Validity & Value of Confessions: Defining Terms

Bob reworks Philip Schaff’s definition of a creed and offers this modified definition:

A creed or a confession of faith is the church’s doctrinal standard in written form, identifying and expounding those doctrines of Scripture that are essential for salvation, as well as those doctrines of Scripture that are necessary for the spiritual well-being of the Christian and of the church.

Sounds good to me!

2) The Validity & Value of Confessions: Biblical Basis

After stressing the importance of our publicly confessing our faith, based upon such passages as Matt. 10:32-33 and Romans 10:9-10, Bob states:

How does this square with the claim that faith and religion are personal and private matters? Many people today, especially politicians, claim to have faith and religion; yet they studiously avoid any public affirmation of what that means. Contrary to this practice, the Bible calls God’s people to confess their faith unashamedly and publicly. This is precisely what we do by publishing and affirming a written confession of faith. We are proclaiming to the world and to one another both the reality and the substance of what we believe.

Bob establishes three points summarized by him thusly:

To summarize, a confession of faith is valid because (1) the Bible commands the public affirmation of our faith, (2) the Bible commends the interpretation and application of Scripture, and (3) the Bible contains seminal creeds and confessions of faith. Far from discouraging creeds, the Bible validates their composition and use.

These points are based firmly upon a Scriptural foundation and are clearly and succinctly argued.

3) The Validity & Value of Confessions: Objections Answered

In this post Bob responds to three common objections to the use of creeds or confessions: 1. "Confessions undermine the authority of Scripture." 2. "Confessions contradict the sufficiency of Scripture." 3. "Confessions intrude upon liberty of conscience."

After responding to each objection, Bob rightly concludes that "a public confession of biblical truth in the form of a creed need not in principle undermine the authority of God’s Word, contradict the sufficiency of Scripture, or infringe upon liberty of conscience."

I highly recommend reading this brief but thorough series, and I hope I have whet your appetite to do so. Together with what Jeff has written on our blog, I think you will be well prepared to defend the necessity of the appropriate use of confessions by the churches even in – or perhaps especially in – our pluralistic and relativistic age.

Update 05 October 2011

Bob has added another post in the series:

4) The Validity & Value of Confessions: Their Usefulness

In this post Bob offers three primary reasons for the usefulness of confessions: 1. "A Confession Provides a Standard for Intra- and Inter-Church Fellowship." 2. "A Confession Provides a Standard for Church Discipline and for Defending the Faith." 3. "A Confession Provides a Summary of Biblical Doctrine for Evangelism and Education."