Category Bible

You can’t merge distant objects

Another problem with two churches “merging” is that it may not even be biblically possible.    A local body of believers *is* a discrete unit of the visible church and is intended to function as a single assembly.[1]   That is the…

Everyone has a creed. Not everyone admits it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”   All Christians should…

Churches aren’t meant to be islands.

One of our biggest issues was that we had been an independent local Baptist church for 196 years.   “Independent Autonomous Local Church” sounds great to most Americans.  Hey, we’ve even thrown away entire denominations.  People now seek out “non-denominational” –…

A note from Herman

“[Scripture] nowhere contains a sketch of the doctrine of faith; this is something that has to be drawn from the entire organism of scripture…. So much study and reflection on the subject is bound up with it that no person…

Mergers: You get what they want.

We reached out to a few pastors on the “pulpit supply” list of our local Convention’s office – but most of these were retired men who wanted only to provide a sermon on Sunday, not full pastoral duties.   We briefly…

It starts with Prayer

It wasn’t obvious to me in my situation, but it should have been – and it is now.  Every functioning church I could find (except ours) has and needs private and corporate prayer time[1].  Some versions of corporate prayer time…