“Worldliness, as we have seen, is that set of practices in a society, its values and ways of looking at life, that make sin look normal and righteousness look strange.” [David Wells, God in the Wasteland (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), p. 86.]
Mail Order Minister
“When a pastor retires or dies, the usual tendency is to scramble, form a pastoral search committee, and . . . you know the rest of the drill. An outsider, someone who is not in touch with the local and organic life of that particular congregation, is called, and he steps into the pastorate. His …
Lots of Disposable Income
“In a significant departure from traditional filmmaking, the videos typically jettison any sort of meaningful narrative in favor of a collage of discordant and often surreal images. The artistic goal of rock videos is not reasoned discourse but a visceral response, an emotional reaction that is ultimately plugged into the consumer culture . . . …
Future Generations of Ministry
“Nevertheless, a local church that takes its mission of evangelism and discipleship seriously should be able to fully train leaders for service in the local church. Any calling that is incapable of reproducing itself is incompetent in that calling. This training is for her own leaders in the years to come. A thriving church can …
Worldliness and Modernity
“Worldliness is what makes sin look normal in any age and righteousness seem odd. Modernity is worldliness, and it has concealed its values so adroitly in the abundance, the comfort, and the wizardry of our age that even those who call themselves the people of God seldom recognize them for what they are.” [David Wells, …
Certification and the Ministry
“The disease has so far progressed that we now tend to assume that graduate school honors are the qualifications we should look for in a ministerial candidate. Paul’s requirements for a godly ministry are set aside, and we think that it is all right to do this because the man whose marriage and family are …
Yeat’s Falcon
“We are like Yeat’s falcon, increasingly oblivious to the voice of the falconer. The center no longer holds. All is flung to the periphery, where its meaning is lost . . . We have become T.S. Eliot’s ‘hollow men,’ without weight, for whom appearance and image must suffice.” [David Wells, God in the Wasteland (Grand …
The God of Calvin is the God of History
“Part of the reason the Reformed have been so influential in history is that they have such a strong doctrine of history. This in turn is because they have a strong doctrine of the providence of God over all history. And without that doctrine of providence, the whole thing starts to unravel” (The Paideia of …
Audible Confetti
“The public sphere, dominated as it is by the omnipresence of bureaucracy, systems of manufacturing, the machinery of capitalism, and the audible confetti spewing out of countless radios and television makes it virtually impossible to think that in this world God has any meaningful place. He may have a place somewhere, but not here, not …
How Are Arminians Saved?
“We must also confess that we do not determine the boundaries of salvation — God does. We must follow His lead and must not seek to have higher fellowship standards than He does. For example, did God fellowship with you and have communion with you before you understood these truths? Salvation is based on the …