The Pastor’s File

I was recently asked to take part in a panel discussion during the IFBAM Baptist Builders Conference at Faith Baptist Church in Warren , Michigan. In preparation for this panel discussion, the host pastor Dr. Marty Marriot presented me with three questions he would like the panel to address. I would like to take the next three posts and discuss these questions.

Question #1 - Why do we need more churches?

This question is extremely important, because its answer strikes at the heart of our motivation in church planting. In a nation such as the USA is there a legitimate need to start more churches? I would have to answer that there absolutely is a need to plant more churches, and that need is actually expanding with each passing year.

The reason we need more churches is actually quite simple (more…)

It has commonly been said by preachers that if God calls you to be a preacher, you should never stoop to be the king. It appears however that Dr. Ian Paisley is about to become both. He has been an outspoken fundamentalist preacher for many decades, and now is posed to become the First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Dr. Paisley is surely not afraid of controversy. (more…)

A new ecumenical group of Christian churches was launched last Wednesday in Pasadena California. The group named “Christian Churches Together” is attempting to bring together representatives from all of the major religions in America that would consider themselves Christian. In a press release on their website, the CCT summarises their target membership and vision of unity:

Members of Christian Churches Together represent the “five families” of Christianity in the U.S., according to the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and chair of the CCT steering committee. The five faith families are Evangelical/Pentecostal, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Racial/Ethnic.

The CCT bylaws affirm the desire to “be together:” (1) celebrate a common confession of faith in the Triune God; (2) discern the guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer and theological dialogue; (3) provide fellowship and mutual support; (4) seek better mutual understanding; (5) foster evangelism faithful to the Gospel; (6) speak to society with a common voice; and (7) promote the common good. (http://www.christianchurchestogether.org/news/070205.html)

While the stated goals may seem noble, they are not really possible. The truth of the Scriptures is absolute, and it must be our standard of unity. True Biblical unity is always based in truth (more…)

Balthasar Hubmaier was one of the most influential leaders of the Anabaptist Movement of the sixteenth century. He often closed his writings with the statement, “Truth is immortal.” Or as it has sometimes been translated, “Truth is unkillable.”

One of his most influential works was: Concerning Heretics and Those Who Burn Them (1524). In this treatise, he demonstrates that the gospel of Christ does not allow for coercion, but persuasion. A man must be persuaded in his conscience to trust Christ and become His disciple. He insisted that the state had no right to interfere with religious matters, and that every man must decide for himself what he would do with the Saviour. He even extended this religious freedom to atheists, consider the following quote: “It is well and good that the secular authority puts to death the criminals who do physical harm to the defenseless, Romans 13. But no one may injure the atheist who wishes nothing for himself other than to forsake the gospel.” (Estep, Anabaptist Beginnings, p. 51)

Because Hubmaier would not give up his belief in the truth (more…)