All Articles For Bruinsma, Wilbur G

Rev. Bruinsma is Eastern Home Missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previous article in this series: February 15, 2009, p. 229. Missions and the organic life of the church What does a godly witness in our lives at home have to do with work on a mission field? A godly witness at home is just that, a work at home. The mission work is many miles away from my witness at home. What does one have to do with the other? The answer is found in the organic relationship between the established church and the mission...

Rev. Bruinsma is Eastern Home MIssionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previous article in this series: December 15, 2008, p. 135. The church is a witnessing church. It is not just theduty of the church to witness. It is not just hercalling. The true church always leaves a witness. She does so in her preaching, but she also does this in the lives of her members. True believers will always be a godly witness in their confession and in their walk. This forms the foundation of the involvement of laity in mission work. Because the church is...

Rev. Bruinsma is Eastern Home Missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Goal of our work When Southwest Protestant Reformed Church called and sent me to labor in Pittsburgh it was with a specific goal in mind. I was sent to preach the gospel for the purpose of establishing a Protestant Reformed Church here. Calling sinners to repentance and faith is intrinsic to this labor, of course, just as it is in the established church. It is important in my labors, therefore, to call people out of the darkness of unbelief and into the light of...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Where to Go on a Date In this article we are going to consider where to take a young woman on a date. What? Is this guy really going to tell us where we may or may not go on a date? That is a little beyond his realm of authority, is it not? Not even the Bible dictates to young men where they may or may not take their girl on a date! If God Himself does not do this, howpresumptuous, then, for any person to dictate...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.” Proverbs 31:27, 28 The place of a mother in the home and family is a much disputed one. For years now unbelieving society has insisted that the role of a mother in the home is no different than that of a father. Both are equals and therefore, to be fair, they must split the labors of the...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. “She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.” Proverbs 31:15-18 The term “working mothers” is really a misnomer. Every wife and mother with a household to care for is a working mother. She probably puts...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. I’m a minister—a minister who is himself a parent. What makes me, therefore, think that I can give you as young people good advice on communicating with parents? It would seem that a minister is in the wrong camp. He cannot possibly know the difficulties involved in communicating with parents because he is not a young person himself. All he will do is take the part of parents, and as a result young people will hear another lecture on their duty to obey father and mother. Maybe I...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. While in my teens I gave no thought to the meaning of being a teenager or just where I was in my development as a human being. I was too busy getting on with my life to worry about this. Besides, I simply did not care! Now, as I look back on these years, I think that it would have been helpful to understand this about myself: what was there about my teenage years which was distinct from childhood and adulthood? Perhaps this does not interest you either...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. Pressure. Constant pressure. That is what the faithful church always experiences as she attempts to follow the dictates of God’s Word. The same is true as far as her worship is concerned. After lying shipwrecked for centuries in the idolatry of Roman Catholic liturgy, biblical worship was again restored during the years of the great church reformation of the 1500s. But Satan did not give up his relentless attack upon the church and her worship. What John Calvin observes while exegeting John 4:24 in his commentary on the gospel according...

Understanding the New Age, byRussel Chandler. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993. 367 pp. $10.99 (paper). [Reviewed by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma.] Scanning the shelf entitled “New Age” in the bookstore or library, one finds few books which serve as introduction to the broad scope of the New Age Movement. Most of the books, both those in favor of New Age thought and those against it, treat only a particular aspect of the movement. For one who is new to the study of this movement, this can be both confusing and frustrating.