All Articles For Dykstra, Russell J

In harmony with the gracious, eternal plan of God, the Protestant Reformed Churches in America approach the one century mark of existence as a denomination. This is amazing, and a reality that can only be ascribed to the grace of God. From every human point of view, these churches should not have continued to this point. Troubles and hardship have been a part of her experience all through her history. These churches were born in controversy over the doctrine of sovereign, particular grace, resulting in three ministers and their congregations being cast out of the Christian Reformed Church. The subsequent...

When the Lord determined to establish a Reformed church in Singapore, He chose the men and women who would be members in that church. And in His wisdom, He determined wise and gifted men to lead and guide the church. None have been more instrumental in God’s work in the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church than Leong Fai Chong. The First Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore was organized in 1982. In 1987, a daughter congregation was organized and adopted the name Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church. One of the first men elected to the office of elder was Leong Fai Chong, who...

Doctrine and life The serious-minded Christian lives out of his or her beliefs. Ideally, what one believes should determine how one thinks and lives. Reformed theology, therefore, should shape the thinking, attitudes, lifestyle, and choices of a Reformed Christian. This is especially true when a Christian experiences adversity. When he encounters deep sorrow, pain, loss, hardship, disappointment or discouragement, his faith carries him through. This faith stands on the Rock which is Christ. This faith relies on God’s strength. This faith believes something or rather, believes in Someone. And what the Christian believes will shape his response to the adversity....

Prof. Russell Dykstra, pastor of Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church in Byron Center, Michigan The horror of sexual abuse starts with the sinner known as the perpetrator or the abuser. Every human being is a sinner with a depraved nature. Every sinner has particular sinful tendencies and depravities to which he or she is prone. The particular depravity of an abuser combines two evils. It is a delight in improper control of others with the added desire to exploit others for his or her sexual gratification. The specific sexual activity will vary from one abuser to the next, but manipulation...

The Diet of Worms was an imperial assembly of the  Holy Roman Empire convoked by Emperor Charles V.  It was held in the city of Worms located not far from  Heidelberg. An imperial ‘diet’ was a deliberative  assembly of the whole empire. This diet was conducted  from January 28 to May 25 of 1521, with Emperor  Charles V presiding. Other imperial diets took place at  Worms in different years (829, 926, 1076, 1122, 1495,  and 1545), but the diet in 1521 is the best known. In that day, the city of Worms had a population of  about 7,000. It is...

Please note that, although Prof. Dykstra resigned as editor, he agreed to help in a limited way to the end of the volume year. This is the last of his editorials. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. I Samuel 7:12 The church of Jesus Christ is a miracle. Her very existence is a wonder of grace. The church is part of the believer’s confession of faith: “I believe an holy, catholic church.” The Heidelberg Catechism explains that article of faith...

Unprecedented, as far as I am aware. Prof. Russell Dykstra was but one year from finishing the five-year transition period into his retirement as faculty in the PRC seminary when on May 30 he accepted a call to become pastor of Byron Center, MI PRC. First, the pastorate (Doon and Hope GR); then twenty-five-years as professor at seminary; now back to the pastorate. At age 67. Sixty-seven these days is not what 67 was 50 years ago, but it still does not carry the strength of youth. It was very understandable then that only two days later, at the Standard...

On Thursday, June 17, after nine days of committee meetings and open sessions, the 2021 Synod completed its works on the largest agenda in the eighty-two-year history of Protestant Reformed synods. It was a good synod, from many points of view. The blessed harmony of brothers in Christ was manifest through all the meetings and meals. This was not a feigned harmony, but genuine, based on the unity in the truth of Scripture and cemented by brotherly love. That it was a unity based squarely on truth was immediately manifest in the solemn ceremony—no empty ritual—of the reading of the...

What comes to mind when you hear (or read) of “the French Reformation”? Most, I suspect, have little knowledge of this aspect of the sixteenth-century Reformation that began in Wittenberg (Luther), and spread through many countries in Europe. The great majority of our readers come from a European context (ethnically and theologically) other than France. Many are tied to the Reformation in the Netherlands by blood lines. Theologically, we connect with Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Geneva. A very small group has ties to French Huguenots (the term used to identify Reformed believers in France). Consequently, France...

The Reformation is the work of God, not man. God reforms His church. God raises up men of understanding, courage, and strength for the purpose of using these men for church reformation, just as God raised up judges in the Old Testament. But even then, reformation begins in the heart of such men. The Spirit works a personal conviction of sin and unworthiness, a strong faith in Christ, and the assurance of salvation. The Spirit works in these men godliness and integrity. And God uses them in His time and way. No reformer sets out thinking that he is God’s...