All Articles For Engelsma, Joshua

Churchman—although not entirely unheard of, it’s not a word that we use very often. It refers to a man of the church, a man whose whole life revolves around the church, a man who dedicates himself to the service of the church. The church today needs churchmen. Her need is not simply for members who are male, but for male members who are truly men, that is, strong men of God. Especially is this need urgent in the evil days in which we presently live. The church throughout history has always needed strong men, but that need is all the...

Meeting September 23, 2020 Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met on September 23, 2020, in Edgerton PRC (Edgerton, MN). The meeting was capably chaired by Rev. Matt DeBoer (pastor of Edgerton PRC), who was serving in this capacity for the first time in his ministry. Noticeably absent from the meeting were elder delegates from Immanuel PRC (Lacombe, AB) and First PRC (Edmonton, AB). These consistories were not able to attend the meeting due to the restrictions of the Canadian government with respect to COVID-19. Routine reports from the stated clerk, the classical committee, and the reading sermon library...

In recent articles on what it means to be a godly man I’ve written about male sexuality (especially as it relates to single men) and how a godly man behaves in a dating relationship. This article addresses the next logical subject: the Christian man as husband. Ordinarily it is the will of God for believing men that they seek a wife and get married. Obviously, this is not the case for all men, some by choice and others because God never leads them to a spouse. The fact that they are not married does not make them less of a...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2020, p. 210. Not all godly men will be husbands, and not all godly men will be fathers. But, ordinarily, God’s will is that a man marry and have children. He must know, then, what it means to be a faithful husband and father. The previous article in this series on biblical manhood focused on what it means to be a godly man in marriage. This article addresses how a godly man is to conduct himself as a father. I realize that you young men who are reading this are not yet fathers,...

November 5, 2019 Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met in a reconvened session on November 5, 2019, in Calvary PRC (Hull, IA). Rev. Ryan Barnhill again chaired the meeting. The reconvened session was due to the fact that Classis was not able to finish its agenda in September and more time was needed by a committee of pre-advice to prepare its advice. Classis had before it a request from a consistory for the concurrence of Classis in deposing its minister ac­cording to Articles 79–80 of the Church Order for his teachings on providence and sanctification, and an ap­peal...

Previous article in this series: July 2019, p. 432. In the previous article in this series on biblical manhood, we looked at the calling of men with regard to their sexuality. Related is the subject of this article: the calling of Christian young men in a dating relationship. Much could be said about the subject of dating in general, but here I want to focus only on how young men are to behave in dating. The world exerts a powerful pressure upon young men with respect to how they should act in a dating relationship. The world’s idea of a...

Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met on March 4–5, 2020, in Peace PRC (Dyer, IN). This was the first time that Classis was held in Peace’s new building, which accommodated the Classis very well. The meeting was capably chaired by Rev. Allen Brummel (Calvary PRC). After opening devotions and the constituting of Classis, routine reports of the stated clerk, classical com­mittee, and reading sermon committee were read and approved. The church visitors also reported on their work over the last year and the presence of unity, peace, and love prevailing in the churches. Before Classis was a protest...

Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met from September 25–27, 2019, in Calvary PRC (Hull, IA). The meeting was capably chaired by Rev. Ryan Barnhill (pastor of Peace PRC), who was serving in this capacity for the first time in his ministry. Noticeably absent from the meeting was one of the elder delegates from Immanuel PRC (Lacombe, AB), who remained home to support a family in the congre­gation whose teenage son had recently died in an auto­mobile accident. The night before Classis convened, the delegates gathered with the Calvary congregation to worship God and to hear the specimen sermon...

In previous articles on the subject of biblical masculinity I have set forth some of the basic truths about what it means to be man. Now I want to apply those principles to some of the different relationships and circumstances in which a man must show himself to be a man. The first is in the sphere of his sexuality. I treat this first because it is in this area that the man of God faces one of the most serious threats, if not the most serious threat, to his manhood today. The devil and the world are making an...

In Latin there is a bit of doggerel that goes like this: omne trium perfectum (“every set of three is perfect or complete”). In English it is referred to as the “rule of three” or “good things come in threes.” Examples could be given from world history (think, the Big Three in World War II) and literature (think, Tolkien’s trilogy). But especially does this rule hold true for Reformed believers in our Three Forms of Unity. The Holy Spirit has entrusted to us a precious triad, a confessional triumvirate: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordt....