All Articles For Ephesians

Rev. Smit is a missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, soon to be stationed in Manila, the Philippines. Having recently been installed as foreign missionary for the labors in the Philippines, I have been given this opportunity to provide some information concerning the work of our churches in the Philippines. This is an area of our work as a denomination in which I have been involved since 1996 to one degree or another, and now in which I have the privilege to be involved as missionary. We trust that the following brief overview will give you a better...

Mr. Wigger is member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities Since our last “News,” three of our congregations have extended calls. On Sunday, March 29, the Doon, IA PRC extended a call to Rev. D. Kleyn, pastor of the First PRC in Holland, MI, to serve, along with Rev. R. Smit, as missionary to the Berean PRC in Manila, the Philippines. Rev. S. Key, pastor of the Hull, IA PRC, received a call from the Byron Center, MI PRC to become their next pastor. The members of the Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB, Canada, extended a...

* Not Anabaptist but Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a In the first half of this chapter, Danhof and Hoeksema have established that Rev. Van Baalen cites many texts but has almost no exegesis. Their exposition of Psalm 73 demonstrated that Scripture teaches the opposite of common grace. They ask Van Baalen to reconcile this and similar passages with his “idea that God is actually good to the reprobate.” They insist that this is the proper method of interpretation, that is, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and interpreting each text in the light of the whole...

Rev. DeVries is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. As you may recall, the Wingham, Ontario congregation was admitted into the fellowship and communion of the Protestant Reformed Churches in January 2004. The congregation was organized in 1979 in the neighboring town of Listowel. In 1988 the congregation, with eight families, bought an old mechanic shop in Wingham. With much volunteer work, the congregation transformed it into a church building. A portable building was added on as a lunch-room/nursery. This building served very adequately for twenty years for the Wingham congregation. In 2007 the congregation attempted...

Miss Lubbers is a member of First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan and administrator of Eastside Christian School. (Preceding article in series: June 2003, p. 398.) With this article we bring to a conclusion the discussion of the narrative approach in Reformed Christian education. The defense and development of an understanding of the narrative approach is the burden of the book The Christian Story and the Christian School, Christian Schools International, 1993, by Dr. John Bolt. In this book Dr. Bolt contends that the problems in Christian schools arising from contemporary education and our culture could be addressed...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. II Corinthians 7:10 There was a great deal of trouble in the church of Corinth. There was division among the members, immorality the likes of which was not even found in the pagan community, abuse of the Lord’s Supper, as well as false doctrine touching the resurrection. The apostle Paul had dealt with these problems very firmly in his first epistle to the Corinthians, giving necessary and...

Prof. Decker is professor of Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. II Timothy 2:1, 2 This text speaks of the task both of the professors and of the students. What the apostle says here to Timothy he says to the professors in the seminary. What you have “heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The believer’s only comfort is his sure conviction that with body and soul, in life and in death, he is not his own but belongs to his faithful Savior, Jesus Christ (L.D. I). The believer needs this comfort, no matter what his age or circumstances, because outside of Christ there is exposure to the wrath of God, fear, misery, and death. We need this sense of “belonging”; how wonderful that God provides it to us with an abiding comfort that can never be taken from us and...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Women in Office This week, as I write this article, the synod of the Christian Reformed Church will begin its meetings. At these meetings, that synod will treat a committee report on “Women in Office.” Five years ago the synod had decided to allow the ordaining of women as ministers, elders, and evangelists. The individual classes were given permission to waive the rule of their Church Order which allowed only male leadership within the church. Although there were some legitimate objections to this course of action, there were 18...

Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa and secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. Do you know what that word means? The title illustrates what our Foreign Mission Committee (FMC) and our foreign missionary face in the foreign mission work of our churches. We regard it a privilege to work with foreign peoples, but in our contact with them we immediately realize from their correspondence that they speak their own native languages, and also English, but then only as a second or third language. The Ghanaian word “akwaaba” reminds us of the truth that God’s...