Vol 79 Issue 19

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities   The Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids, MI has formed a new trio consisting of Candidate Langerak, Rev. Slopsema, and Rev. Smit. They will call, the Lord willing, one of these men on July 13, when Candidate Langerak is eligible for a call. The Byron Center, MI PRC has called Rev. Bruinsma to be their next pastor. The Faith PRC in Jenison, MI has called Rev. Slopsema to be their next pastor. The congregation of the Hull, IA PRC has extended a call to Rev....

Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. The preacher has an awesome task. When he sounds forth the call of the gospel, heaven is opened and closed to his hearers. This is true in the mission setting when the missionary labors with a view to the establishment of a local congregation. It is no less true in the established church. At all times, the preacher calls men to repent of their sins, to turn from their evil ways, to seek and embrace Jesus Christ as the only Savior, who can reconcile them to God. The call...

Rev. Stewart is a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches, presently working in Northern Ireland. We have considered the biblical message of the gospel that Patrick knew in his heart and that he brought to the people of Ireland. We have also seen that Patrick was called by the British church to labor in Ireland and that he had unshakable confidence in his divine calling. However, he was not sent to preach in wholly virgin territory. That there were some believers in Ireland before Patrick’s visit is evident from the writings of a contemporary, Prosper of Aquitane, and Patrick himself...

Rev. Koole is pastor of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Some “Better” News   A previous article by the under signed reported that authorities in Malaysia (the country directly north of Singapore) had approved a ban on publishing Bibles (along with books by several well-known Reformed authors) in the Iban language, the language of the largest indigenous tribe in Malaysia. We are pleased to report that, following appeal and negative publicity, that law has been repealed. World magazine, in a news brief entitled “J. I. Packer, John Stott, & ‘Public Peace’ ” (June 14), reports the following. A...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. “The reconciliation of all such sins as are of their nature of a public character, or have become public because the admonition of the church has been despised, shall take place (upon sufficient evidence of repentance) in such a manner as the consistory shall deem conducive to the edification of each church. Whether in particular cases this shall take place in public shall, when there is difference of opinion about it in the consistory, be considered with the advice of two neighboring churches or of the classis.” Church...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. We have examined the principles of Scripture and our Church Order regarding the election and installation of deacons. Before leaving the subject, however, we should treat a few related issues. One issue regards how long deacons should serve in office. The second regards how long the deacon must be out of office before being nominated and installed into that office again. And the third regards the resignation or removal of the deacon from office. To the first two of these issues we now direct our attention. The basic...

Reality Left Out Although a few good points were made in “Dating and the Deep Blue Sea” (Standard Bearer, March 15, 2003), I fear that reality and selected portions of God’s plan were conveniently left out. Dating is also generalized hastily into an excuse for teenagers to fulfill their lust before marriage, which is often not the case. And although dating can be a “tourniquet” on a spiritual life if allowed to take God’s place, it, like many other things, can also help someone grow in Christ. It can be an opportunity to discuss God and grow together with another...

This month all Standard Bearer subscribers will receive a new book, compliments of the Standard Bearer. The book is Common Grace Revisited: A Response to Richard J. Mouw’s He Shines in All That’s Fair. The book’s contents are the editorials, somewhat revised, that appeared recently in the magazine under the title, “He Shines in All That’s Fair (and Curses All That’s Foul).” The book introduces a new publishing project on the part of the Standard Bearer. In cooperation with the Book and Publishing arm of the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA), the Standard Bearer plans to publish two books a...

The British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) has asked that I announce and promote its family conference scheduled for August 13-20, 2004. A goodly number of the Standard Bearer’s readers have attended this conference in the past. The BRF has sponsored these family conferences every two years since 1990 somewhere in the British Isles. The conferences are a happy mix of instruction in the Reformed faith, good fellowship with likeminded Christians from different nations, and sightseeing in the area of the conferences. Next year’s conference will be held at High Leigh Conference Centre, a Christian conference site not far from Cambridge, England....

With the publication of a lovely little book entitled The Marks of God’s Children, the Dutch Reformed Translation Society (DRTS) introduces a promising series of “Classics of Reformed Spirituality.” All the books in the series intend to set forth the characteristic Dutch Reformed view of the Christian life and experience. The authors are sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformed ministers and theologians. Either the books have never before been translated into English, or the English translation has long been out-of-print.