Vol 85 Issue 18

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Minister Activities Rev. Rodney Kleyn accepted the call he received to serve as the first pastor of the newly organized Covenant of Grace PRC in Spokane, WA. Rev. Steven Key, pastor of the Hull, IA PRC declined the call extended to him from the Byron Center, MI PRC to serve as their next pastor. Rev. Doug Kuiper, serving our denomination as pastor of the Randolph, WI PRC, declined the call he received to serve as the first pastor of the Calvary PRC in Hull, IA. Rev. Ron...

May 13, 2009 Faith Protestant Reformed Church Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at the Faith PRC. All churches were represented by two delegates. Rev. W. Langerak was the chairman of this session. Classis had two main items on its agenda: 1) An appeal from a member against a decision of her consistory, and 2) Requests for classical appointments from Byron Center and Holland and additional requests from Classis West to provide some pulpit supply to Bethel, Calvary, and Lacombe. Classis declared that the appeal was not legally before it. Classis provided appointments to all...

Rev. Langerak is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Henry J. Kuiper: Shaping the Christian Reformed Church, 1907-1962, by James A. De Jong. Eerdmans (2007). ISBN: 978-0-8028- 2585-8. Paper. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. President-emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary James A. De Jong has written an interesting account of the life and work of influential Christian Reformed minister Henry J. Kuiper. Because of the prominence of “HJK,” the book affords as well a fascinating look at the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) during the years of Kuiper’s ministry, from 1904, when Kuiper entered what would now be...

Prof. Cammenga is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. “To those who remove from the congregation, a letter or testimony concerning their profession and conduct shall be given by the consistory, signed by two; or, in the case of letters which are given under the seal of the church, signed by one.” Church Order, Article 82. Transfer of Membership Article 82 deals with the transfer of membership from one congregation to another within the church federation. The article provides for the transfer of membership by means of the granting of a “letter or testimony concerning...

Rev. Lanning is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. The following is one of many letters (e-mails) that Rev. Lanning wrote to his family and friends while in the Philippines recently on behalf of the Foreign Mission Committee of the PRC. With his permission we share it with our readers here. Meeting Family Saturday, May 9, 2009 The events of today are sure to be among the highlights of our trip. But they are also the most difficult, so far, to recount. In thinking back on the day, there is such a confused mingling of joy and...

David Torlach, M.D., is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia, a denomination with which the PRCA have established, officially at Synod 2009, a Corresponding Relationship. Several men from the EPCA have, in the recent past, been trained in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Dr. Torlach is the fourth. He graduated, along with Mr. Cory Griess, at the Commencement Program on June 11. One of the items of interest at this year’s synod was the reading of a letter from Dr. Torlach, expressing his appreciation for his training and for the reception of him and his family in the...

Featured in our May 15 “Special Issue” on Missions and Evangelism was the work of various PR Evangelism Committees. The contribution of South Holland PRC’s Evangelism Committee was inadvertently omitted. With our apologies to South Holland, we print theirs belatedly below. The Evangelism Committee of the South Holland Protestant Reformed Church officially labors in direct obedience to Christ’s command to proclaim the gospel to all nations. We do this under the supervision of the council of our church, with our pastor as the chairman of the Evangelism Committee. The committee takes this work very seriously. The work is nothing less...

Church Membership—Optional? In the April 1 issue of the Standard Bearer a reader tells us that he “…can’t find a passage of Scripture that states we must do anything other (or additional) than believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.” He need not look any further than the book of Ephesians, where we read, “…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). Now if Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it, does He also love those outside the church? Did He give Himself for them as well? The answer must be “no,” by logical inference; otherwise we would...

If the PRC Synod of 2008 might properly be called “The Synod of Article 21” (see editorial of July 2008), this year’s gathering can rightly be titled “The Synod that Recessed over Article 21.” More on that later. The Joys of Synod Many memories of a Protestant Reformed synod are good and pleasant. This is due especially to two things—the blessed Christian fellowship, and the spiritual character of the work. The heartfelt prayers for God’s church universal, for His indispensable blessing on synod, and for the wisdom of the Spirit—these prayers set the spiritual tone. Likewise the robust Psalm singing....

Rev. Koole is pastor of Grandville Protestant Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan. Rev. Kenneth Koole’s final duty as president of Synod 2008 was to preach the pre-synodical sermon for Synod 2009. As it happened, the service was canceled because of inclement weather conditions. The sermon was therefore unpreached. But it appears nevertheless in Meditation-form in this issue of the SB and the next. In view of the fact that Synod recessed on June 16, and will reconvene in August to deal with the ‘school issue’ that dominated this year’s agenda, Rev. Koole’s exposition of can still serve as an edifying...