Vol 87 Issue 01

Congregation Activities Summer coming to a close also means that many of our congregations have now also brought their yearly Sunday Schools to a close as well. We pray that the lessons taught were as big a blessing to our children as they were to the teachers and parents who taught them. To celebrate their last day of Sunday School, the children of the Lynden, WA PRC invited all their fellow church members to a sing-along at 12:00, after their shortened lesson from 11:30 to noon on Sunday morning, August 29. Singspiration-goers were encouraged to sit next to their favorite...

Classis West met in regular session on September 1, 2010. The Hull PRC of Hull, IA hosted this session, and Rev. N. Langerak capably chaired it. A highlight of this meeting was the presence of the delegates of the newly organized congregation of Heritage PRC in Sioux Falls, SD. Faith PRC of Jenison, MI had overtured Synod 2010 to reorganize the denomination from two to three classes. In light of the effect this would have on the whole denomination, synod referred this matter to Classis West for its judgment. Not convinced of the need for a third classis at this...

September 8, 2010 Byron Center PRC Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at the Byron Center PRC. Each church was represented by two delegates; Rev. R. VanOverloop presided over this session. This meeting of classis was short, but serious. Three churches requested the approval of classis for the increase of censure for one of its members. One consistory re quested approval for the erasure of a baptized member. Discussions regarding these cases were held in closed session. Classis received requests for pulpit supply from Cornerstone, Holland, Hope, Trinity, and Wingham. A schedule was adopted for...

Father’s authority in the Christian home is of greatest importance. God Himself has clothed parents with a sacred office to rule over their children, to guide their development and protect them from temptation and evil, and to instruct them in the way that they should go. Children need to be admonished and disciplined when they sin. They need often to be corrected. Especially fathers must nurture their children from childhood on in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Their authority must be exercised in the name of the Lord. Children must be taught obedience and respect for this authority....

Punted In a sad, appalling, but entirely predictable story, the Christian Reformed Church’s (CRC) Synod 2010 rejected the appeal of emeritus CRC minister Rev. Neal Punt against the decision of Classis Holland upholding the rank Arminian teachings of prominent CRC minister Rev. Leonard J. Vander Zee, director of the editorial department for Faith Alive Christian Resources (FARC). This is not the first time the issue of the extent of Christ’s atonement has come up for debate in the CRC. The appeal of Rev. Neal Punt raises the history of Harold Dekker, who taught that God loved all men with a...

Our Protestant Reformed Churches are doing something new in missions. For the first time in our history, we have two missionaries on the same foreign mission field—two men working side by side. This came about through Synod 2008’s decision to approve calling two missionaries for the Philippines. Since then two men have accepted separate calls and have been sent by the churches to take up the work. Those two men are now working together as foreign missionaries in the Philippines. Jesus Christ is sovereign in this. It is He who led our churches to decide to call two men to...

It’s Saturday morning, Labor Day weekend. Next Tuesday, the third week of school begins here on “the hill” (our beautiful setting, where we’re surrounded by bucks and doe and their now-still-spotted fawns, and wild turkeys). The third week already! Classes began earlier than normal this year—on August 24, two weeks before Labor Day, because the calendar required this for a fifteen-week semester before the winter holiday break and the interim. So on August 23 the students and professors gathered for opening chapel, for giving out assignments, and to offer Christian greetings to students old and new. At the chapel, Prof....

This October 1 issue begins the 87th year that the Lord permits us to publish our magazine, dedicated to promoting and defending the Reformed faith of the Scriptures. If you are reading this, you are probably an SB subscriber. We are thankful for your subscription, not because writers like to be read, but because it shows your interest in the Reformed faith, the rich faith of our fathers, “once delivered unto the saints,” as that faith is laid out in the Reformed and Presbyterian creeds. As editors, we pray that many more may be finding profit from the articles, which...

Dear Reformed Christian Young People, When you attend public or state universities, I trust that you are prepared for a hostile reception and an assault on your Christian faith and life. The antichristian vehemence may be hurtful, but it is not surprising. You expect different from a Christian college. If you do, or hope to, attend a Christian college, you may be thankful for what Christianity, even Reformed Christianity, and Christian morals there are in the institution you choose. I speak from experience, both personally and as a father. My own education was in both secular and Christian (Reformed) institutions...

So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? Ruth 1:19-21Every child of God faces a myriad of trials throughout his life,...