Volu 101 Issue 13

Along with other edifying articles, you will find in this issue coverage of Synod 2025 of the PRCA. As usual, the pre-synodical sermon is included as our meditation. Rev. W. Langerak, president of last year’s synod, preached an enlightening sermon from Acts 15 on the important work of the Holy Ghost in the work of ecclesiastical assemblies. Rev. Engelsma’s editorial gives a helpful summary of synod’s actions. Also, we print the instructive graduation speech that Professor Kuiper delivered for our seminary graduate—now “candidate for the ministry”—Mr. Aaron Van Dyke. Until the Acts of Synod are published, readers who are interested...

Pastor of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan and president of the 2024 PRC Synod   The standard Jesus Christ has set for synod is high, impossibly high. That standard is our text: “for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us” (Acts 15:28). Every prayer, motion, discussion, and decision of Synod 2025 must have this standard as its goal so that all the delegates and churches may be able to say at its conclusion: “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” The synod may not be content to say only that it seemed good to...

pastor of Crete PRC in Crete, Illinois   Synod 2025 of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) met over the course of two weeks, beginning on Tuesday, June 10, and concluding on Wednesday, June 18. One of the highlights of synod was the examination and graduation of our senior seminarian, Aaron Van Dyke. By the time this issue appears in print, Cand. Van Dyke will hopefully have received a call to a local congregation, the Lord willing. Another highlight was the presence of a number of international delegates from our sister churches and others with whom we have contact....

professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan   Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 are two of several New Testament passages that speak of the church as Christ’s spiritual body. This beautiful figure suggests that: The church is numerically one. A body is only one entity. So Jesus Christ died to save, and now indwells by His Spirit, one church. The church is inwardly united. The body’s many parts work together for the good of the whole. So the church’s members serve each other. The body is...

Pastor of Wingham PRC in Wingham, Ontario   BRUTAL PERSECUTION Last February, Open Doors reported that “seventy Christians were discovered beheaded inside a Protestant church” in a northeastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That part of the country has been torn by war between the DRC and rebel forces backed by neighboring Rwanda for some thirty years. An Islamist militant group with ties to ISIS, called Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), has added to the fear and chaos in that same region. They were the ones who carried out the brutal murder of those seventy men and women...

teacher of New Testament history at Covenant Christian High School in Walker, Michigan, and is a member of Faith PRC in Jenison, Michigan   After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles—1 Corinthians 15:7   Faith in Christ is not a blind leap into the unknown, but is grounded in truth, substance, and evidence (Heb. 11:1). Saving faith rests on the Word of God and the historical reality of Christ’s resurrection. But the experiences of coming to faith vary. Some are nurtured in the covenant community from childhood, others are called out of deep spiritual darkness,...

pastor of First PRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan   Better that a millstone is tied around your neck, and you are cast into the deep water, than that you should offend one of the little ones (Matt. 18:6). Jesus taught this to His arguing disciples after setting a child in the middle of them all. That child was the visual cue, for the disciples and for us, as to what Jesus meant by the “little ones.” Little ones are, of course, little. They are too little to keep up with adults on foot, so wagons are sent to carry them...

elder in and member of Faith PRC in Jenison, Michigan   In the middle of the parables of Jesus that are recorded in the Gospel of Luke, we find a familiar parable with which Jesus teaches His people, then and now, of the boundless and infinite love and mercy of God for His people. In the parable Jesus uses the example of the intimate life of a family, a life that is precious to us as the covenant people of God. The events of Luke 14 and 15 transpire on the Sabbath day in the house of one of the...

pastor of Heritage PRC in Sioux Falls, South Dakota   Psalm 25:4-5, penned by the psalmist David, is a beautiful prayer for young men and women to make daily: “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” We can organize these two verses around three “Ps”: paths, problems, and prayer. PATHS Young people, you are in a busy time of your life. Depending on your age, you have a set of wheels and the...