January 2020 Dear Congregations of the PRCA, Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Here is an update regarding our labor and life here in service to our sister churches of the PRCP in the metro Manila area and in our continuing PRCA mission work in Southern Negros…
One of the aspects of mission work in cross-cultural settings is the day-to-day differences that a missionary must face and to which then he must respond appropriately and wisely. This day-to-day reality of cultural differences is true for all missionaries and their families, who are sent across cultural and linguistic…
Previous article in this series: July 2019, p. 429. Some of the interesting highlights of the Guanabara Confession include, first, that this document was written by regular church members, not highly trained and ordained theologians. Understanding their God-given place in the body of Christ and their theological limitations, they answered…
The history of the spread of the Reformed faith in the sixteenth century during the early and difficult decades of the Protestant Reformation is always interesting, especially in connection with the work of Reformed churches in missions. Since the Reformed faith, with its doctrines of sovereign particular grace and double…
This is a common question in our homes. Usually, an answer is not far away with many wristwatches, smartphones, and various clocks in our houses. However, more important than what the time is in our particular time zone is the current time in history. For the covenant family, this question…
That the Heidelberg Catechism was intended from the outset to be preached and taught in established churches is evident from the Preface written by its royal sponsor, Elector Frederick III of the Palatinate: We do herewith affectionately admonish and enjoin upon every one of you, that you do, for the…
According to Acts 15:22-23, a letter had been adopted by the churches that summarized the answer of the apostles and the elders in regard to a doctrinal disturbance by the Judaizers. They argued that it remained necessary for the Gentile Christians to be circumcised according to the law of Moses…
Because the well-established system for the collection and distribution of financial support for our denominational foreign mission labors may easily go unnoticed, it is worthwhile to examine the biblical principles and benefits of this Reformed practice. This denominational practice has well served the stability and continuity of our foreign mission…
Previous article in this series: March 15, 2016, p. 281. We have noted so far that the second coming of Christ and missions are very closely connected. The content of the preaching must include the second coming of Christ according to the Reformed, amillennial confession according to Scripture. Faithful missions…
Previous article in this series: February 1, 2016, p. 210. Biblical missions ought to proclaim the truth of the final appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of history through the signs of that return. The faithful proclamation of that truth, on the basis of which men are…
Previous article in this series: September 1, 2015, p. 469. In the previous article, we began a consideration of the relationship between missions and the final appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We explored the thought that faithful missions serves the final appearing of Christ by its authoritative proclamation of…
This is the edited text of the speech Rev. Smit gave at the annual meeting of the RFPA on September 24, 2015. I had the privilege to experience firsthand the topic of tonight’s lecture. I was not involved with Reformed literature on the mission field in the Philippines to the…
We are reminded, according to I John 2:18 that we live in the last time. That we are living at the very end of time is becoming more evident according to the God-ordained signs of the second coming of Christ. This certain and imminent return of our Lord has a…
Annual synodical reports from our foreign missionaries are published in the PRC Acts of Synod. Slotted in the supplements along with the Foreign Mission Committee’s (FMC) annual reports rest the yearly snapshots from the eyes of our foreign missionaries about their labors on our foreign mission fields. Members of our…
At first glance, one might think from the title that this article will fail to promote a healthy interest in missions. Who would be interested in biblical and Reformed missions if he is told that it is a humanly impossible work from many perspectives? Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to remember…
Rev. Smit is a missionary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, stationed in Manila, the Philippines. I recently read a book written by Prof. David Engelsma and published by the RFPA in 2013 about the history of the origin, the writing, the adoption, and the rocky reception in the PRCA…
Perhaps you have never thought of the question in the title before. In the July 2012 issue of the missions magazine Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Professor Lee Beach, a professor of Christian missions at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, raises this question about Queen Esther of the Old Testament…
Previous article in this series: June 2013, p. 404. John the Baptist understood and believed that transition was a “must.” Christ “must” increase, and he “must” decrease. What does that mean? First, the transition from John the Baptist to Jesus was necessary because that was the will of God. It…
Among other significant parts and stages in mission work, there is this one, which ought not to be overlooked, namely, that of transition. John the Baptist experienced the reality of it and confessed his response to it in the words of John 3:30, quoted as the title for this article.…
Previous article in this series: January 15, 2013, p. 177. A ready cheerfulness to give (II Cor. 9:7) and a giving according to how God has prospered us (I Cor. 16:1-2) are important elements in the believer’s giving to needy causes, especially in the church. But are these the…
Christ is pleased to gather His eternally chosen church by His Word and Spirit from all the nations of the earth. The same good pleasure of God has also determined that the nations from which the church is gathered are not identical, but very different in many respects, including wealth.…
Previous article in this series: June 2012, p. 396. Previously, we considered that the emphasis in modern missions is that it be counter-cultural, contextual, and ecological. Now, we will consider two more trends in present-day missions that are mentioned by the late Prof. Bosch in his book Believing in…
Previous article in this series: October 1, 2012, p. 14. The trends in modern missions that we have considered thus far were that missions ought to be counter-cultural, contextual, ecological, ecumenical, and laity-led. The final trend, as we indicated last time, is perhaps the most alarming and fundamentally mistaken. It…
Previous article in this series: March 1, 2012, p. 248. Where are we to look if we desire to find the laws of God for human culture and society? How does God teach us how to run a business, a government, or an educational institution? Those who embrace “Reformational” theology¹…
There are trends and errors that affect modern church missions today of which we should be aware. Some of these trends are mentioned, for example, in the writings of prominent church theologians about current and future church missions. One such writer is the late Prof. David J. Bosch, a South…
Rev. Smit is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. The apostle Paul warns us in the book of Galatians to avoid two extremes: on the one hand, the error of believing and living as though justification is by faith and also by and because of our…
Those of our readers in the Midwest of the United States of America might be somewhat surprised to learn that recently, in September 2011, a Filipino religious cult bought 46 acres of land and buildings in and around the town of Scenic, located about 50 miles southeast of Rapid City,…
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…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. Motivation for the Subject In the last couple of years, the Doon Martha Bible Society studied for its after-recess time the book Women of the Old Testament, which was written by Dr. Abraham Kuyper and translated into English.…
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…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. Redeemed by Christ he truth that these women were handmaidens of Jehovah is based upon the truth of their redemption. We with them were lost in the service and bondage of sin. We were enemies of Jehovah and…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa, and secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. In years past, it has been common for the secretary of the FMC to give, for the SB, an annual review of our denominational mission work in our foreign fields by…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. Rev. Smit is also the secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. The Foreign Mission Committee continues to work in behalf of our Churches for the cause of the spread of the Reformed faith in foreign lands. Synod 1993…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa and secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. Just like hearing “Akwaaba!” when one visits fellow saints on the mission field in Ghana, so “Mabuhay!” (ma-boo’-hi) is the greeting one might receive when visiting fellow saints on the foreign…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. Would you have given the second coin? By nature both we and the poor widow of Mark 12:41-44would have kept the second coin. By nature we do not love God so much that we would have given the second…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. We consider now the second principle we must remember about true giving. The second principle that we must remember is that the God who gives us all things in life, even our offerings for His treasury, is our…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. Both coins fell from a poor widow’s hand into the treasury of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus observed this action because, according to Mark 12:41, “Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how people cast money into the…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. Who can fathom the words, “He suffered”? These words concerning our suffering Savior are briefly explained in Lord’s Day 15 of the Heidelberg Catechism on the basis of the Scriptures. Having read and studied this exposition of the…
Rev. Smit is secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches. It is that time of year once again to present to you an informational report of some of the work being done on the foreign mission fields of the Protestant Reformed Churches. The work is overseen…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa. Terrorist controlled aircraft, anthrax-laced letters, yellow cluster bombs, and cruise missiles we recognize as weapons of mass destruction. Who has not recently seen terrorist-controlled aircraft, fully laden with jet fuel, puncturing skyscrapers and completely destroying them along with…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. “… and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger….” Luke 2:7 Jesus was born this way because God governed the circumstances of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. By doing so, God declares clearly that He…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. He is also secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee. The Foreign Mission Committee (FMC) of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America once again presents to the readers of the Standard Bearer an overview of the foreign mission work…
On Wednesday, March 1, 2006, Classis West met in Loveland, Colorado. An officebearers’ conference was held the day before. The theme of the conference was “The Minister and His Money.” The morning session was devoted to a presentation concerning US tax code law as it affects ministers’ salaries of our…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Not only must the believing child of God possess a spiritually healthy reverence and fear towards God and His Word as Psalm 119:161 shows; but, according to the next verse in Psalm 119, he ought also to approach the…
On Wednesday, November 16, 2005, Classis West met in Randolph, Wisconsin for the purpose of examining Candidate John Marcus, who had received and accepted the call to serve as pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A special worship service was called by the consistory of…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. When explaining how Psalm 119:161 teaches us to read and study Scripture, the Reformer Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) wrote: I would advise you all, that come to the reading or hearing of this book, which is the Word of…
Classis West met in regular session on Wednesday, September 7, in the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, IL. An officebearers conference was held the day prior to Classis on the subject, “Our Denominational Seminary.” The conference introduced the Seminary to our western officebearers and highlighted the officebearers’ duty to…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. As we part from our friends for the day, we often say, “I will see you tomorrow.” As we part from our wife, husband, or children, we often say, “I will see you later.” Most often…
Rev. Smit is pastor of Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Previous article in this series: April 1, 2008, p. 300. Following love and joy, the next aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22, is peace. Like love and joy, peace is also a significant…
Rev. Smit is pastor of the Immanuel Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. Does a daily concern for the churches press upon your soul? In II Corinthians 11 the apostle Paul mentions many things that illustrated his faithfulness as an apostle. Outstanding among them is the mark mentioned in II Corinthians 11:28.…