» About Us: Brief Hiatus

We are taking a (hopefully) brief hiatus from publishing in order to more securely organize the news service with regards to funding and staffing. Look for us to return soon.

» News: Lagniappe Church Dedicates Home

Keeping up with the good work being done by Lagniappe Presbyterian Church (PCA) on the Mississippi Gulf Coast would be a fully time job for any reporter. We wanted to highlight what is thankfully a common event in the life of Lagniappe - the dedication of a home that they have built for victims of Katrina. Read about it at the Lagniappe Church blog.

» Opinion: Spotted on YouTube

» News: URCNA Blogger Reflects

A URCNA blogger - "Glenda" - discusses the recent URCNA Synod; her coverage includes details and personal reflections that will no doubt be of interest to RN readers. (HT: Heidelblog)

» News: URCNA Synod Adopts Justification Declarations

The URCNA Synod, meeting this week in Palos Heights, IL, adopted the following statement concerning the doctrine of justiication on Thursday:

Synod affirms that the Scriptures and confessions teach the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone and that nothing that is taught under the rubric of covenant theology in our churches may contradict this fundamental doctrine. Therefore Synod rejects the errors of those:

1. who deny or modify the teaching that "God created man good and after His own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness," able to perform "the commandment of life" as the representative of mankind (HC 6, 9; BC 14);

2. who, in any way and for any reason, confuse the "commandment of life" given before the fall with the gospel announced after the fall (BC 14, 17, 18; HC 19, 21, 56, 60);

3. who confuse the ground and instrument of acceptance with God before the fall (obedience to the commandment of life) with the ground (Christ who kept the commandment of life) and instrument (faith in Christ) of acceptance with God after the fall;

4. who deny that Christ earned acceptance with God and that all His merits have been imputed to believers (BC 19, 20, 22, 26; HC 11-19, 21, 36-37, 60, 84; CD I.7, RE I.3, RE II.1);

5. who teach that a person can be historically, conditionally elect, regenerated, savingly united to Christ, justified, and adopted by virtue of participation in the outward administration of the covenant of grace but may lose these benefits through lack of covenantal faithfulness (CD, I, V);

6. who teach that all baptized persons are in the covenant of grace in precisely the same way such that there is no distinction between those who have only an outward relation to the covenant of grace by baptism and those who are united to Christ by grace alone through faith alone (HC 21, 60; BC 29);

7. who teach that Spirit-wrought sanctity, human works, or cooperation with grace is any part either of the ground of our righteousness before God or any part of faith, that is, the "instrument by which we embrace Christ, our righteousness" (BC 22-24; HC 21, 60, 86);

8. who define faith, in the act of justification, as being anything more than "leaning and resting on the sole obedience of Christ crucified" or "a certain knowledge" of and "a hearty trust" in Christ and His obedience and death for the elect (BC 23; HC 21);

9. who teach that there is a separate and final justification grounded partly upon righteousness or sanctity inherent in the Christian (HC 52; BC 37).

The statement makes no reference to current controversies by name, but the discussion concerned a possible response to the Federal Vision controversy that has been discussed in many reformed denominations. References to "HC" are to the Heidelberg Catechism, "BC" refers to the Belgic Confession, and "CD" refers to the Canons of Dort.

The advisory committee reported to the floor of Synod a recommendation not to adopt the RCUS report concerning Norman Shepherd; grounds were supplied, but RN does not have access to those at present. Synod agreed and the RCUS report was not adopted. The nine declarations above were considered and honed by the committee and approved by Synod leading some to argue that forming a committee to study the Federal Vision would be unnecessary. The committee also recommended against a study committee to study the Federal Vision. Cornelius Venema's arguments in favor of forming a committee set the tone for passage of the idea at the Synod level. A committee was appointed to study the Federal Vision only with regard to the issue of justification by faith. The committee will report back to Synod after a period of three years. The committee consists of 14 members; as soon as the names are released, RN will be able to report on the committee's makeup.

URCNA Posts Press Releases Online Daily

» News: PCA Ruling Elder, Son Killed by Intoxicated Driver

Sunday morning, Allen Mays and his 12 year old son Madison were killed in a head-on collision with an intoxicated driver, Juan Manuel Landaverde, who crossed the median. Mays and his son were seated on the driver's side of the vehicle. His wife and daughter, seated on the passenger's side, were only slightly injured. Landaverde, who received only minor injuries, has been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of first-degree assault. Baldwin County police are holding Landaverde until a bail hearing later this week.

Allen Mays served as a Ruling Elder at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Athens, GA. Readers of RN from Redeemer have contacted us and requested prayers for the church, for Mays's parents who are both members, and for his wife and daughter.

Source for Details: News Article

» News: URCNA Synod Begins Today

The URCNA General Synod begins today in Palos Heights, IL. Kim Riddlebarger blogs a preview of the issues he anticipates. We will report on Synod happenings as news is released.

» RIP: Harold O.J. Brown

Press release from RTS:

HAROLD O. J. BROWN GOES HOME TO BE WITH THE LORD

Harold O. J. Brown, John R. Richardson Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, went home to be with the Lord July 8, 2007 at 8:25 pm. He was born July 6, 1933 in Tampa, Florida to Dr. Harold Ogden and Mary Bakas Brown. He would have celebrated his 74th birthday this year.

Brown earned four degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School. He received the Bachelor of Arts in Germanic languages and biochemical sciences, the Bachelor of Divinity in theology, the Master of Theology in church history and the Doctor of Philosophy in Reformation studies. He also studied at the University of Marburg, Germany, and the University of Vienna, Austria, and taught courses in Basel, Switzerland, and Yeotmal, India.

In 1975, Brown founded the Christian Action Council with former United States Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. The Christian Action Council was the leading evangelical pro-life action group and an educational and service ministry, which he served as chairman until 1998. The Christian Action Council is currently known as Care Net, Inc. He was the director of the Center on Religion and Society at the Rockford Institute and taught in the International Seminar on Jurisprudence and Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

Brown's areas of expertise included systematic theology; right-to-life issues; ethics, especially ethical and family values; journalism, public affairs; and political philosophy. He is a member of the American Theological Society, and the Turnerschaft Saxonia Marburg.

Brown received several awards, including many for his pro-life work. He received Fulbright and Danforth awards and was voted Faculty Member of the Year at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he held the Franklin Forman Chair of Christian Ethics and Theology and was professor of biblical and systematic theology. He taught at Trinity as a visiting professor in 1971 and 1975 and served as associate professor of systematic theology from 1976 to 1983. After four years as a pastor in Switzerland, Brown returned to the Trinity faculty in 1987. He joined the faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary on its Charlotte, North Carolina campus in the summer of 1998 and remained a vital part of the community until his passing.

Brown served on the editorial staff of Human Life Review and Christianity Today and served as contributing editor for Christianity Today and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. He was editor of The Religion and Society Report and wrote numerous articles over the last 40 years in such magazines as National Review, Eternity, Hemelios, Human Life Review, and publications in Germany, Austria, and London. His books include The Protest of a Troubled Protestant (Zondervan, 1969), Christianity and the Class Struggle (Arlington House, 1970), Death before Birth (Thomas Nelson, 1977), The Reconstruction of the Republic (Arlington House, 1977), and Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present. His most recent books are Sensate Culture (Word, 1996) and Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church (Henderson, 1998).

Brown and his wife, Grace, had two children, Cynthia Brown Erb and Peter E.H. Brown. In his spare time, Brown enjoyed crew, skiing and mountaineering.

Harold or 'Joe' as many of us called him was a rich blessing to RTS, not only in his solid scholarship and classroom excellence but also in his personal relationships and care for students, staff, and other faculty. He had a European "dry wit" and a great sense of understated humor. Even though slowed by poor health in his later years, he was always challenging in his teaching and tender in his thoughtfulness to others. We will miss him but we rejoice in the heritage he left to us and in his presence with our Savior.

-Dr. Robert (Ric) C. Cannada, Jr., Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary

» News: Mainstream Press Coverage of Presbyterians

The "Get Religion" blog explores press coverage of religion - as in, "The Press just doesn't 'get' religion". In a posting today, a PCA member notes how often the press aims to make a point about the decline of mainline Presbyterianism yet fails to distinguish carefully between presbyterian denominations.

The author, Daniel Pulliam, writes:

"As a member of the Presbyterian Church in America I found it downright frustrating that the article failed to mention that there are in fact other Presbyterian denominations out there. Lots of them. But the article is not really about Presbyterians, except for the fact that other denominational struggles are mentioned only briefly. It's really about conservative and traditional Presbyterians abandoning the PC USA for elsewhere due to what they view as an abandonment of basic biblical teachings. And this story is hardly unique to the Presbyterian denomination as you all know.

But this isn't really news for Presbyterians, at least in the context the story gives us. Presbyterians have always been abandoning each other in the search for doctrinal purity. The various splits go back as far as John Knox of the 17th century in Scotland."

» News: Second PCA Pastor Responds to Nine FV/NPP Declarations

Previously, RN reported on Peter Leithart's letter written in response to the PCA's adoption of the recommendations of the General Assembly study committee concerning the "Federal Vision" and "New Perspectives on Paul". This week, Pastor Steve Wilkins (Monroe, LA) drafted a letter to the Louisiana Presbytery and made the letter public (pdf). The Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church's Federal Vision page contains a number of documents related to the Louisiana Presbytery's ongoing judicial case with the PCA's Standing Judicial Commission.

» News: Gospel Coalition Website Launches

The companion website for the Gospel Coalition's recent national meeting is now online. The site contains a confessional statement as well as a theological vision for ministry that contains support for a realist epistemology. The theological vision statement sketches a vision for conducting the ministry of the church that the author's see to be rarely practiced. The goal of the vision is a gospel "balance" about which the authors write:

"We believe such a balance will produce churches with winsome and theologically substantial preaching, dynamic evangelism and apologetics, and church growth and church planting. They will emphasize repentance, personal renewal, and holiness of life. At the same time, and in the same congregations, there will be engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government. There will be calls for radical Christian community in which all members share wealth and resources and make room for the poor and the marginalized. These priorities will all be combined and will mutually strengthen one another in each local church."

In addition to documentation, the website hosts audio and video of the plenary session speakers, and will eventually host media from the workshop sessions.

» News: CRC Receives 1M Lillly Grant

The Christian Reformed Church has received a five-year, one million dollar grant from the Lilly Foundation to continue its pastoral excellence program. The CRC Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) project intends "to create a culture of pastoral excellence in the CRC. It offers funding for peer learning groups, continuing education events, and mentoring."

» Editorial: Cartoon

Submitted by Garrett Craw




Note: We welcome any responses; please send editorial proposals, responses, or cartoon ideas to refnews@gmail.com. Views expressed in editorials or editorial cartoons are not necessarily the views of the editor or staff of Reformed News.

» About Us: Coverage of FIRE

We have added the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (FIRE) to our list of denominations we monitor for news items. You can download (PDF) their "Winter 2007" Newsletter to catch up on FIRE events and news.