Ecclesiology for Calvinists

Hey Calvinist, Enough of Your Revivalism
by Michael Lawrence

Reformation Doctrine Fuels Reformation Ecclesiology: A Brief History
by Owen Strachan

Still Young, Restless, and Reformed? The New Calvinists at 10
by Collin Hansen

7 Ministry Consequences of Calvinism
by Jonathan Leeman

Calvinism & Counseling
by Patti Withers

Five Marks of a Calvinist Pastor’s Ministry
by Aaron Menikoff

Calvinist Pastors and Non-Calvinist Churches: Candidating, Pastoring, and Moving On
by David Schrock

Preach the Bible, Not Calvinism
by PJ Tibayan

Real Calvinists Brag About Jesus, Not Calvinism
by J.A. Medders

Real Calvinists Pray
by J.A. Medders

Teach, Wait, Repeat: How Calvinism Fuels My Commitment to Congregationalism
by Sam Emadi

You’re So Depraved, You Probably Think This Church Is About You: How Total Depravity Upends Attractionalism
by Alex Duke

How Unconditional Election Sustains Pastoral Ministry
by Jeramie Rinne

Definite Atonement and Church Membership
by Stephen J. Wellum

Believe in Particular Redemption? Then Evangelize and Send Missionaries with Abandon
by Greg Turner

3 Reasons Definite Atonement Is Basic to Biblical Missions
by Alex Kocman

Dilapidated Buildings, Small Budgets, and Struggling Congregations: How Irresistible Grace Creates Steadfastness in Ministry
by Jonathan Worsley

Why Your Doctrine of Perseverance Demands Church Discipline
by Raymond Johnson

Book Review: Humble Calvinism, by J.A. Medders
by Jeff Mooney

Book Review: What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace? by Richard Phillips
by Clint Humfrey

Book Review: By His Grace and For His Glory: A Historical, Theological, and Practical Study of the Doctrines of Grace in Baptist Life
by Adam Triplett

Book Review: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J.I. Packer
by Mark Carrington

 

Editor’s Note:

If you are not a Calvinist, this 9Marks Journal is not for you. It’s for my Calvinist brethren. We need a group huddle, friends, specifically on the topics of ecclesiology and how we do ministry.

Here’s big idea number one: what you believe about God and salvation should impact how you view the church and do ministry. Soteriology impacts ecclesiology. I trust you agree with that at least in principle.

The thing is, it’s easy for us to own the label Calvinist yet remain revivalistic. That’s big idea number two. The biggest threat to Calvinism isn’t Arminianism, but pragmatism.

So suffuse is Western culture with self-sufficiency and pragmatism, we all naturally default toward Second-Great-Awakening rather than First-Great-Awakening practices. During the days of Charles Finney and Billy Sunday that meant trusting our ability to persuade people down the sawdust trail more than trusting the ordinary means of grace. Today it means we think we can “reverse engineer” our structures and ministry practices in order to yield more fruit. Or we aspire to reaching the “tipping point” of conversions in a city, where the powers of sociology will kick in and change that city, not dissimilar—I’d say—from Finney’s reliance on the powers of psychology to draw people off his infamous anxious bench.

If these historical references are new to you, I’d strongly encourage you to start with Michael Lawrence’s piece on the difference between revival and revivalism. We should pray for revival, not get caught up in the movement psychology and pragmatics of revivalism. Owen Strachan’s piece, too, is crucial for discovering how we reached this present moment. Meanwhile, Collin Hansen’s article offers an update on the Young, Restless, Reformed movement and what’s happened over the last ten years.

The ensuing articles by Patti Withers, Sam Emadi, Steve Wellum, Jonathan Worsley, Jeramie Rinne, Alex Kocman, Greg Turner, Raymond Johnson, and myself help trace specific points of connection between our understanding of salvation and our practical ministry. Take special note of Alex Duke’s piece, “You’re So Depraved, You Probably Think This Church Is About You.”

Speaking of a Calvinist team huddle, Aaron Menikoff, JA Medders, PJ Tibayan, and David Schrock offer the pastoral word we all need to hear. Let’s reserve our real excitement for Jesus and his Word, they say, not Calvinism.

If you’re a non-Calvinist and still here, poking your ear into our huddle, I’ll say this: I expect you may agree with many of the practices we commend in this Journal, because we’re all trying to learn from the Bible. And we’re grateful for our gospel partnership together. We may not share a soteriology but we can still share the same ministry commitments explicitly revealed in Scripture—membership, discipline, faithful shepherding, evangelism, and the centrality of the preached Word.

—Jonathan Leeman

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