4 Members Who Tear Down the Church
By Chopo Mwanza | 11.08.2019All these members have a common thread: self-centeredness. They’ve missed the very essence of salvation; they’ve failed to love God and love people with every ounce of their being.
6 Members Who Build Up the Church
By Chopo Mwanza | 11.04.2019Dear church member, pursue these qualities in your own life and encourage them in others.
9 Suggestions for Better Members’ Meetings
By Brad Wheeler | 10.28.2019Do member’s meetings always have to end in bitterness and bickering? I don’t think so. Here are nine suggestions to help set members’ meetings on the right track.
“Is This a Sin?”: Ethical Triage and Church Discipline
By Andrew T. Walker | 10.02.2019When it comes to ethical conflicts facing local churches, we need to carefully distinguish categories of “may” (permissible), “should/should not” (advisable), and “must” (obligatory).
A Tale of Two Baptist Associations
By Geoff Chang | 09.23.2019Let me tell you the tale of two Baptist associations.
What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution
By J. I. Packer | 9Marks Journal: The Heart of the Gospel: Penal Substitutionary Atonement | 08.20.2019The task which I have set myself in this lecture is to focus and explicate a belief which, by and large, is a distinguishing mark of the word-wide evangelical fraternity: namely, the belief that the cross had the character of penal substitution, and that it was in virtue of this fact that it brought salvation to mankind.
3 Ways Baptism & the Lord’s Supper Ought to Shape our Monday through Saturday
By Sam Emadi | 08.12.2019For too many Christians, baptism and the Supper are exclusively about personal professions of faith, and personal expression of one’s obedience to Jesus.
Confessing Sin Is Always Awkward, Sometimes Costly, and Absolutely Worth It
By John Lee | 07.22.2019It’s true. Confession could cost your reputation. It could result in an awkward conversation. But freedom in the gracious, holy light of God is priceless.
Mailbag #86: Considering the Danger, Should Muslim-Background Believers Be Baptized . . . My Friends Who Want to Be Pastors Think Polity Is Boring. How Can I Help Them?
By A. Menikoff, A. Duty | 07.12.2019— Should we encourage Muslim-background believers to be baptized, even when it endangers their lives? — My friends want to be pastors. But they have no interest in polity. How can I help them see its importance?
7 Well-Meaning Objections to Church Discipline — And How Pastors Ought to Respond to Them
By C. Greggsen, S. Emadi | 07.05.2019Let’s briefly consider some of the “good-faith” objections to discipline we’ve encountered and how we try to help church members understand the theological principles undergirding discipline.
Two Reasons a Church Shouldn’t Have Multiple Gatherings
By Kyle Schwahn | 07.01.2019I’ve pastored my church for over twelve years. We’ve always had two morning services, and I never gave them much thought. Until . . .
Episode 92: Are Healthy Churches Enough for Today’s Problems?
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 06.17.2019Our world is full of problems. But what can healthy churches do about it?
Why “Belonging Before Believing” Is (Usually) a Bad Idea
By Brian Davis | 05.29.2019Belonging before believing is usually a bad idea because it tries to turn the body of Christ into a kind of Frankenstein, attaching dead parts to what’s meant to be fully alive.
Episode 89: On Baptism and Church Membership (with Ligon Duncan)
By J. Leeman, L. Duncan, M. Dever | 05.28.2019Credobaptists and paedobaptists don’t agree on what baptism is, but they both agree that it must precede church membership.
Episode 87: On Church Membership
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.14.2019In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan chats with Mark about our new Journal—Church Membership: Following the Lord Together.
