My students are often confused as to why there are sections called “Rejection of Errors” in the Canons of Dort, but also, that they are not confessional. Their non-confessional status is not because they have been excluded, but rather, they had always been omitted. That is, they were never there. In doing research for something … More Throwback Thursday: The Dortian Rejection of Errors
I am happy to announce the publication of my first authored volume, Foundations of Reformed Church Polity: The Rhyme and Reason of the Order. The regulations within a church order are like geometric shapes, and their use depends on us using these pieces to make the same image. However, what happens when we are all … More Book announcement!
There are many excellent works of church polity that have been written over the years, many of which are long out of print and forgotten, except for the dusty corners of libraries and the shelves of church polity scholars. Many of these have relevance into today, even though they were written for a church that … More Voices from the Past: David Demarest on the General Synod’s Power of Constitutional Interpretation (1896)
The Final final (maybe…?) report of the Vision 2020 Task Force was released. You can read it here. This series of posts will look deeper at the recommendations not just from a pragmatic lens, but also through a theological lens. While many have given up on the reality that the church order is theological, I … More RCA Vision 2020 Report: Generous Separation, Part 3: The Rules and Regulations Themselves
The Final final (maybe…?) report of the Vision 2020 Task Force was released. You can read it here. This series of posts will look deeper at the recommendations not just from a pragmatic lens, but also through a theological lens. While many have given up on the reality that the church order is theological, I … More RCA Vision 2020 Report: Generous Separation, Part 2: Rules and Regulations
The Final final (maybe…?) report of the Vision 2020 Task Force was released. You can read it here. This series of posts will look deeper at the recommendations not just from a pragmatic lens, but also through a theological lens. While many have given up on the reality that the church order is theological, I … More RCA Vision 2020 Report: Generous Separation, Part 1: Assumptions
The Final final (maybe…?) report of the Vision 2020 Task Force was released. You can read it here. This series of posts will look deeper at the recommendations not just from a pragmatic lens, but also through a theological lens. While many have given up on the reality that the church order is theological, I … More RCA Vision 2020 Report: New Mission Agency
The Final final (maybe…?) report of the Vision 2020 Task Force was released. You can read it here. This series of posts will look deeper at the recommendations not just from a pragmatic lens, but also through a theological lens. While many have given up on the reality that the church order is theological, I … More RCA Vision 2020 Report: Restructuring
The second part of the synodical plan that the General Synod Council decided without ever consulting the church is to call a special session of the General Synod in October. The section in question is this: The president of the General Synod shall call a special session of the synod at a place determined by … More Special meetings of the General Synod
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, communication came from the Stated Clerk of the General Synod that the 2020 session will be “postponed” until 2021, but that a special session will be called in October. The examples of 1933 and 1935 were cited as years in which there was no General Synod, which, as we … More Canceling sessions of the General Synod: Lessons from 1933
Church and Order 