The Feminist Surge: A Result of Ecclesiastical Confusion, Middle Class Assumptions and Para-church Inroads (Part 2)

Where will this end? And more importantly what's happening in so-called Complimentarian circles that suddenly career women have become normative?

Do I doubt the ability of women? By no means but that's not the point.

The Feminist Surge: A Result of Ecclesiastical Confusion, Middle Class Assumptions and Para-church Inroads (Part 1)

It's a growing trend and yet few seem to notice. Some have been lulled to sleep by the ever present 'hum' of our frenetic culture. Others are changed even transformed by their failure to reflect on society and their place in it.

Others (I think) are tired of the fight or perhaps think that there are such 'bigger' issues and battles to be fought that this one is not worth the required energy or the possible divisions such an examination is bound to create.

Vocation, Dominion and The Banner of Truth (Part 2)

Cyber-security isn't 'loving others' any more than is banking, delivering mail or building stairs. Some (and only some) of these jobs can become 'loving' if they're done gratuitously. That's an aspect of ministry or Christian service.

Vocation, Dominion and The Banner of Truth (Part 1)

https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2018/a-new-testament-professors-rediscovery-of-the-doctrine-of-vocation/

I apologise in advance to long-time readers. This interaction will probably prove redundant but I do it anyway, hoping that maybe a few new readers will be grabbed by what I'm saying and turn away from a pernicious but popular error and one of the rotten harvests of the Reformation.

An Encounter with a Church Consultant: A lesson and a warning (Part 2)

He criticised the congregation for reading Scripture passages that were too long. Also, they should abandon hymn books because a lot of people can't follow along in them and don't know how they work. They should suspend the Sunday evening service because the lack of numbers was depressing and it was wasting people's time. They should turn the Sunday School room into a 'welcome center'.

And the day he was visiting for the final time, the day he gave his presentation after the luncheon, we happened to sing a hymn that mentioned 'propitiation'. He fixated on this and mentioned it more than once. Hymns shouldn't use 'big words' like that, words that visitors won't understand.

An Encounter with a Church Consultant: A lesson and a warning (Part 1)

This is both a report and perhaps a warning for churches of a certain mindset and polity. The congregation where we now assemble recently went through a long period without a pastor and a fairly sharp decline in numbers. Now, much could be said about the 'pastoral' system but we can leave that aside for the moment.

During the interim one of the men filling in convinced the congregation to hire a Church Growth Consultant. This gentleman visited the congregation on a few occasions and was given carte blanche to investigate the congregation's records, finances and the like. After a few months he returned and presented his report.

Historical Lessons not Learned: British Nonconformity, Classical Liberalism and a Cycle of Self-Destruction (Part 2)

For almost two centuries large factions of Protestants have championed Classical Liberalism and now like a Golem or Frankenstein monster turning on its creator, the system is effectively at war with social and religious nonconformity. By conflation, Classical Liberalism has eroded Christian thought and Liberalism's failures have driven society in a communitarian direction, even while retaining many liberal concepts and forms. As a consequence Christians, who often held to communitarian positions themselves are left imperiled and confused and their large-scale social projects in the post-Enlightenment period have turned into something of a nightmare.

Historical Lessons not Learned: British Nonconformity, Classical Liberalism and a Cycle of Self-Destruction (Part 1)

Scotland made international news with its Named Person programme in 2014. This programme would effectively assign a social worker to every child so that the state would be involved in that child's life from infancy. Parents, privacy advocates and others were horrified at this attempt of gross intrusion by the state as well as the potential for abuses and in principle the loss of parental power and autonomy.

There was resistance and the act was partially blocked in 2016, though Edinburgh is still trying to implement it. Recently there was a scandal as a video emerged of local authorities encouraging teachers to override parental consent regarding collected personal information about children and their families. In other words the state is keeping files on everyone and teachers are being effectively trained to disregard parental concerns and objections. They know best of course. For obvious reasons Christians and others are alarmed.