Month: May 2017

Categories
Church

The calling and confidence of church

Most Monday mornings I feel like resigning.  Did I explain God’s Word well enough?  Was my sermon understandable? Was I faithful to the biblical text?  Should I have used more illustrations?  Would another minister do a better job?  Is it all worth it?

Monday morning blues can be quite typical for those in the ministry of the Word.   I constantly need to remind myself that the success of the church is definitely not up to me (thank goodness!). I need to remind myself of the calling and confidence of the church.

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Categories
Christian Worldview REACH SA Reformation

Why I am not a Roman Catholic #REACH500

This year, 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that started in Germany in 1517.

There are a couple of things we take for granted in our church services:

  • It is in an understandable language
  • We have Bibles
  • The Bible is read and explained
  • We pray together, sing together and take part in some way
  • The gospel is explained

If we were attending a church 500 years ago in Europe, none of these would have happened.  Europe in Medieval times was a spiritually dark, superstitious place. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) ruled supreme.  All roads led to Rome where the Pope ruled over all things religious.  The Pope was (and still is) believed to be the spiritual successor to the Apostle Peter and the Vicar of Christ i.e. Christ’s representative on earth.  Without Father Pope there could be no church, without Mother Church there could be no salvation.

Continue reading “Why I am not a Roman Catholic #REACH500”