D. A. Carson has a great message recently placed on the Gospel Coalition’s website, entitled Is the Culture Shaping Us or are We Shaping the Culture?
Among other useful things he says, he gives a good caution to evangelical men concerned about balancing Word-ministry and Deed-ministry. He simply says, makes sure that it is the Gospel [...]
Archive for the ‘Benevolence & the Diaconate’ Category
What excites you
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate on March 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Laidlaw’s Plea and Plan
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate, Parish Theory & Practice, Parish in American Context, Thomas Chalmers on March 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“A Plea and Plan for a Coöperative Church Parish System in Cities,” by Walter Laidlaw
In this essay, published in the American Journal of Sociology (1898), Walter Laidlaw advocates among the Protestant church a voluntary ‘cooperative parish system’ in the large cities of the United States for the spiritual, moral, and socio-economic benefit of the people. [...]
Wisdom for dealing with the poor
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate on December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a great piece written by Dr. David Apple, Director of Mercy Ministry at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. For anyone who has had experience trying to show mercy to those whose sin and folly patterns are deep, many of these guidelines will ring quite true. Here’s a link.
A Practical Pietist (3)
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate, Establishments, Parish Theory & Practice, Thomas Chalmers on November 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Thomas Chalmers has been widely acclaimed for his views and particularly his applications of social concern. And within the current Reformed world, he is pointed to as an example for modern day ‘mercy ministries.’ Consequently, I’d like in this final commentary on Cheyne’s The Practical and the Pious to turn to the principles [...]
A Practical Pietist (1)
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate, Commerce & Christianity, Thomas Chalmers on November 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Practical and the Pious – 1
Chalmers the Bridge Builder: Lessons in Translating the Faith
Margot Butt, in her essay entitled “The Chalmers Papers” includes an insightful quote from the daughter of Thomas Chalmers most like him in personality. Grace Chalmers wrote concerning herself, “I’ve always been a kind of outlier between the practical and [...]
Outsourcing Welfare – Thoughts on Chadwick’s “Chalmers and the State”
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate, Establishments, Thomas Chalmers on October 22, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I am temporarily putting the review of Parish and Parish Church on hold. I have another volume on interlibrary loan, here, that is due soon. So if you are among the small readership, I haven’t forgotten! And since I am on this side note, if anyone knows any fans of Thomas Chalmers, the history of [...]
The [not so] Frozen Chosen
Posted in Benevolence & the Diaconate on June 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Shaw, Iain. High Calvinists in Action: Calvinism and the City, Manchester and London, c. 1810-1860. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Do the theological rigor, precision, and dogmatism of Calvinism inhibit evangelistic and benevolent efforts? Perhaps individual cases here and there may be pointed out in defense of this caricature. But in High Calvinists in Action, [...]
