Category: Church
-
Denominational Unity?
I have neglected writing the last week or so, as I have been working at this year’s meeting of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, my denomination’s highest assembly. I have previously written a bit about my role this year. This year’s meeting had a great deal of tension both surrounding it,…
-
How the Teacher Becomes the Student
The highest assembly of my denomination, the General Synod, meets annually in June. There are delegates which are elders and ministers, and there are corresponding delegates which can speak but not vote. Corresponding delegates are often people with particular expertise or particular experiences that make them valuable additions to General Synod and the denomination values…
-
That Which Gives Us Value
On Sunday mornings, I lead worship at my church. I look out and look at my congregation. Many of them are unemployed, some of them stay on the street, many of them struggle to make ends meet. Many in my congregation are visibly broken and noticeably hurting. We collect an offering, because stewardship is important…
-
The City and the Redemption of Creation
I try not to talk or write about politics very often as a normal course of my ministry. My congregation is composed of people of all political stripes, and I strongly believe that no one political ideology has a corner on the Gospel. However, something has been disturbing me as of late about the Wisconsin…
-
Examining Students of Theology
Yesterday we had our Spring classis meeting (the classis is the regional assembly of ministers and elder delegates from churches [If you’re interested in the governance and structure of my denomination, there is information on its website), and at that meeting we have the opportunity to examine our enrolled students of theology. These students are…
-
Get up (or sit down) and eat!
As I am sure is the case with many clergy-type folks, Sunday mornings are incredibly draining for me. When I deliver a sermon, I am not just giving a lecture, or a talk. I am pouring my whole being, my whole spirit, my whole emotional self, often times my whole being into the preaching moment. …
-
On Being a Doubter-Sensitive Church
I had a conversation with someone the other day on the sidewalk in front of church. I was picking up some trash that always blows into our bushes from the park across the street. A person stopped and asked me some questions about our church, which I answered. I told him about our Saturday morning…
-
First Words in Worship
Ever since I became a pastor I have put a lot of thought into the first words of the worship service at our church, and I have also begun paying attention to the first words of church services that I attend. There are, to be sure, many important words in a worship service, but the…
-
Evangeli-mainline-icalism
I grew up in the heart of Michigan’s “Bible Belt,” in an evangelical subculture where people often asked me if I had accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. When I went to seminary, I joined a mainline (but related) denomination. I wholeheartedly embraced my new mainline identity. I read and studied (almost exclusively)…
-
Reflections on my faith and the Church
I have been reflecting on reasons why people leave the church, stay in the church, or return to the church. This also began making me reflect on why I am still a part of the church, and why I am a pastor of a local church. I have been connected to a church ever since…
Matthew van Maastricht 