If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Hey folks, recently, I made a post about understanding the reformed view of the sacraments. Since then, I’ve gotten a better understanding, but I’m still confused about one area. What does it mean by sign and seal? I tried asking AI, but I feel like that left me more confused than before. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In the US, are clergy regularly drug tested? The only reason i am asking is because i know that the bible gives clear requirements for sober clergy but is this more seen throughout the life of the church or do they take an active role in insuring their ministers are drug free. I live in a state where marijuana is legal and so i wasn’t sure if the clergy are checked or if its a “follow the law of the land” thing or unspoken rule that you just dont do it but they arent testing.

Just genuinely curious about it. Im not accusing my pastor of marijuana use but im sure there has to be some out there that do and keep it quite.

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Never thought too much about this booklet but appears to be an original syllabus from van til. Just thought I’d share 😁

How does your church meet the practical needs of the body?
Our church is fairly big (over 700) and we have a mercy budget but it seems like it is mainly reserved for emergency needs. But there are many regular church members who have various needs that seem to go unmet because the way the deacons distribute the funds is, what I would graciously describe as careful but am tempted to describe it as stingy.
I want to talk to an elder or deacon about this at some point but was curious what other reformed church do or how they handle this.
I believe that when we say we are meeting needs of the body that means practical needs like:
someone needs to replace their glasses but doesn't have insurance.
someone needs help with a large car repair
someone has a burdensome medical bill
Usually when someone keeps needing help from the deacons they say things like “we can’t make this a habit” or “is there a way we can make changes for a permanent solution?”
I don’t know but that all kind of sits wrong with me.
Any thoughts or feed back?

How does your church meet the practical needs of the body?

Our church is fairly big (over 700) and we have a mercy budget but it seems like it is mainly reserved for emergency needs. But there are many regular church members who have various needs that seem to go unmet because the way the deacons distribute the funds is, what I would graciously describe as careful but am tempted to describe it as stingy.

I want to talk to an elder or deacon about this at some point but was curious what other reformed church do or how they handle this.

I believe that when we say we are meeting needs of the body that means practical needs like:

someone needs to replace their glasses but doesn't have insurance.

someone needs help with a large car repair

someone has a burdensome medical bill

Usually when someone keeps needing help from the deacons they say things like “we can’t make this a habit” or “is there a way we can make changes for a permanent solution?”

I don’t know but that all kind of sits wrong with me.

Any thoughts or feed back?

Hi everybody. The other day I went to Bremen and explored the evangelical church in the city center. It was magnificent, however, as someone who’s exploring Christianity I came out of that place with mixed feelings. On the one hand the architecture was genuinely awe inspiring, however, with so many statues and intricate carvings I can’t imagine how one can fully dedicate their attention and energies towards praying to God as there are many possible distractions around.
As such I wanted to know, which denomination has the least amount of ornaments and focuses the most in their attention towards praying to God? (Basically less focus on ornate buildings and more on the dedication of prayer itself)?

Are there any conservative reformed churches in Edinburgh, Scotland? Similar to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) but doesn’t necessarily have to be Presbyterian. Thanks!

Hello all,

I've been thinking of buying a study/ journal/ application Bible: all in 1 maybe( mostly in NIV,but IDK if that's a good choice though).

I want to truly understand the scripture I read, that's the main goal, not just read it vaguely.

Open to suggestions. Thanks:)

hello dear friends!

for context I’ve been researching Christianity, particularly reformed Christianity, for the past months.

i always think of becoming reformed Christian. but some of its doctrines, like predestination and irresistible grace, makes me backtrack from becomin one

so the question is. Can someone Be a Reformed Christian (e.g Presbyterian, any mainstream reformed denominations) While rejecting The doctrine of predestination and irresistible grace?

im open to being wrong and wanna learn more if the answer is No.

thanks in advance! Love you all ❤️!

In my area there are no reformed churches, mostly SBC, IFB, non denominational and various charismatic/Pentecostal churches. I only learned about reformed teaching through YouTube and some reading. Any church I have ever been in after the sermon has an invitation to anyone who wants to receive Christ and a few would add to it "see the pastor after service" so they could make sure you understood the gospel and knew what regeneration was. In a reformed service when the sermon concludes what happens if someone listening wants to receive salvation? I agree alter calls can be deceiving and lead to false converts but I've never seen an alternative method that didn't involve an invitation. Forgive me for being ignorant to just about anything in the reformed services but I would have to drive over 100 miles to attend a service to see what it was like. In addition I won't hide that most of my scriptural understanding beyond very basic things taught in most conservative church's is from self study and hearing teachers through YouTube (I was raised in a Charismatic home but separated myself from that belief system)

If you have requests that you would like your brothers and sisters to pray for, post them here.

Looking for advice for Christian life in general as a young guy

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

I know Christians are split on this but I wanted to know what reformed folks generally think on this matter. It definitely says the Book of Life was opened...why would Christ need to open the book of Life if the people standing in front of Him were all unbelievers?

Please let me know what your view is! Biblically =)

I’m an elder in a Reformed evangelical church and would appreciate some counsel on a difficult pastoral question.

Can elders, as an exercise of pastoral wisdom and prudence, direct members in good standing to temporarily refrain from attending corporate worship and normal church activities in order to create space for healing and reconciliation?

In this situation, the elders would explicitly say that the members remain in good standing and that the separation is not church discipline.

How would you distinguish this from formal church discipline? Does Scripture give elders this kind of authority, and if so, what biblical principles or limitations should govern its use?

I’m especially interested in how Reformed churches and pastors would think through the distinction between pastoral wisdom and practical discipline in a situation like this.

UPDATE:

We have moved forward with the break. Communicating it to the church and the family thy they should refrain from attending and it’s not discipline. However, based on our observations, the break is not producing healing.

The elders have been communicating with the mediator about next steps, including whether a meeting at this point would be constructive.

We genuinely desire reconciliation and for the family to return. We’re asking the mediator to help us discern the most constructive next step, with the hope that a meeting can lead to genuine progress toward biblical reconciliation.

The family has tried appealing to us directly, including an appeal to love (see Philemon 8-9) and a request for a clear biblical path forward.

I am wondering about what experiences/thoughts you may have had on paedocommunion. I attend a quite evangelical Anglican parish near Pittsburgh and was quite surprised when a first saw small children receiving the elements instead of a blessing. When I was younger, this never happened in my experience until one was confirmed.

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. ¹⁷ When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028&version=NKJV

There were some very specific concerns in the Corinth church when Paul mentioned this, and such concerns are not applicable to every church today.

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A young Christian brother in his early 30’s (although I’m not entirely sure he’s born again - has the head knowledge but very little fruit), had been living with his girlfriend which I told him 6 months ago to either marry her quickly or move out. Didn’t heed the advice and now she’s pregnant. Of course they broke up right before they found out. She was threatening to call cops, berated him for not making enough money, threatened to cheat on him so he would take the break up seriously…

So now he’s living with me temporarily. A leader in the church is pushing him towards reconciliation with her and to make things right and move towards marriage; talks to him as if they were married, so the baby can be in a good home and not be living in a broken home. Well, she’s already twice divorced with four kids, two kids from each marriage. New in her faith too. We all go the same church.

I’m basically telling him to take this door and find the Lord and grow in the Lord but the respected leader seems to just hope for them to work out, like this kid is somehow a project for this leader to say see, it all worked out, when this leader never called it out and I had to.

I’m a little upset or perhaps, quite significantly perturbed. No one in leadership has called out the sin. They still sign up as door greeters as a “family”, and he serves on the Awana team still.

I don’t get it. Dudes definitely charismatic and handsome. Perhaps leadership is biased towards those things plus he’s shown very little remorse and almost has treated it like a little white lie type of sin so others just ride along with that… You know, like narcissistic or psycho types who just act nonchalantly with their sinful nature and smooth it over with their charm and lack of contrition.

I don’t get it and its really bugging me. Now she wants him back and he’s basically checked out but oddly still communicating with her regularly and making plans as well as joining the church’s upcoming “marriage class”, where 60 others have already signed up.

How to counsel? Should I go directly to my pastor? 10 year old church plant, non denominational church under no actual larger church panting network/denomination.

I have access to my pastor but the church has exploded over the last few years and has gone to three services…

I’m just really bugged out about this. I’ve counseled him about as much as I could and while he’s here I’m going to be more intentional about prayer and Bible studying with him.

My reformed biblical beliefs cry out for him to run. For him to know and love and abide with the Lord and the scripture and lead her well during this time by being the example. But I can hear whispers of plans for this and that with them and I fear he’s just gonna go along for the ride and end up in misery, regrets, and many sufferings…

Thoughts? Prayers? Thanks yall!

So I’ve been a fairly average Joe kind of guy when it comes to clothing. Most of my stuff t shirts and cargo shorts is completely without brand or graphics. As I start into my 40s I feel like I need to up my clothing style a little bit and wear some more collared shirts and nicer looking pants. All that to say, if I want to up my wardrobe I feel like I should maybe see about getting more stuff that proclaims Christ. Not in a really flashy way but in the same way most people don’t even think about walking around with a Tommy Hilfiger shirt or a champion hat.

Any ideas where to find decent stuff that looks like and isn’t going to break the bank?

How's it going all? TLDR will be in bold.

(Edit: I am from a Christian perspective, but I am attempting to take the opposing POV as fairly as I can.)

So, I am taking an English class this semester. One of our assignments will be to write a research paper on any topic of our choosing. We need to provide double digit worth of sources for this paper. At the same time, I am taking a philosophy class. Earlier this week the phil professor was going on a speech against Christianity from Genesis 1-3 and creation. Some, not all, of the points and questions he was making are a joy for me to work and think through.

Do you know of any good sources (for and against Christianity) that address the topic of the (lack of) fairness of God in condemning mankind or eating from a tree?

Relevant questions that were brought up by the professor:
- Is God fair in condemning humanity to death for eating from a tree? Are humans more fair by just grounding children for wrong doing? Is God fair for punishing people who did not know better (people who did not know that good and evil even existed, or that there was a difference between the two)?
- How can God judge man, when He does not know what it is like to be a man?
- Did humans have more or less free will now or before the fall?
- Why punish people for knowing about good? Why is it inherently bad for man to try and do good things?
- What level of knowledge did man have prior to eating the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
- What level of knowledge did humanity have prior to them eating of the tree? Did they understand good from evil, or even the fact that good and evil existed?
- In gaining knowledge of good and evil, does humanity now have more or less freedom than before the fall?
- Is paradise the reward for ignorance?

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