Church Matters
This paper looks at the problem where the precedent set by that both scripture and early church history are not followed today. It shows that the local church is informal, organic, unstructured, participatory, not dominated by one man, and open to many individual gifts.
This paper attempts to help us see how much the impact of the world in the church is a travesty, and being the beginning of undoing the work of grace. The damage caused by emotionalism is equally dangerous. Both are accelerated by over emphasising instrumental music. It is much better to be obedient and obey the apostolic practice of a cappella singing.
The New Testament model for the local church.
Here are the subjective thoughts of an old man on this important subject.
This was supposed to be just a few notes made while reading the work by Svendsen. However, the amount of errors contained in the book resulted in this necessary critique.
Some women are shy and timid, while others even become repressed within their own home. This paper is an encouragement to Christian women not to let this happen to you; you have a significant calling.
This is a paper on a terrible subject; apostasy. This needs to be addressed today because we are seeing people, and especially church leaders, apostatise at a terrible rate. I have tried to expound this properly to give a good foundation on the matter. I trust that the conclusion shows that this is not an entirely negative subject. We must individually persevere and encourage each other to love and good works.
In order to explain the technicalities about the doctrine of apostasy, this paper analyses what it is, what words are used in Scripture and how other doctrines are affected by it. I trust this will answer any questions.
This is a clear exposition of a verse to show that the Charismatic practice of apostles ruling the church is entirely false. There is also an appendix on the matter of submission to leaders.
Paul taught that all members are involved in ministry and even the ministry of the word is much more than just an intellectual sermon. It is impossible to have a biblical view of church ministry without emphasising the need for every member to participate fully.
This short study on worship in the church focuses upon the clear apostolic teaching in the NT letters. To understand worship, we must first get to grips with the apostolic content, and then apply these principles to the relevant OT scriptures.
The predominant model of church leader today is the manager; the biblical model is the father.
All God's purposes centre in Christ and have the objective of putting Christ first. Even the structure of the universe is based upon the centrality of Christ. How much more should the church, the body of Christ, be focused upon putting Christ first?
This is a practical paper that examines the situation that most of us face today, what do we do in the light of church apostasy? The normal advice given by leaders is far too shallow and fails to take into account God's prior will. Your holiness is God's prime concern and that must undergird your decisions.
This paper is an appendix to another that I am working on. However, it forms a very useful summary Biblical analysis of grace gifts. In a few pages you have all the information you need.
It's time for the Lord's people to put the church back into the Lord's hands. He will build it his way if man stops meddling.
In this paper we look at the rise in popularity of so-called deliverance and counselling ministry. These extreme practices undertaken more and more today, have no biblical or apostolic grounds.
The richness of the diverse terms for the church are intended to show the great variety of the blessings that God has conferred upon his chosen people.
Discipleship is a subject often hijacked by authoritarian church leaders as a tool to dominate people; as such it involves much human wisdom rather than Biblical principles. This paper draws out some discipling principles of Jesus in his High Priestly prayer. I trust this will be of use to pastors and others.
This is an analysis and history of the use of drums. It shows what the purposes of drums are in society and discusses their relevance within church worship. Needless to say, along with other musical instruments, there is no place for drums. Indeed, drums are the very last thing a church should consider introducing.
This is an important paper explaining the Biblical role of elders and differentiating them from deacons. Sadly few churches understand the principles taught in this essay, which is one reason why many churches are in a mess.
A simple paper outlining the key principles of church leadership. Comments are kept to a minimum since the Scripture texts are obvious.
A sample of scriptures to demonstrate the point.
This is an encyclopaedia of ways to identify false teachers in the church, of which there are many. Normally two or three characteristics will be sufficient to get a good idea, but this paper gives you the A to Z lowdown on how to spot dangerous elements in the churches. Never has this information been more necessary than today.
This is an exposition of an important passage in Ephesians that few interpret correctly. It shows the vital importance of every member in the local church and how every member ministry (mutual edification) equips the saints and promotes growth. The reason why the churches are in a mess is because this is nowhere practised.
The problem of apostate churches and professing believers.
This is the substance of a study I have given one Sunday. It seeks to give the proper interpretation of a passage often completely misunderstood and turned into a legalistic ritual with no relevance. In fact, Jesus' actions in John 13 are incredibly important and must be understood properly.
This is a paper that explains how God's power is centred in the church on earth in these days. It is not a flamboyant expression of power but it is a great power. Christians need to understand what this power is and where it is centred.
It seems that the modern church will try anything - no matter how wacky - to swell its numbers, apart from submitting to what God commands of us in His word.
This paper touches on man’s continual attempt to bring homogeneity into the work of God. Homogeneity is the activity to make everything or everyone the same. God works differently.
God has arrested you for a purpose. He chose you in eternity for a specific reason, and not just out of mercy. It is vital that we grow in knowledge of God and manifest his character on Earth.
A paper demonstrating that many natural processes of reproduction provide a fitting illustration of how the church is supposed to grow, by splitting of the home church and multiplication of new churches. There is good precedent for this sort of study since Jesus did exactly the same in using features of the natural world to illustrate his teaching on this. Such processes are the opposite of the way the modern church seeks to grow by agglomeration into a centralised large unit.
A hard-hitting essay explaining the catastrophic collapse of the testimony of institutional churches, The time has come for Biblical churches to emerge.
There is no apostolic command, model or sanction for instrumental music in the church; who are we to include such pagan and worldly elements in church meetings?
The sermon in not commanded in the New Testament for use as the means of edification in the church, and there is no precedent for it as the focus of fellowship life. It is contrary to the New Testament methods of building up the body, which is by mutual edification.
This paper shows how Jeremiah's prophecies to apostate Judah speak directly to the modern church situation.
A paper showing how wrong modern church leadership is and how far it differs from that of the Lord Jesus, Paul and great church leaders in history. There will also be much to learn from sections on suffering and money.
A simple tabular presentation of the contrasts.
There are many different methodologies that claim to be successful in local church evangelism, but do any of these have any Biblical credit? What does the Bible teach about man's involvement in evangelism?
Mutual edification involves the active participation of every body member; the church is dysfunctional if its meetings are dominated by one person.
This paper takes the example of project control and applies it to the qualifications needed in church leadership. It is provocative.
This is a message I preached in 1983 when I was in a Charismatic church. The content is still useful today.
Some practical help in witnessing. Relevant texts are listed along with the logical steps of conversion to aid the disciple in presenting the Gospel.
This is a booklet about commands, precedents and principles by which we can establish how a New Testament church should be established, develop and function.
This is a paper which strives to expose the underlying formulations and fashions that undergird many churches. These have been around throughout history but are today appearing all over the place as the churches become more apostate. Those which exhibit several of these tendencies are the most heretical. This is a new way of evaluating what churches actually are. I trust it will be helpful.
'Psalms Only' is a position that means well and strives to be Biblical, but in the end actually becomes unbiblical. It fails to see the fulness of the changes effected by the New Covenant (a typical problem with Covenant Theology).
The main points of both views contrasted in a table.
Is God's purpose for the church for there to be a return to biblical church life at the end-times so that the church will be a complete testimony to the glory of God?
Categorically all references to church meetings in the New Testament are in houses and nowhere else.
This paper is a mere taster on the subject of divine community and the vital necessity for Christians to work this principle out on earth. It is the basis of the church being a family, not an organisation, something that is almost universally ignored.
This paper gives solid Biblical and theological evidence for the necessity of house churches. More than ever such are needed today.
This is a hard-hitting exhortation based on clear exposition. It is exceedingly important. The future of the church is literally at stake. You must understand the falling away.
This is important. It explains what fellowship is and why it is spiritual. Mutually edifying one another cannot be done remotely.