Scott Clark does it again

I’m really enjoying the thoughts and posts of  R. Scott Clark lately.  I confess that I don’t know much about him (personally or academically), but some of his posts over at Heidelblog have been very helpful to me trying to navigate the theological talk regarding Federal Vision, but more so, helping to understand the differences and similarities between the Old and New Covenant.

His most recent post deals with the sing and the seal of covenant membership, and what really distinguishes the theology and praxis of Presbyterians, Baptists, and Federal Vision folk.

Read it here.

Signs of an Unhealthy Church

Anthony Bradley has another great post over at The Institute regarding two things: 1) Some great sermon series’ from some solid, missional churches (I’ve only listened to the series from the Journey, which I highly recommend listening to, but the others look pretty good as well), 2) some thoughts ans signs of unhealthy churches.  I found them pretty interesting, what do you all think?  Here they are (click here to go to Anthony’s full post):

Here are some signs of possible immature and unhealthy churches and/or dying or dead churches:

(1) Little or no adult baptisms. That tells you A LOT about who the church is NOT engaging. (Acts 18:10) Fellas, did you know that there are actually Christians who don’t think it is odd that their church hardly ever has adult baptisms. Some don’t even at an eye at that. Shouldn’t that be kind’a embarrassing? The most I’ve ever personally been involved with, as a church employee, was when I worked at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philly). It was an amazing number.

(2) It’s mono-ethnic( except for rural churches). If the church is in or near a major city and the church represents a segregated mono-culture (by race and/or class) in leadership and membership you are right to think that is kind’a odd. It’s 2007 not 1907. And, sadly, church leaders and members avoid living in the epicenter of major cities. (Rev. 5:8-14; Eph. 4)

(3) The church has no social witness. Members and regular attenders are not personally involved in local, state, or national social issues (wherever the curse is found) at any level. It’s not a regular part of their family life. (James 1:27)

(4) Infrequent practice of the sacraments.

(5) Non-Christians are not involved in the life of the church, the personal lives of church goers, or attending worship (Lev. 19:33-34).

(6) The preaching, teaching, programs, aesthetics, music, etc. primarily appeal to 40-something women and their children. The men may be physically present but are bored and/or dead.

Baptism agreements

Much thanks to Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds. He has pointed to a blog entry with a bullet point list of points of agreement between Paedobaptists and Creedobaptists. Its over at the Reformation 21 site, with links to the main entries here and here for the most recent posts. Hope you all find it helpful. I have.

Baptism Conversations

Well, it seems that this is becoming and interesting conversation to have and read up on in the world of blogs. It seems that everyone is at least mentioning it. Since this has been something I’ve been in process on, I figured I’d quote a great comment, and then reference some of the good interactions being had right now. This is from Abraham Piper (not pictured) over at Desiring God blog:

What does this mean for those who are wrong about baptism? It means just that—they’re wrong. But being wrong and being an unrepentant sinner are not the same. If they were, everybody with an imperfect theology (all of us) would be lost…Unless we are willing to say that paedobaptists [My remarks - or creedobaptists for that matter] are probably going to hell, then they are—according to Christ—already members in our fellowship, his church. What’s left for us is to acknowledge this. And then to trust Jesus to show himself to his one bride.

Here are the rest of the links, enjoy! Would love to hear what you all have to say on this.

Justin Taylor has “Grudem’s Change of Mind Regarding Differences on Baptism Within a Local Church” at Between Two Worlds

John Piper’s response to his friend Wayne Grudem at Desiring God blog.

Ligon Duncan chiming in on “Why Presbyterians Baptize Believer’s and Their Children” at Reformation 21 blog.

Mark Dever on the Piper/Grudem Baptism Exchange at 9 Marks.

A very interesting and thoughtful post by Abraham Piper (who I quoted above) over at Desiring God blog.