Peripatetic Pastor

Author: Clay Libolt

  • WHITENESS: THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE 5

    Kuyper and the Square Inch In these posts, I’ve been reflecting on denominational life. My focus has been on my own denomination, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), especially the CRC after Synod 2022, but I intend these reflections to be applicable more broadly to denominationalism in general. Which said may make you wonder where I…

  • ABRAHAM KUYPER AND THAT PESKY SQUARE INCH: THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE 4

    A question I’ve been asking in these posts about denomination life is not only what happened at Synod 2022 and what is happening in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) at present but what a renewal of denominational life might look like, and not just for the CRC but for any denomination and theological tradition. In After…

  • GATEKEEPING: THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE 3

    A lasting image of Synod 2022 of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) is of the synod as gatekeeper, swinging the gate shut on people in same sex marriages, locking it, and saying: No more of that. The same for those who would question whether a belated atonement theology known as “penal substitutionary atonement” is the…

  • THE NEW CALVINISM: THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE 2

    For some time now, I’ve detected a new and sometimes dissonant voice in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), particularly at the annual synodical meetings, many of which I have attended lately as a reporter for The Banner. It is a voice that was prominent at Synod 2022. It speaks a theological language more Westminster than Heidelberg…

  • THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE (1)

    Introduction: Trouble ahead.  It’s no secret that denominationalism, a form of church life invented by Americans for America, is in trouble and has been so for some time. Denominations are splitting (or have already split), several over the issue of same sex marriage. Others are rocked by sexual scandal, lately the Southern Baptists and including notably…

  • WHAT HAVE WE LOST? THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH POST -SYNOD 2022 (Part 1)

    In the larger scheme of things, the dissolution of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), should it eventually happen, is ecclesiastical small potatoes: one more immigrant denomination absorbed into the morass of American evangelicalism. But it makes me sad if for no other reason that for many years, in the old prizefight metaphor, the CRC hit…

  • READING SCRIPTURE THROUGH THE EYES OF PAUL

    Informed Imagination in Practice Reflections on Synod 2022 A note for readers for whom “Synod 2022” in the title above means nothing. The synod in question is the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church that met most recently this past June. On its agenda was a report prepared by a committee appointed to…

  • PASSION

    When I arrived in Grand Rapids in the middle 60’s, the locals called him “Littlefaith.” His name was Duncan Littlefair. Littlefair, the Reverend Duncan Littlefair, was for 35 years, from 1945 to 1979, pastor of Fountain Street Church in downtown Grand Rapids. Fountain Street was a large and flourishing congregation under Littlefair’s leadership, filled with…

  • SYNOD 2022 ONCE AGAIN: Is there a hole in the center of the decision on confessional status?

    Dear readers, a short preface for the post that follows is in order. I am publishing this post (as also the one that preceded it) in an effort to understand and respond to an action taken by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church declaring the position of the denomination on sex between members of…

  • CLOSED DOORS AND OPEN WINDOWS

    Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, summer comes slowly, often not arriving until the end of June. Today, June 24, is the first real summer day of the year. We have the windows open. A gentle breeze blows across the waters of the sound. The waves sparkle in the late afternoon sun. On a…