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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…