Files related to worship, polity, and discipline. The files collected here are the result of years of studying ecclesiology. I get frequent requests for some of the handouts I distributed when teaching Presbyterian Polity and Worship at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, but those files, while compiled and photocopied in one place for my students, were never collated into one document. Some of those, and a few others, will make there way here as I have time.
Ecclesiology: Worship, Polity, Discipline
|
Bibliography on Presbyterian Worship and Polity |
This bibliography was prepared for my course on Presbyterian denominational standards at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and contains material on both polity and worship. |
|
Coral Ridge Reply |
This is a brief reply to Pastor Tchividjian's blog post in which he suggested that we should not separate over something as "trivial" as musical preferences. |
|
|
Confessional Subscriptioin |
This essay addresses the question of confessional subscription in terms of the issue of the nature of church power. |
|
Confessions of Sin |
A list of fourteen prayers of confession from various sources. These are all "public domain," as it were, and any who wish to use them are free to do so without any copyright acknowledgment. |
|
|
Foreward to God's Lyrics |
This is the Forward I wrote in Douglas O'Donnell's wonderful book, God's Lyrics: Rediscovering Worship Through Old Testament Songs (P&R, 2010). |
|
Indelible Grace |
I am often asked what I think of the various projects to write contemporary musical settings for traditional hymn lyrics. Here are my thoughts. |
|
Intelligibility, Accessibility and Familiarity in Worshp |
An essay in which I attempt to demonstrate that the Pauline requirement that worship be intelligible is no argument that it needs to be easily accessible or familiar. |
|
|
List of hymns |
This is a list of hymns that I regard as proper to employ in Christian worship, with a very brief introduction. For a smaller list of 30 enjoyed by many denominations, see the excellent list compiled by Robert Foote for the March, 2011 edition of Christianity Today (available in the archives section of their website). |
|
Regulative Principle Handout |
This is a very brief summary of the ten basic arguments for the regulative principle of worship. |
|
Some Answers About the Regulative Principle |
This is a copy of my reply to John Frame's "Some Questions About the Regulative Principle," each originally published in the Westminster Theological Journal. |
|
Selecting Hymns |
A discussion of principles that might help in selecting the hymns we employ in worship. |
|
|
Weekly communion |
A brief discussion of the considerations that I regard as favoring weekly communion. |
|
|
Why Not Exclusive Psalmody |
A discussion of how the Scriptures teach that God is to be praised for all his great works, not just those articulated in the Psalms. |