“New Testament Church Basics” – Available in Portuguese The book New Testament Church Basics (see here for the English edition), published by John Richie in 2018, is now available in Portuguese, thanks to the work of Crawford Brown in […]
Are Women to be Silent in Local Church Meetings? by Dan Shutt (MI, USA) In our secular, western world, any restrictions upon women suggests the worst sort of misogyny and sexism. The radical feminist movement and other equal rights advocates […]
Do Appearances Really Matter? by Eugene Higgins (NJ, USA) We seem to be incurable creatures of extremes. Apogee and perigee have a strange appeal to us. That holds true as to the subject of this article. Some people act as […]
The Value of the Assembly’s Gospel Meeting by Norman Crawford (1927-2013) The gospel pioneers, who came to my home country of North America with a burning passion to win lost souls, called the buildings in which they preached gospel halls. […]
Isn’t Everyone Gathered to His Name? by Dr. A.J. Higgins (New Jersey, USA) Isn’t everyone gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus? If you have ever tried explaining to one of your friends that you are part of a […]
The Purpose Driven Church (a critique) by Michael J. Penfold It’s a depressing statistic. A majority of Western churches do not see a single addition through conversion in a typical year. What to do about it? Convinced by market research […]
My Reasons for not Being Free to Engage in Inter-denominational Service by William Trew (1902-1971) This is a transcript of a powerful and persuasive message given in 1954 in Motherwell, Scotland, by the evangelist and Bible teacher William Trew entitled […]
Can Musical Accompaniment in Church be Defended from the Greek Verb “Psallo”? by Vine, Fereday, Rodgers and Baillie Is the New Testament’s use of the Greek word ‘psallo’ – usually rendered ‘to sing’ – proof that instrumental music was employed […]
Should Churches be Doing Social Work? by Michael J. Penfold Despite being continually mocked, threatened and beaten for preaching the gospel, the apostles refused either to give up or change tack. Why? Because they had an unshakeable confidence in the […]
7 Reasons Not to Have A Church Movie Night by A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) Passion of the Christ, The Shack, War Room, Ben Hur, Noah, The Jesus Film, Heaven is For Real, Son of God, God is Not Dead, The Case […]
How to Have a Profitable Assembly “Bible Reading” by Michael J. Penfold A feature of many congregations of God’s people around the world for the last couple of hundred years has been the weekly consecutive verse by verse discussion of […]
Are “Bible Readings” Scriptural? by Sinclair Banks (Scotland) A feature of many assemblies of God’s people around the world for over a century has been the weekly consecutive verse by verse discussion of the Bible, chapter by chapter, book by […]
Arriving in Good Time for Meetings by Michael J. Penfold I’ll never forget the sight of an exasperated British Airways stewardess shouting across JFK airport at a Rabbi who, though a few minutes late for his flight to London England, […]
The Emergent Church Examined by Mervyn Hall PART 1 – Introduction to the Emergent Church In May 2007, an unknown Canadian author by the name of William P. Young self-published his first novel with the help of two friends. Despite […]
What makes a meeting an “assembly gathering”? by Michael J. Penfold A survey of the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles reveals that churches in the first century assembled for a variety of regular meetings, among them; prayer […]
Is “One Man Ministry” Scriptural? by Michael J Penfold A young man feels ‘called to the ministry’. His pastor recommends him to go to Bible College for three years to become fully equipped for his vocation. At college he is […]
All That Generation Died by Michael J. Penfold “And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation” (Exod 1.6) It was the end of an era. “That generation” finally passed away. That generation of brothers who knew a […]
Contributing to Your Local Assembly Bible Reading by Jack Coleman (Hatboro, New Jersey, USA) Understanding the importance of the assembly Bible reading should cause us to have greater diligence in our preparation. Knowing the charge given to the elders at […]
New Testament Church Basics Introduction It’s common nowadays to ‘choose a church’ based on personal preference. If the kids’ programme is cool, the Pastor is easy to listen to and the band is trendy, what more could one want? However, […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 2 – The Local Assembly Manifests the Divine Presence Our thoughts now turn to a second fundamental purpose of a local assembly – it manifests the presence of God. Since the beginning of creation it […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 3 – The Local Assembly Exhibits Divine Design We have seen that the Lord both owns the assembly and dwells in the assembly. Let us now consider the fact that He designed the assembly and […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 4 – The Local Assembly Administers Divine Authority In previous articles we have examined a number of basic truths about the local assembly. First, He owns it. Second, He dwells in it. Third, He designed […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 5 – The Local Assembly Displays Divine Order We take our leave of the subject of “lordship” to look now at “headship”. These two topics – both of which significantly impact assembly life and testimony […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 6 – The Local Assembly Provides Divine Care What a place the assembly is! – where God’s glory is preeminent; His presence is known; His wisdom is displayed; His rule is acknowledged, and His order […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 7 – The Local Assembly Proclaims Divine Truth Before looking, in this chapter, at the local assembly’s role as a vehicle for the dissemination and defence of Bible doctrine, a particular aspect of ‘proclaiming divine […]
New Testament Church Basics Chapter 8 – The Local Assembly Fulfils the Divine Commission Our thoughts now turn to “the great commission” in which the Lord Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel, […]
