Return to God when God disciplines you. Return to God when disaster comes. Return to God when you escape disaster.| Gentle Reformation
9 in 10 young people in the UK believe their life is lacking meaning. "As a result, a lot of people are turning back to religion — there is something going on".| Gentle Reformation
“I hate you.” Just like that, I said it. My mother quickly and firmly addressed it. I can’t think of another time after that that I told my sister I hated her. I was a little kid, but I have a faint recollection of my nasty| Gentle Reformation
The Reformers didn’t see themselves as innovators but as renovators. It is the Reformers who are the true heirs of Nicaea.| Gentle Reformation
Does God bring such judgments today? We can’t know for certain, but often in times of so-called natural disasters (drought, storms, swarms, epidemics, etc) there has been a call to prayer—a call to seek God’s favor and his mercy. Good idea. Sound the alarm! And pray.| Gentle Reformation
In 2022, the ARP church celebrated the 100th anniversary of Bonclarken Conference Center in Flat Rock, North Carolina. The beginnings of Bonclarken were rooted in the camp meeting movement within the American church culture of the early 20th Century. The camp meeting movement arose from a shift in the lifestyles| Gentle Reformation
The guys are Scott-less, but they hope you will listen to this episode anyway. Before they get to the topic at hand, a special appeal is made. No, it is not for the Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church's building fund. Listen to find out! Pastor and professor go| Gentle Reformation
Many things just aren’t made like they used to be. Many manufacturers have cheapened products by substandard design and quality control. Several years ago, we purchased a tiny remote control car for our youngest son for his birthday, and within a day or two, it malfunctioned. We returned| Gentle Reformation
As I entered a new year of ministry those were some of the questions that kept me up at night. Providentially, I came across John Currie’s recently published book The Pastor as Leader: Principles and Practices for Connecting Preaching and Leadership.| Gentle Reformation
Return, in the Bible, can just mean going back to a place you once were. It also means, in several places, to repent—to change your mind. Ruth has repented and believed in the covenant Yahweh. Naomi is returning, but with little faith in the LORD.| Gentle Reformation
Kristina and I own a house together on a plot of land in the small town of Manheim. We also have four children who live in the house with us. Our house and land need to be maintained. There’s dusting, vacuuming, washing, sweeping, straightening, paying, filing, painting, repairing,| Gentle Reformation
Be humbled by God’s saving mercy in Jesus, knowing you deserve no mercy. Realizing you have no right in yourself to claim to be God’s people, yet understanding grace – that God has, in Jesus, renamed you ruhamah - mercy. God has renamed you ammi – mine.| Gentle Reformation
The world is confused about many things, not the least of which is marriage and sexuality. Why? The world does not know or submit to God. Romans 8:7 says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to| Gentle Reformation
The church has always wrestled with the question of how best to demonstrate the compassion of Christ. Believers have always recognized the gospel is a message to be preached, but also accompanied by mercy. But how? In Luke 5:17–26 we read a story that reveals the urgent,| Gentle Reformation
God’s people will face malicious accusations--intended for your destruction. Trust Jesus that you are blessed if that happens. Know that God will deliver you-in this life or in the life to come.| Gentle Reformation
Thankfulness is central to your Christian life. When you received Christ by grace alone through faith alone, the Holy Spirit was also given to you to produce the fruit of thankfulness in you and from you. Thankfulness is evidence of true faith. The thankfulness that the Spirit is producing in| Gentle Reformation
I wonder how many children grow up with completely wrong ideas about Scripture simply because of a misleading picture in a story book. How often do they end up distorting what the text actually says?| Gentle Reformation
Years ago my wife and I sat down next to my seminary professor of New Testament, Dr. Renwick Wright, and his wife for an evening service. Looking around the sanctuary, he expressed a bit of disappointment that not more people were there. Then he said something that has always stayed| Gentle Reformation
The Psalms encourage, engender, and express the “patience of the saints” (Revelation 13:10) and the imprecatory Psalms let us voice how hard it is to have and maintain. In our culture, we need these patience-inspiring, peace-seeking Psalms now, rather urgently.| Gentle Reformation
*Some restrictions apply. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off...” Psalm 139:1–2. The Lord has never abandoned His people—not in the wilderness of Sinai, not in the exile of Babylon,| Gentle Reformation
Welcome to the old normal. Suffer patiently in speaking truth and doing right in the enjoyment of your Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. Here we stand; we can’t do anything else. God help us.| Gentle Reformation
All the demands in life can sometimes pull us away from our family. So, it is right and good to reevaluate our priorities and to focus on the family. Even more importantly, though, we should focus on Christ, for it is when we lose focus on him that our focus| Gentle Reformation
The following post is from guest author Fiona Mackay. Originally from the Isle of Skye, Fiona lives and works as an English tutor in Inverness, Scotland, along with her photographer husband, Roddy, and their three children. Her heart is for sharing her creative enthusiasm in both Shakespeare and local women’| Gentle Reformation
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” You’ve heard that line before, I am sure. A storm is raging across Prospero’s island, and Trinculo is caught without cover. In his wandering he stumbles upon Caliban, the island’s deformed and despised native, sprawled upon the ground. No cave| Gentle Reformation
Overall, I think this is a great idea and you've provided a very motivating and practical guide, easy for pastors to copy and paste or to stir up their minds to apply a modified version to their own ministries and congregations. Thanks!| Gentle Reformation
While attending an evening worship service recently, I was again impressed by the joyful blessing of simply being there with God and His people. Though I have shared before the biblical reasons for churches having an evening service on the Lord's Day (see here), this article is more practical in| Gentle Reformation
Dr. Ryan Swale is pastor of Immanuel URC in Jordan, Ontario, and a graduate of Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary who wrote his dissertation on "The Imprecatory Pastor: A Practical Theology of the Imprecatory Psalms." Psalm 60 is perhaps not a psalm many of us have given much thought to. But,| Gentle Reformation
As we pray for effective hearing of the word preached, let’s prepare for it as well in our daily household worship. That is, to enhance the hearing of the Word preached by reviewing the Word that has been preached and previewing the Word that will be preached is one of the aims of Worship Connected.| Gentle Reformation
People in the United States are not always well-disposed toward those who hold orthodox and historic Christian beliefs. Christians in 2025, when they seek to follow Jesus honestly, sincerely, consistently, coherently, and faithfully, are noticeably different from the world around them. Blending in is in many ways a telltale sign| Gentle Reformation
Rebecca VanDoodeward is a guest contributor to Gentle Reformation and author of Uprooted: A Guide for Homesick Christians, Your Future ‘Other Half’: It Matters Whom You Marry, and Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth. This article was originally published in the October 2024 edition of Banner of Truth| Gentle Reformation
Many years ago I came across a cartoon in a rather ill-judged, Christian, magazine. I don't necessarily disagree with the observation and the point it was trying to make (being jolted into self-awareness is a good thing): but in the end it was untrue, unkind and unfair. So what was| Gentle Reformation
When those who preach Christ’s lordship over the nation also trip every alarm the Bible sets to warn of false prophets, it becomes clear that the dominion they promote is not Christ’s, but their own.| Gentle Reformation
The division of the church is a product of man’s sinfulness. There should be one visible church. When Christ returns, our denominational labels will be no more. There will be one church, and all of Christ’s body will be visible as one under King Jesus. But here and| Gentle Reformation
In the first century, the Pharisees took God’s good gift of the Sabbath and added to it so many ridiculous rules and regulations that it was no longer a blessing for God’s people. It became a burden (Matt. 12:1-14). What God meant to refresh His people had| Gentle Reformation
This article originally appeared on Ligonier.org. Murder mysteries are popular these days. Agatha Christie’s fiction works continue to be read by a new generation, making her the best-selling author of all time. TV shows such as Dateline or 48 Hours feature weekly narrations of true stories. Numerous podcasts| Gentle Reformation
We wake up in the morning and perhaps lay in bed for a while. We get out of bed. We start our day. It is likely that most of us seldom contemplate our existence. We are likely settled into our own existence, and the routine of life has likely lulled| Gentle Reformation
Over the last number of weeks we've been chatting to lots of young people on the streets around our Church - one of the repeated objections that we have come up against, in discussions with Muslim folk, is that the Scriptures are not inspired, and that the Christians have changed| Gentle Reformation
We vote for presidents, but we also vote for local government officials. It may be tempting to focus entirely on one position, the president, while ignoring key politicians that you can have a relationship with and who make decisions that impact your local life. Here in PA, our municipal primary| Gentle Reformation
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He| Gentle Reformation
During recent outreach efforts on the streets of the East Coast, I have been met by a number of Jewish men and women who believe that the suffering servant of Isaiah is the collective Hebrew nation. Partly as an attempt to deny the case for Christ (which, in light of| Gentle Reformation
What pastor wouldn’t want his congregation focusing all week long on taking in and living out his preaching because their daily family or household worship is helpfully connected to the weekly corporate worship and is enhancing how they remember and observe the Sabbath?| Gentle Reformation
No denying that everyone around us is in a tizzy, which, fittingly, it seems, just happened to be the Wordle of the day recently. Whether face-to-face at yet the latest protest over something going on in another country, or leaning in with angry gusto at the pixel image before them| Gentle Reformation
Our lives will either reinforce or contradict our message—but the message must be communicated in words. In Colossians 4.6, Paul mentions three characteristics that must be true of our words.| Gentle Reformation
Immigration continues to be a pressing matter in our country. Problems are easily identified but solutions are hard to find. It seems timely to reconsider basic principles as we seek wisdom to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.| Gentle Reformation
Jesus, the eternal King from David's line, reigns with justice, peace, and love. His boundless, everlasting dominion fulfills God’s promise. Respond with faith and worship.| Gentle Reformation
If we see a sheep on its own, we know something is wrong. We should look with similar concern on someone who claims to be one of Christ’s sheep, and yet shuns involvement in Christ's church.| Gentle Reformation
