Christian ministry

Editor's Note: Christian Focus has graciously supplied us with a chapter from Rob Ventura's forthcoming book Equipped to Evangelize: A Biblical Foundation. Ref21 will publish portions of chapter one along with endorsements over the next several months in anticipation of its September release date...

In our judgments of individuals, the Scriptures offer various binaries: one is either a child of God or a child of the devil (Jn. 1:12; 8:44; 1 Jn. 3:8–12; Matt. 13:38); one either has the Spirit of Christ or does not have the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9); one either walks in darkness or in the...

Chaplain Mike Gilson in the Spiritual Care Service unit of San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center shared about his visits with a Vietnamese patient and husband who both spoke little English. The wife had terminal cancer, but later on to the chaplain’s surprise while doing his rounds he...

Do you have an evening service at your church? Is so, and especially if you are a Reformed pastor or elder, you’ll likely be wanting to encourage better attendance at your church’s Sunday evening service. Many of the Young, Restless and Reformed that entered the Reformed churches ten years ago are...

When I was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2010, our church family came alongside us and cared for us through several months of treatment. That experience made me passionate about how the body of Christ bears one another’s burdens and cares for the suffering. Our PCA church is seeking to do this...

Every Place is a Place to Talk about Jehovah Several weeks ago, I had a very embarrassing interaction at a small Asian restaurant in my town. I was grabbing lunch with one of the elders from Christ Presbyterian Church to have a time of fellowship. After we prayed for the meal, a very kind old lady...

Context, Context, Context Christians can be guilty of making pithy statements of a theological nature that require a lot of explanation for the phrase to be accurate. If an explanation is not offered, we are sometimes demanding a lot of the reader to put all the pieces together. And readers aren’t...

A recent dust up on Twitter has me asking, “Where are all the peaceable presbyters?” Several years ago, I had a personal Twitter account. It seemed like every PCA pastor was using it, and I felt like I was missing out on important debates and issues. I deleted my account after a fellow elder...

It has been little over a year since I began to serve my first congregation in Grove City, PA. However, I feel as though it was only yesterday that I had led my first public worship service, preached my first sermon, administered my first Lord’s Supper, and enjoyed my first fellowship meal with my...

It seems like everywhere you turn there are discussions being had about bad pastors. Indeed, multiplied books, podcasts, articles, and documentaries airing on such streaming services as Netflix and Hulu seem to pop up every week or so. And, of course, there are bad pastors, and they should be...