A Man Whom God Used

On October 3, 1983, three theological students attended their first day of classes in the Theological Hall of the Free Presbyterian Church in its North American context. That day marked the beginning of the second year of the training program. Eventually, that ministerial training program became Geneva Reformed Seminary with…

Presbytery Meeting in the Cloud

At the October 2019 meeting of the presbytery in Malvern, PA, not one attendee had the slightest idea about the events that were to unfold during 2020. The cancelation of the May Week of Prayer and the deferral of most presbytery business until the October Week of Prayer and presbytery…

Congress Echoes at Malvern Week of Prayer

For the first time since 2009, the Free Presbyterian Church of Malvern, PA was the host for the Week of Prayer and regular meeting of the presbytery. Several of those who attended the meetings from October 7-11 could remember their experience as delegates to the 4th International Congress of Free…

Presbyterianism’s Continuing Battle for the Faith

The aspects of the revival of Presbyterianism during the Reformation period had emphases in theology and church government. In theology, Presbyterianism returned to its Biblical roots in its emphasis on salvation by grace alone and its rejection of human merit as the guarantor of acceptance with God. In church government,…

Presbyterianism’s Revival

For about one thousand years, the vestiges of the system of church government that the apostles of Christ established languished beneath the oppression that the papal religion cultivated in the world. The power of the Roman Catholic clergy, the bishops especially, increasingly drew its authority from the papacy. The reign of…

Return to Toronto

On the thirtieth anniversary of the initial Week of Prayer in Toronto FPC, the members of the presbytery and some of their families gathered May 13-17. It was the ninth time for the Toronto congregation to host the event. The session and committee and the congregation, under the capable direction…

Presbyterianism’s Struggle with Apostasy (Part 2)

Historical developments that started while the Apostles were alive began to accelerate with their deaths. The structure of church government on which the apostles agreed, that is, a Presbyterian system in which the people elected elders to conduct the business of the congregations and to stress the interdependency of the…

Presbyterianism’s Biblical Foundation

Debates over the method of church government have absorbed much energy and time. Particularly, those who favor a congregational or independent model of church government have insisted throughout the decades that the New Testament presents no other model, and that if it does, the peculiarities of the apostolic age rendered…