Can We Worship God However We Want? (Ames)

Why are the worship services of Reformed churches different from the worship services of most evangelical churches?  Why won't you find props, balloons, skits, films, lights, projectors,* and rock/pop music at confessional Reformed churches? And why aren't worship services in Reformed churches a Sunday morning free-for-all where we can just wing it? It's not simply …

Reformation Conference 2010

If you live anywhere near South Central Washington State (specifically the Yakima Valley) you're invited to an evening Reformation Conference hosted by the church I pastor.  Rev. Matt Barker (of Emmanuel OPC in Kent, WA) and I will be speaking on this topic: Worship According to the Word: The Reformation Recovery of Biblical Worship.  In a day …

Ames on the RPW

In Reformed/Presbyterian confessionalism, the regulative principle of worship (RPW) is right there in the fiber of the discussions on worship (HC Q/A 96, WLC Q/A 108-9, etc). William Ames (d. 1633) defines it this way: "God must be worshipped only for the reason and by the means by which he has personally prescribed that he …