November 2006 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. We live in a confused world. That doesn't surprise us. But when the church is confused about its own identity and task, we should be alarmed. Perhaps worse is thinking that the Bible really does not define the church and its task, and so it is up to us to do the defining. Then we may unwittingly end up defining the church's role in a way that tempts us to do what we are not called to do and to neglect what we ought to be doing. Worst of all, the world is happy to define the church as simply another service organization helping to make the world a little better. Such a reduction subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, mutes the message of the cross and the supernatural reality of the gospel. The spirituality of the church is the Reformed answer.

This month two articles, by the best historical duo around: D. G. Hart and John Muether, are being republished. They write on the nature of the church in their article "The Spirituality of the Church;" and on how we define the church's responsibilities relative to the state and society in "Machen and the Regulative Principle."

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high quality editorials, articles, and book reviews we will endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic Presbyterianism.