March 2010 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. One of my goals as a writer and editor is to learn to write better and help others to do the same. Back in 2006 when I developed the OS web page, I included a Writers Guide to provide resources for improving our writing skills. I have recently updated the guide and included a link to an essay by George Orwell entitled "Politics and the English Language" (http://www.opc.org/OS/WritersGuide.html). Orwell published the essay in 1946, after he had witnessed the power and degradation of language by the Third Reich. It is an enormously helpful admonition to use language economically and honestly.

This month we have made an important change in our citation standards. I owe John Muether a debt of gratitude for guiding me through this process. We have decided to distinguish between Ordained Servant Online and Ordained Servant the printed annual. The latter alone will be referred to by volume number with the year, while the online version will be referred to by month and year, and where appropriate by URL. Please consult the "How to Cite Ordained Servant" on our website at http://www.opc.org/OS/HowToCite.html.

Intelligent and friendly exchanges help sharpen our theological and exegetical reasoning skills. I trust that the White, Gordon exchange on evangelistic responsibility exemplifies this.

As I was thinking about revisiting evangelism, I was reminded of the importance of the Word being announced to the world. That in turn brought to mind the ways in which modernity undermines the church's hearing of the Word of God. My editorial essay, "Hearing the Word in the Modern World," addresses this problem. Part two will come in April.

Bill Edgar's review of Dave VanDrunen's new book on bioethics gives attention to a unique and extraordinarily helpful work that will also serve as a model for the entire field of Christian ethics. I am using it as a text for an eleven-week adult Sunday school course. I would be happy to pass on the questions I'm developing to any pastor who wishes to do the same.

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 endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic Presbyterianism.