Theology / The Church

  • The Marks of the Church by W. Robert Godfrey

    FROM TABLETALK | May 1992

    If you move to a new town, you have to find a new church. The search for a new church can be difficult and frustrating. If you pick up the Yellow Pages and look under “Church,” you are likely to …Read More

  • The Present Hope of the Church by Harry Reeder

    FROM TABLETALK | May 1992

    Is there any HOPE for the church in general? What about your church in particular? While realizing the Scriptures promise a triumphant hope at the return of Christ, is there any present hope for the church as we anticipate the …Read More

  • Final Judgment by John Sartelle

    FROM TABLETALK | November 2010

    “It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:4). Evangelical Christians have a proclivity to pronounce judgment on all things pertaining to our Lord’s church. We treat this as a right and an obligation. It begins most …Read More

  • Church Growth—First Things First by Os Guinness

    FROM TABLETALK | March 1992

    When all is said and done, the church-growth movement will stand or fall by one question: In implementing its vision of church growth, is the church of Christ primarily guided and shaped by its own character and calling—or by …Read More

  • All Out of Whack by Kevin DeYoung

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2011

    I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the average reader of this fine periodical is a fan of theology. I’m thinking most Tabletalk subscribers are thoughtful, doctrinally attuned Christians. I also imagi ne a …Read More

  • Love for the Big and the Small by Kevin DeYoung

    FROM TABLETALK | July 2011

    Scripture says the human race should be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28; Mal. 2:15). Children are always seen as a blessing from the Lord (PsS. 127:3–5; 128:3–4). Church growth happens evangelistically and covenantally. So …Read More

  • Knowing His Voice by John Muether

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2009

    Mary is a deeply committed evangelical Christian who is eager to work for the transformation of culture. A homeschooling mother of three teenagers, she serves on the board of a crisis pregnancy center, and she devotes Saturday mornings to leading …Read More

  • What Kind of Unity? by William W. Goligher

    FROM TABLETALK | November 2011

    Thomas Manton, a seventeenth century minister, once wrote, “Divisions in the church breed atheism in the world.” Certainly the lack of unity in the church distracts minds, breaks hearts, squanders energy, and inhibits evangelism. Unity in the church is important …Read More

  • The Perils Facing the Evangelical Church by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2009

    When we consider the predicament that the evangelical church of the twenty-first century faces in America, the first thing we need to understand is the very designation “evangelical church” is itself a redundancy. If a church is not evangelical, it …Read More

  • Preaching Christ by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2011

    The church of the twenty-first century faces many crises. One of the most serious is the crisis of preaching. Widely diverse philosophies of preaching vie for acceptance among contemporary clergy. Some see the sermon as a fireside chat; others, as …Read More

  • Schism and the Local Church by Michael G. Brown

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2011

    Although the Great Schism occurred in the eleventh century, dealing with schismatic people in the local church has been a problem since the days of the apostles. Writing to the church at Corinth around AD 55, Paul said, “I appeal …Read More

  • Quitting and Finding Church by David Wells

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2009

    I am in the middle of reading two books simultaneously, one at my office today and the other I will resume at home tonight. My day book is Julia Duin’s Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What …Read More

  • Your Church and Your Life Planning by Jonathan Leeman

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2012

    A friend recently emailed me asking how he should weigh leaving his church to take a job in another city. I told him that he was “free in Christ” to stay or go but that I loved his factoring his …Read More

  • Apostolic Anxiety by Kevin DeYoung

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2011

    Second Corinthians 11:28 always seemed like a strange verse to me — until I became a pastor. Here’s Paul, rattling off all the ways he’s been beat up for Jesus — imprisonments, lashes, rods, stonings, shipwrecks, drifting at sea …Read More

  • Nothing Like the Church by Robert Rayburn

    FROM TABLETALK | October 2011

    It should come as no surprise that in Western culture, triumphantly individualistic as it is, institutions tend to suffer in people’s estimations. Christians, shaped too much by this culture, predictably have a diminished appreciation even for their very own …Read More