We use the language of ‘planting’ churches because it’s more organic than, say ‘founding’ churches or ‘building’ churches. And ‘planting’ also helps us remember that it’s only Christ who builds his church; it’s only Christ who founded his church, and he himself is the cornerstone, but ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’…

The church traditions that took shape during the Reformation all make clear statements on the authority of Scripture, and whether we’re self-consciously confessional or not, there are some themes that we major on in the ways that we describe our churches.

A few months ago I consolidated all the answers from the last 10 questions of the Heidelberg Catechism, which put together form a beautiful devotional exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. Today I’ve done the same with the last 7 questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It’s, well, shorter than the Heidelberg version — crisp brevity…

Following on from yesterday’s post about Jehovah’s Witnesses and their denial that Christ is God: If you were to force me to make the case for the true divinity of Jesus from a single verse of the Bible, I would go to John 1:3.