In his book, Power Preaching for Church Growth, David Eby includes an appendix, “Prepare and Participate: Practical Suggestions on Your Role in Worship at North City Presbyterian Church.” This is a document used at the church where David serves to encourage the congregation with practical suggestions for making the most of Sunday morning for the glory of God. The document includes suggestions for individual and family preparation ahead of Sunday and participation during Sunday’s worship services.

Here’s an example of suggestions for physical preparations ahead of Sunday morning:

• Get a good night’s sleep on Saturday night so that you can be sharp and energetic for worship on Sunday morning.
• Prepare ahead for the Sunday morning pressures and the rush to get ready. Use Saturday afternoon and/or evening to get things organized.
• Plan to arrive at the church meeting place five minutes early, not five minutes late. This will require planning ahead.
• Plan a special Lord’s Day Eve meal, with time for Scripture reading, prayer and family worship.

Who can’t be helped by suggestions like these! My only suggestion for David’s suggestions, at least for families with small children, would be to aim for ten or fifteen minutes early instead of just five minutes. There are plenty of obstacles to slow us down in the morning, and even if we land here ten or fifteen minutes early, that’s ten or fifteen minutes to get acquainted with others, to rest your mind, and to pray ahead of the start of the service.

With permission, we’ve typed up this appendix of practical suggestions to make it available for you in pdf form. From time to time we will share small suggestions from this document with the hopes of encouraging greater preparation for and participation in our Sunday worship services.

The following was posted to the DSC Missions Blog earlier this week. Click here to subscribe to the Missions Blog. 

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As you know, Hurricane Sandy has made a devastating impact on the Northeastern part of the U.S.  Relief is already being mobilized by organizations like Red Cross and World Vision, and we would encourage folks in our body to contribute to those organizations as you are willing and able.

However, when it comes to DSC Missions funds, the elders have decided to focus designated funds given to DSC to sister churches in the immediate area impacted by this natural disaster. Our hope and prayer is that as these churches, who likely won’t have denominational support to help them out, will be able to minister to their own body of believers, as well as those in their area who are in need. We are already working to contact churches we know about in the area to see how they have been impacted.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.  (Galatians 6:10 ESV)

If you feel compelled to give, please do so using a missions envelope at the church and designating it “Disaster Relief.” Or, you can also give via the church’s online giving here listed under “Disaster Relief.”

Please especially be in prayer for believers in this area that God will use them and the church to rise up after this disaster with hope amid certain despair. May the believers cry out with Paul as he says:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV)

October 31 is Halloween. It’s also Reformation Day – the day when Martin Luther nailed his famous “95 Theses” to the Wittenberg Door.

Today, Justin Taylor published an interview with Carl Trueman on the subject of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses.” Trueman’s historical insight helps to appreciate the providence of God in what was a great renewal of the gospel in that day.

On Saturday, October 31, 1517, a 33-year-old theology professor at Wittenberg University walked over to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and nailed a paper of 95 theses to the door, hoping to spark an academic discussion about their contents. In God’s providence and unbeknownst to anyone else that day, it would become a key event in igniting the Reformation.

Carl Trueman—who wrote his dissertation on Luther’s Legacy, teaches on Luther’s life and theology, and is writing a book on Luther on the Christian Life—answered some questions for us.

Had Luther ever done this before—nail a set of theses to the Wittenberg door? If so, did previous attempts have any impact?

I am not sure if he had ever nailed up theses before, but he had certainly proposed sets of such for academic debate, which was all he was really doing on October 31, 1517. In fact, in September of that same year, he had led a debate on scholastic theology where he said far more radical things than were in the Ninety-Five Theses. Ironically, this earlier debate, now often considered the first major public adumbration of his later theology, caused no real stir in the church at all.

What was the point of nailing something to the Wittenberg door? Was this a common practice?

It was simply a convenient public place to advertise a debate, and not an unusual or uncommon practice. In itself, it was no more radical than putting up an announcement on a public notice board.

What precisely is a “thesis” in this context?

A thesis is simply a statement being brought forward for debate.

Read the rest of this insightful interview here.

For a round-up of helpful articles related to Reformation Day, see this post from this time last year. To learn more about the Reformation from Carl Trueman, download audio from Clarus ’05, The Reformation: Why Was It Needed and Do We Need Another?. If you would like to read a book on the subject of the reformation, purchase, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation, on Amazon or at the DSC Resource Center.

Over at The Gospel Coalition Blog, Collin Hansen published a helpful summary of a sermon given by Mark Dever from Mark 12:13-17, where we read Jesus’ famous words, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

From this text, Dever unpacked three points. First, Christians are good citizens. Second, no earthly kingdom can be identified with God’s people. Third, Christians are finally accountable to God.

Collin begins his summary of Mark’s message, “Jesus Paid Taxes,” with this paragraph:

Jesus sets out a novel, revolutionary philosophy in these five verses, Dever argued. By way of background on this confrontation between Jesus and his religious opponents, Dever explained that Jesus posed such a great threat to Jewish leaders that he united bitter enemies from among the Herodians, who conspired with Rome, and the Pharisees, who rebelled against Israel’s occupiers. Together, they approached Jesus, hoping to catch him in a trap. They asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” (Mark 12:14) By answering, Jesus was in danger of losing either his popularity or his life. In fact, he lost both after a shocking response that subsequently formed the basis for all Western political philosophy.

Dever’s sermon is 70 minutes long and the message is worth your time. Listen to the sermon here.

Tim Keller and The Gospel Coalition have prepared a gift for Christ’s church: The New City Catechism. Catechisms serve God’s people by serving the truth of God and his Word to our minds and hearts so that we might delight in him.

Here’s an excerpt from Keller’s introduction:

Question 1.What is the chief end of man?
Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Question 1.What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

These words, the opening of the Westminster and Heidelberg Catechisms, find echoes in many of our creeds and statements of faith. They are familiar to us from sermons and books, and yet most people do not know their source and have certainly never memorized them as part of the catechisms from which they derive.

Today many churches and Christian organizations publish “statements of faith” that outline their beliefs. But in the past it was expected that documents of this nature would be so biblically rich and carefully crafted that they would be memorized and used for Christian growth and training. They were written in the form of questions and answers, and were called catechisms (from the Greekkatechein which means “to teach orally or to instruct by word of mouth”). The Heidelberg Catechismof 1563 and Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms of 1648 are among the best known, and they serve as the doctrinal standards of many churches in the world today.

THE LOST PRACTICE OF CATECHESIS

At present, the practice of catechesis, particularly among adults, has been almost completely lost. Modern discipleship programs concentrate on practices such as Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and evangelism and can at times be superficial when it comes to doctrine. In contrast, the classic catechisms take students through the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer—a perfect balance of biblical theology, practical ethics, and spiritual experience.

. . . Because we have lost the practice of catechesis today: “Superficial smatterings of truth, blurry notions about God and godliness, and thoughtlessness about the issues of living—career-wise, community-wise, family-wise, and church-wise—are all too often the marks of evangelical congregations today.”

This catechism has several unique features:

• Length: 52 questions, one for each week of the year.
• Explanation: In addition to Scripture, written and video commentary supplement each question.
• All Ages: Children’s answers are indicated by words highlighted from adult answers, allowing families to learn together.
• Three Parts: 1) God, creation and fall, law (20 questions); Christ, redemption, grace (15 questions); Spirit, restoration, growing in grace (17 questions).
• Several Formats: The catechism is available in iPad and web-based formats. Questions and answers are also available in Pdf form.

Along with the release of this project, The Gospel Coalition, Tim and Kathy Keller have published a number of articles at the TGC Blog:

• “Why Catechesis Now?“
• “Introducing New City Catechism“
• “Why Write New Catechisms?“
• “Catechism – With OUR Kids?“

Click here to get started at your own pace. Or, for a one-year plan that starts today (October 22), subscribe to weekly updates via e-mail or RSS on the New City Catechism blog.