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In this special edition of the Parhessian Podcast, Peter, Kyle, and Nate take on the mantle of The Layman as they discuss the recent Presbytery of the Alleghenies meeting held on Saturday, September 21, 2024. Sadly, there are many concerning issues to report.  

The POA not only continued its abuse of power, but there is evidence of evangelical dark money flowing into the denomination, sympathy for open borders, erosion of ordinational standards, continued disregard for constitutional fidelity, and more.  

In fact, the situation has become so bad, that it appears as though the EPC is now functioning more like a tyranny than a denomination.  But in the face of tyranny, we remember the courageous words of John Knox who said, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” And so, we obey God. 

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Baptizing babies in the church always leads to the necessity for confirmation.  Confirmation is a process by which young men and women learn what it means to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and what it means to be a member of the church. 

This time-honored approach to training and confirming our youth in the faith is known as catechesis. Catechesis (a biblical word that simply means “to teach”) is the church’s ministry of grounding and growing all the people of God in the great doctrines of our faith and its implications for membership in the local church and life as a Christian in the world. 

But conformation is something a little different, and it’s not just a program for older children in the church.  

Historically, the church has engaged in confirmation through its educational ministry.  Learning the great articles of the faith is vitally important, but conformation requires more than just information.  Conformation means getting in spiritual shape. Being a Christian means being conformed to the image of Christ, and we can’t be conformed unless we are confronted by just how badly we are out of shape.  Sometimes God has to carve things away in our lives so that we start to look more like Jesus.

God loves his people, which means He is willing to pursue us, confront us, and require righteousness from us.  God’s confrontation is a grace, and the resistance we feel as we go through conformation is actually a relief.  

So join Nate, Peter, and Kyle as we discuss why conformation is so important, and how avoiding conformity puts us, and our children, in real spiritual danger.

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In this episode of The Parrhedsian Podcast, Peter, Kyle and Nate discuss how a return to the practice of infant baptism may actually be the key to Christian revival, not only in America, but also in the church and in the home.    

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As Coach Herm Edwards once said (famously)...“You play to win the game.”  But you can’t win the game (with all due respect to Allen Iverson) if you don’t practice.  

Practice is important, it’s important for sports, it’s important for music, it’s important for almost every endeavor in life, including our life in Christ.  

Christians must practice their faith, and that means engaging in any number of spiritual activities, including the practice of spiritual disciplines.  But practices and disciplines are not necessarily the same thing.  Why is that important and what does it matter?

Well, in this episode of the Parrhesian Podcast, we talk with our own Kyle Bennett, who wrote a book called Practices of Love, that explores Christian practices and spiritual disciplines, how they are connected, how they are different, and why they are so important for Christian living. (I’ll give you a hint, they help you win the game!)    

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When it comes to the church today there is too much sameness.  Sameness is a real problem.  But what does that mean?  What is too much sameness?  First, we need to clarify that sameness is not the same as conformity.  Conformity isn’t a problem; the problem resides in the pattern after which the church is being conformed.  Is the church today being conformed to Christ or to the pattern of this world?  

The Bible commands us to not conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).  But sadly, the church too often looks pretty much the same as the world.

Dr. Robert Gagnon, professor of New Testament, and former professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has been incredibly helpful in identifying the sin of sameness in his writing on Christian sexual ethics, homosexuality, and the Bible.  Gagnon writes,  

The foundation of all sexual ethics according to Jesus is “male and female [God] made them” (Gen 1:27) and “For this reason a man … will become joined to his woman, and they [later: the two] shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). According to Jesus, the male-female prerequisite for marriage (and thus for all sexual relations) is the foundation upon which all other sexual-ethical standards are predicated, including the prohibitions of incest and homosexuality.  (Incest and homosexuality are a violation of the [biblical] rejection of excessive familial and structural sameness.)  

Why is incest wrong? Why is homosexuality wrong? Too much sameness.  They are not God’s pattern for the world.  But the world has rejected God’s pattern, and so we end up with the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.  

It’s one thing for the world to reject God’s pattern, but its even worse when the church does. The church today is suffering from too much sameness, produced by following a worldly design.  But we must remember Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 6, that if we look too much like the rest of the world, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Conformity to the pattern of this world is a serious problem in the church today and so in this episode of The Parrhesian Podcast, Kyle, Peter, and Nate discuss the problem of excessive sameness in the church and how the church might break free from this destructive pattern.  

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We just recently celebrated the 4th of July, and our country finds itself in an election year where everyone seems to be saying that the fate of democracy is on the line. What better time to think Christianly about the subject of freedom. What is freedom? Where does it come from? How do you possess it? How does the Bible define it? These are all good questions to ask, so join, Nate, Peter, and Kyle as they talk about freedom.   

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Times of disruption and seasons of change are hard to manage.  Our resting state prefers stability and so we dislike disruption.   But sometimes disruption creates unique opportunities for innovation, as Clayton Christensen described in his celebrated theory on Disruptive Innovation.    

Other times disruption creates opportunities to take stock, reflect, and return to the fundamentals.  That’s what Coach Vice Lombardi did when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960’s championship.  Their dream of becoming NFL champs was severely disrupted at the end of the game, but Lombardi didn’t waste his pain.   

At training camp the next year Lombardi walked to the front of the meeting room, a football under his arm. Thirty-eight Green Bay Packers players sat waiting to hear what he had to say. Coach Lombardi’s plan for the 1961 season was to go back to the fundamentals. Lombardi took the football out from under his arm, looked at his team, and gave what has become perhaps one of the greatest if not most memorable football speeches of all time. “Gentlemen,” he said, gripping the football in front of him, “this is a football.” Coach Lombardi knew that for his team to be champions, they needed to go back to the basics.  They never lost another playoff game. 

When the church experiences disruption (as we do today) we can innovate, which has its benefits, but we can also go back to the fundamentals of what it means to be a Christian.  We need pastors who will stand up before their congregations and preach the word of God by saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a Christian.”  

 Christians are men and women who conform to a standard, as Jesus taught saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19–20) Christians conform to the teachings of Christ. 

The church comes into greater conformity with the standard as we practice.  The essential practices that Christ calls the church to are: Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, Stewardship and Mission.  

In June, Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church offered a class entitled Back to Basics in which we explore these essential practices   You can watch the classes BHPC's  YouTube channel.  

Last year, Peter Kye and Nate recorded a Parrhesian Podcast episode in which they focused on worship and discipleship and how expressive individualism makes us terrible worshippers and even worse disciples.

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In this Special Edition of the Parrhesian Podcast, Nate, Peter and Kyle discuss the POA’s report on the Theopolis Institute and Dr. Peter Leithart.

Your link to the report: https://theparrhesians.com/2024/05/30/the-theopolis-report/

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Rev. Eric Phillips is the pastor of Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church and long-time friend and colleague of Nate Devlin. Pastor Eric is finishing his Doctor of Ministry degree at Covenant Seminary in St. Loiuse, MO. His area of research is on pastoral leadership and in this Special Edition of the Parrhesian Podcast, Eric interviews Nate on the subject of conflict in the church. Join Nate and Eric and find out why it is important to engage the conflict faithfully and courageously.

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Is the church essential or non-essential?  Does the Bible really teach that the church should occupy a place of primacy in our lives?  Is the church really fundamental to our Christian identity or is it really just supplemental?  

In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic caused society to shut down.  And when society shut down, questions arose about what institutions in our culture were actually essential and which were non-essential.  Many states in our country determined at the outset of the pandemic that the church was in fact non-essential and mandated closures.  

One of those states was California and one of the churches mandated to close was Grace Community Church in Los Angeles.  But Pastor John MacArthur knew his Bible and knew his church history and he knew that the church was essential.  That is why Grace Community Church ultimately defied Gov. Newsom’s order and remained open. 

Last year a documentary was released entitled The Essential Church, which detailed Grace Community Church’s journey to remain faithful to God, to his word and to the mission of the church.  It is a truly inspiring story and if you have not yet watched it, then consider clicking the link above and checking it out.   

In January of 2023, Nate, Peter and Kyle also sat down and talked about the essential nature of the church and why the church should have pride of place in a Christian’s life.  They discussed the challenging, and perhaps dangerous proposition that the church calendar should come before the sports calendar, the school calendar or even our personal calendars.  

So join, Nate, Peter and Kyle as they discuss the primacy of the church.   

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