Churches worship in a variety of ways—some good, others … not so good. The “right way to worship” question often ends up at a discussion of the regulative vs. normative principles. Here, I’ll do something different. I’ll simply describe how our congregation worshipped one Sunday in April 2024. Perhaps it will help you. Perhaps it will encourage you. Maybe it will give you some ideas. Maybe it’ll let you know what not to do! But here it is.

This is our service order:

As much as it might seem to stretch the barriers of time, I was taught to preach by a man who sat under the ministry of none other than Dr. Henry (Harry) Allan Ironside—the so-called “archbishop of fundamentalism.”

In fact, Dr. Ironside is my spiritual and theological grandfather on at least two different counts.

First, he was indeed the pastor of my practical theology professor in seminary—Dr. Ralph Turk, one of my own mentors. Dr. Turk spent his earliest years in The Moody Church, where Ironside served as pastor from 1930 to 1948.

Secondly, Ironside was…

By Kenn Chipchase

In recent years it has become increasingly common to hear comments that inerrancy is overemphasized and is not essential to affirm. Theologians like Michael Bird¹ and N.T. Wright have spoken on infallibility’s importance but stop short of affirming inerrancy. In a 2014 written interview following the publication of Surprised by Scripture² Wright spoke about the historical significance of inerrancy as a rebuttal to modernist approaches to…