Thursday, October 11, 2012

What would John Knox do?

A sad story unravelling in Glasgow. Be thankful that Presbyterians on our side of the water have more sense than this. (full article here)

'... Whilst in the great scheme of things what I am about to write about is not of the same scale as some of the much deeper and wider injustices in our society and world today, nonetheless what is going on is indicative of a deep malaise within the church in Scotland in general and the Church of Scotland in particular...

For many years St Georges Tron has been a flagship church of the evangelical renewal within the Church of Scotland – something that has been going on since the 1950s ... the congregation have recently completed a £3 million refurbishment of their City centre building. As anyone who goes into the centre of Glasgow can see it is truly a church building at the heart of the city, reaching out to thousands every day. And yet it looks as though this is now going to end – not because of persecution from outside, nor decline within, but simply because the Church of Scotland has decided to destroy this work...'


It's nearly 500 years since a German Catholic monk, Martin Luther, took his lonely stand at Wittenburg, and sparked the Reformation and a return to a clear understanding of what Scripture teaches. 'Reformation' is often presented as solely a Protestant v Catholic thing, and as such is 'sectarianised'. However one of the phrases linked to the Reformation of the 1500s and 1600s and Reformed thought generally is 'Semper Reformanda' - always reforming.

Sadly it increasingly seems that many nominally Protestant denominations today need a new Reformation.

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