Comments on: I’m so tired of all the Grand Rapids bashing. https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/  Informing Minds. Moving Hearts. Directing Hands. Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.41 By: David Murray https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3487 Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:44:22 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3487 Great to get Nathan’s vote! And encouraging to hear about God’s work in the old country from Mark.

]]> By: Mark MacLeod https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3476 Fri, 09 Sep 2011 05:39:43 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3476 It strikes me that we often forget those great words “Ecclesia Reformata, semper Reformanda.” It is good to be a Reformed Church, but sometimes I see the risk that we forget that we are also “semper Reformanda”. Reformanda, being a gerundive, I understand this phrase to mean “always in need of being Reformed.” This, of course, must be done in accord with Scripture and our Connfession, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I fear that sometimes our churches have come to a grinding halt, or into a slide of unbiblical reform. I am also aware that it is very easy for us to have blinkered vision about what God is doing in “broader” denominations. I am training for the Church of Scotland Ministry, and I am heartened by the number of Biblical men who are currently coming through the ranks at present.

As someone involved in active Ministry, I’ve been tremendously blessed by listening to preaching from HNRC particularly. The Lord is good!

]]> By: Nathan https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3475 Fri, 09 Sep 2011 05:20:09 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3475 Grand Rapids served my family well for 12 years as an incubator for sound theology and practical experience. I thank God for Grand Rapids.

]]> By: A follower https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3469 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:12:51 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3469 David, I’m a GR fan too, to be clear. You wrote:

“But, thankfully, according to Mr Wilson, deliverance is near. Yes, apparently a striking new ‘Kuyperian aesthetic’ is the answer. ‘Get out of the way, Historical Theology; make way, Confessional Standards; we’re coming through with our novels, movies, music and paintings. Vive la revolution!’

Yawn.”

I agree.

My non-denom church did that decades ago, fully embracing the creative arts. Scripture alone? Heavens no, creative expression is the accompanying authoritative “church tradition” we embrace! A counter-revolution might be to actually BRING IN some confessional standards to our church and others that have deemed them offensive to “seekers” and have therefore held them at arm’s length. But minimization of doctrine seems to be the order of the day.

]]> By: David Murray https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3463 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:12:25 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3463 Well, I’m glad I’m not a one member GR fan club.

]]> By: Kara https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3456 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:46:36 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3456 Well said. What better place for a revival than a place that has foundations but needs the house built up again.

]]> By: A follower https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3455 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:25:08 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3455 After 14 years here in GR, my exposure to reformed theology came in recent years, partly from a bright young pastor called to a once-flourishing but struggling non-denom church that seemed to have little clue about, or care for, theology or sound biblical doctrine. The resistance to his beliefs and views of church eventually drove him away, but not before God used him to light a fire under a handful of us. I don’t hold out much hope for our church, but no more am I blinded to the supremacy of Scripture and criticality of expository preaching in the life of the church; getting serious buy-in on that is unfortunately a tall order. There are a handful of biblically true churches on my side of town, but not many, as most have caved in to one or more of the many forms of pragmatism.

I confess I don’t know much of “old Grand Rapids” as I wasn’t here, but this is the city that I know. We are ripe for a modern reformation, as this area has many of the same problems as the American church anywhere else. Among my more hopeful times have been when I’ve attended the Phila. Conference in Byron Center (I’ve not made it to a PRTS conference yet!), so while things look bleak at my own church I’m not giving up altogether. At least they make me feel that I’m not alone!

]]> By: Anne https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3453 Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:28:42 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3453 Ooooh, methinks *someone*,,, *somebodies* have an axe to grind. Well, we’re not from Grand Rapids, but our souls have been blessed abundantly by preaching from that city :)

]]> By: Jason Van Bemmel https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/09/07/im-so-tired-of-all-the-grand-rapids-bashing/#comment-3452 Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:25:30 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=4025#comment-3452 I think the decline of the Dutch Reformed church, the CRC, can be traced to an academic liberalism that has infected Calvin College and a drifting liberalism that has seeped into the churches. In my studies of church history, it’s never a good sign when a denomonation starts ordaining women. It’s usually the fruit of decades of slow decline/drift. I see the same trends in the broader evangelical movement- getting bored with orthodoxy, wanting something that is more relevant and respectable than the same-old Gospel truth, embracing key elements of the liberal/secular worldview (evolution, feminism, Biblical criticism), etc. I wonder if the trend doesn’t run something like this: cold orthodoxy –> formalism –> apathy –> desire for novelty/relvance/respectability –> rejection of old standards –> slide into liberalism and false gospels.

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