Topic
Confessionalism
9 sermons · All topics
Church Reports
Pastors and church planters from a Reformed Baptist association gather to deliver reports on the state of their congregations, church plants, and mission works across western Canada, Mexico, and West Africa. The reports span churches at various stages of maturity — from a newly constituted church plant in central Canada to an established congregation in Guadalajara overseeing a theological education ministry for Latin America. A recurring theme across all reports is the ordinary means of grace as the ground of congregational health, the acute shortage of qualified men for ministry, and the need for confessionally grounded churches across regions dominated by nominalism, Pentecostalism, and various cults. The assembled churches are encouraged to pray for one another and to trust that God's glory, not numerical success, is the measure of faithful ministry.
Ask FGBC 67: Are Piper and MacArthur Reformed Baptists?
What separates a confessional Reformed Baptist church from a Calvinistic Baptist church associated with figures like John Piper or John MacArthur? This conversation argues that Calvinism, properly understood, is not reducible to the five points of Dort but entails a whole confessional heritage — covenant theology (including the covenant of works), cessationism, the regulative principle of worship, and adherence to one of the great Protestant confessions. The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 is presented as the most mature expression of that heritage, providing a theological anchor that protects congregations from pastoral personality-driven ministry and binds them to the cumulative wisdom Christ has given his church through the ages.
Ask FGBC #57: What Are the Requirements for Church Membership?
Church membership is not named by a single proof-text, yet the New Testament data — the numbered and joinable Jerusalem church, the bounded authority of pastors, the mutual accountability of members, and the discipline procedure of Matthew 18 — together demand a formal, local church membership. The prerequisites a confessional Reformed Baptist church may rightly require are a credible profession of faith, baptism by immersion, a general understanding of the confession of faith, a willingness to submit to the church's doctrine and government, and familiarity with its constitution and bylaws. A published confession of faith protects both the church and prospective members by ensuring honest communication of what the church believes before anyone commits to join. The question of young believers and membership is handled on a case-by-case basis, with no principled bar to admitting a child who has professed faith and been baptized.
ARBCWC Update
Pastors and church planters from Reformed Baptist congregations across Western Canada and the northern United States gather to report on the state of their churches, the progress of a newly formalized association, and the ordinary and extraordinary work of God in their respective communities. Reports come from Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Regina, Grace Family Reformed Baptist Church in Medicine Hat, Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Armstrong, Gospel of Grace Fellowship in Weyburn, a Lethbridge congregation in the process of deeper confessional alignment, Moose Mountain Reformed Baptist Church, Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Dryden Ontario, and the Reformed Baptist Church of Tiama Iowa. Common threads include the challenges and encouragements of church planting, the use of the 1689 London Baptist Confession as a unifying standard, growth through evangelism and baptism, and the value of associational fellowship among confessional Reformed Baptist churches in a broadly evangelical landscape.
ARBCWC - Pastors' Updates April 2025
Pastors and church leaders from Reformed Baptist congregations across Western Canada and beyond gather to report on the state of their churches and give thanks to God for his faithfulness. The reports span church plants in Regina, Medicine Hat, Armstrong, Weyburn, Lethbridge, Moose Mountain, Dryden (Ontario), and Tama (Iowa), with recurring themes of slow but steady growth, the challenges of introducing confessional Reformed Baptist practice in broadly evangelical contexts, the encouragement of associational fellowship, and shared prayer for gospel advance, church planting, and the conversion of souls.
Ask FGBC #6 - Why is historical confessional Christianity important?
The question of why historical confessional Christianity matters is addressed by examining what Scripture itself says about the gifts Christ gives to his church. Drawing on Ephesians 4 and Matthew 28, the argument is made that creeds and confessions are the accumulated fruit of those gifts — the best doctrinal articulation the church has produced across centuries of theological controversy, from Nicaea and Chalcedon through the Second London Confession. To reject them in favor of a 'no creed but the Bible' posture is not humility but a subtle repudiation of the very ecclesiology the Bible commands, and it leaves individuals without the guardrails that preserve orthodox Christianity.
Ask FGBC #1 - What is a Reformed Baptist?
What distinguishes a Reformed Baptist from a generic Calvinist or a generic Baptist? This question-and-answer exchange works through the defining marks of the Reformed Baptist tradition: the supreme authority of Scripture, covenant theology, the regulative principle of worship, the centrality of preaching, believers' baptism by immersion, and congregational church polity. The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession is identified as the clearest doctrinal touchstone, held not loosely but in full subscription — not as an authority alongside Scripture, but because it faithfully summarises Scripture's teaching. The historical designation 'Particular Baptist' is also commended as an accurate and less confusing alternative label for the same tradition.
Introduction to the 1677/1789 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith — formally composed in 1677 and adopted by particular Baptist churches in 1689 — stands in deliberate continuity with the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration, adapting their language to reflect distinctively Baptist convictions while maintaining solidarity with the broader Reformed tradition. This introductory session traces the Confession's historical origins, its relationship to the First London Confession of 1644–46, and the legal and ecclesiastical context in which particular Baptists operated under the Act of Toleration. Six reasons are then advanced for why a 21st-century church should subscribe to a 17th-century confession: to define, defend, discriminate, discipline, distinguish matters of Christian liberty, and develop an appreciation for the history of the church. The session closes by urging that confessionalism, rightly understood, is not proud biblicism but the humble reception of gifts Christ has given to his church across the ages.
The Utility of Confessions and Introduction to the Second London Baptist Confession
Confessions of faith are not competitors to Scripture but are faithful summaries of biblical doctrine, and the church has historically depended on them for good reason. This address introduces the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, tracing its historical origins among the Particular Baptists of the 17th century and its relationship to the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration. Five interlocking uses of a confession are then examined: defining church doctrine, defending it against error, discriminating between members and officers on doctrinal grounds, disciplining departures from orthodoxy, and distinguishing confessed doctrine from matters of Christian liberty. The goal is not confessional enslavement but confessional clarity — guardrails that protect the church and free her members to worship and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.