New College Franklin: Man as Thinker

East Parish Conceptual

A Learning Community

True Revival

"Not until God put it into the hearts of men to go forth among our heathen at home with the same zeal and enthusiasm which are expected of missionaries who go abroad, will there be anything like a revival of religion throughout the mass of our city families.". Thomas Chalmers

The Grace, Love, and Holiness of God

"The merit of Christ depends entirely on the grace of God, the cross of
Christ depends entirely on the love of God, and the forgiveness of Christ
depends entirely on the holiness of God." John Calvin

Virtues of a Good Preacher

"A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone." Martin Luther in Table-Talk

Supply and Demand

“As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. There are many more wrong answers than right ones, and they are easier to find.” D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

Getting to Why

According to author and business consultant Simon Sinek great organizations do what they do well. They are also very clear about how they do what they do. But perhaps more important than that, they know precisely why they do what they do. Indeed, that’s precisely what it is that makes them great, he says. “Only a handful of customers will be inspired by what you do or how you do it. But why you do it is a whole other story. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Battling Faith

"Faith, without trouble is a suspect faith; for true faith is necessarily a battling, wrestling faith." Ralph Erskine

New Parish Psalms

Sinning for the Sake of Sin

“A man who cannot forgive,” Charles Spurgeon wrote, “is a poor fellow indeed, for he punishes himself for the sins of others. That being a sin, he therefore sins for the sake of sin.”

Theological Comedy

"Because of piety’s penchant for taking itself too seriously, theology does well to nurture a modest, unguarded sense of comedy. Some droll sensibility is required to keep in due proportion the pompous pretensions of the study of divinity. I invite the kind of laughter that wells up not from cynicism about reflection on God but from the ironic contradictions accompanying such reflection. Theology is intrinsically funny. This comes from glimpsing the incongruity of humans thinking about God. I have often laughed at myself as these sentences went through their tortuous stages of formation. I invite you to look for the comic dimension of divinity that stalks every page. It is not blasphemy to grasp the human contradiction for what it is. The most enjoyable of all subjects has to be God, because God is the source of all joy." Thomas C. Oden

Grace and Works

"If ye would be saved by works, ye must be as holy as the angels, ye must be as pure and as immaculate as Jesus; for the law requires perfection. The power to receive is scarcely a power, and yet it is the only power needed for salvation. Come along and take what Christ doth freely give you. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." C.H. Spurgeon

Parish Distinctives

Along with all the other marks of a Biblical church, the parish model calls for at least four distinctive elements:

1. A reliance upon the "ordinary means of grace." A parish church is one in which the preaching and teaching of the Bible, the celebration of the sacraments, prayer, the fellowship of the saints, and regular, Lord's Day worship take absolute precedence over any and all other ministry forms.

2. A structural commitment to "covenant community." A parish church is one in which efforts to know and be known, to have genuine accountability, and to engage in lively community are practically pursued.

3. A strategic initiative in "missional multiplication." A parish church is a Kingdom-oriented church; it is a church where building bridges of outreach an reconciliation to the world are an essential aspected of everyday ministry.

4. A deep desire to realize "covenantal succession." A parish church is engaged in a wide array of educational enterprises and discipling efforts; it is a church committed to raising up the next generation of faithful men and women.

A Parish Credo

• We are Christian. Our Triune God has spoken supremely in our Lord Jesus Christ and in Holy Scripture. Our trust in God is rooted in the sovereign, eternal, just, and merciful decrees of the Father, the atoning life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit as our ongoing Counselor, Guide, Equipper, and Friend.

• We are Biblical. It is our conviction that God’s inerrant, infallible, and inspired Word, the Bible—including both the Old and New Testaments—is altogether sufficient as our guide for life, practice, and godliness. As a people, we are committed to read it, study it, sing it, teach it, preach it, obey it, and practice it.

• We are Orthodox. We are grateful heirs of the early Church and of the pioneers and patriarchs of faith who gave us the creeds and the early councils. Thus, we continue to be linked with that historic line of faithfulness as it has continued, uninterrupted, across the centuries.

• We are Reformed. Our faith is rooted in the Biblical doctrines of sovereign grace as articulated by the solas of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Deo Gloria. We are gratefully numbered in the company of Luther, Calvin, Beza, Bucer, Comenius, Edwards, d’Aubigne, and de Prinsterer proclaiming a Gospel of Grace from the Scriptures alone through faith in our Lord Jesus.

• We are Evangelical. We continue in the gracious missional tradition of Whitefield, Wilberforce, Chalmers, Spurgeon, Kuyper, Schaeffer, Packer, Kennedy, and Sproul. We are committed to the spread of the Good News of redemption in Christ and Christ alone from here to the uttermost parts of the earth.

• We are Presbyterian. As members of the Presbyterian Church in America, we accept the historic Presbyterian model of church discipleship, governance, and care expecting elders to be shepherds and teachers, their ministries being rooted in the parish life of our covenant community. We affirm the tenants of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Book of Church Order as the best means for us to practice all the marks of a Biblical Church.

• We are Covenantal. We believe that God is at work in our families—and that He is making our household of faith into a family of families. His mercies in Word and Sacrament are not only extended to us individually but corporately—reaching across every boundary of space, time, race, culture, community, and generation.

Therefore, because we are Christian, Biblical, Orthodox, Reformed, Evangelical, Presbyterian, and Covenantal:

• We humbly cling to a unique Savior and exclusive Gospel in a pluralistic world; an authoritative Bible in a skeptical age; a sacrificial lifestyle in a consumer culture; a pure, chaste, and holy life in an era of permissiveness; a commitment to authentic relationships and community in a culture of individualism and isolationism; a hunger for reverence and awe in worship in a atmosphere of entertainment.

• We Pray earnestly with humble confidence in the ongoing intercessory ministry of Christ our only mediator and advocate, clothed in His righteousness alone—a righteousness imputed to us by Grace through Faith, this not of ourselves.

• We profess the Creeds with zeal without either crossing our fingers or mumbling them as rote phrases.

• Our worship is neither contemporary or traditional, but Confessional; it is neither casual or formal, but Covenantal.

• We trust in the reality of Grace and Forgiveness, Holiness and Piety, Heaven and Hell, and Blessing and Benediction.

• We proclaim Jesus as the only hope of Salvation, for all people, in all places, for all time. The work of God in Christ and the Word of God in Scripture are complete--we add nothing to either.

• We believe that a local Church can be a genuine sanctuary of hope in the world, demonstrating true community, accountability, and selfless service.

• We are plain, simple believers; we are Mere Christians.

A Parish Vision

Our sovereign God has called Parish Pres to be a vibrant covenant community of Christian faithfulness, holiness, discipleship, and evangelism bearing all the Biblical marks of a true Church. Gospel Word and deed ministry in our midst inevitably serves as a fountainhead of Reformational nurturing, teaching, training, equipping, and sending.

We will thus give ourselves for the building up of gracious Kingdom outreaches in Franklin parishes, the Nashville presbytery, the national culture, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Therefore:

1. Parish Pres is to be a Reformed, Presbyterian (PCA) church;

2. Parish Pres is to be a covenantal community;

3. Parish Pres is to be a model Biblical faithfulness—in its preaching and teaching;

4. Parish Pres is to model true Reformed worship: Neither traditional nor contemporary; Confessional and Biblical (both regulatively and contextually); Full of reverence and awe; Focused on congregational participation; Emphasizing every means of grace at every opportunity;

5. Parish Pres is to focus its efforts in practical patterns of discipleship;

6. Parish Pres discipleship should be a matter of both word and deed;

7. Parish Pres discipleship should nurture Reformational ideas in: Pastoral care and nurture; Personal and corporate holiness; Family integrity and covenantal succession; Practical teaching; Effectual training; Dynamic equipping; Purposeful sending;

8. Parish Pres is to be a mother church;

9. Parish Pres is to incubate various Kingdom outreaches: Church planting and the establishment of parish networks; Discipling and raising up the next generation of Christian leaders; Modeling, training, and equipping for Presbytery-wide initiatives; Pioneering any and all new opportunities to proclaim the Good News; Seeking the shalom of our city, our region, our state, and our nation; Reaching the world through Word and deed missionary endeavors.

A Parish Planting Lexicon

1.Local: Describes the particular geographical location of a parish church.

2.Collegial: Describes the interconnected, collaborative, and mutual relationship between parish churches and ministries.

3.Team: Describes the partnership and practice of ministry of the leadership in each church and between churches.

4.Center of Gravity: Describes the primary, but not sole, sphere of ministry for each pastor.

5.Multiplication: Describes the practice of extending and expanding parish-type churches to other locales.

6.Extended Church: Describes the half step toward a church plant, where one church is meeting in two locations. It is intended and designed to be an interim stage, where one church (the mother church) disciples the other toward becoming a church plant.

7.Church Plant: Describes a church that has moved beyond extended church to becoming a church in its own right.

8.Particularized Church: Describes a church that has become a church in its own right as recognized by the presbytery.

Here I Stand

"Unless I am convinced by the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures or evident reason (for I believe neither in the Pope nor councils alone, since it has been established that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures adduced by me, and my conscience has been taken captive by the Word of God, and I am neither able nor willing to recant, since it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience. God help me. Amen." Martin Luther

The Kingdom

“The Kingdom inevitably insults our sense of propriety: very simply it is filled with improper people, with improper backgrounds, with improper habits, improper manners, improper speech, and improper customs. The Kingdom bursts the wineskins of culture by embracing every tribe, race, and tongue.” Thomas Chalmers

Out of Place

"They say you may praise a fool till you make him useful: I don't know much about that, but I do know that if I get a bad knife I generally cut my finger, and a blunt axe is far more trouble than profit. A handsaw is a good thing, but not to shave with. You can't catch rabbits with drums or pigeons with plums. A thing is not good out of its place. " Charles H. Spurgeon

The Incarnation

"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God." C.S. Lewis

Lufe God

The motto carved on John Knox's Edinburgh home says it all, "Lufe God abufe al and yi nychtbur as yi self."

Near to Hand

"Our duty in serving Christ lies always near to our hand. It is never some impossible thing that He wants us to do." --J.R. Miller

Gospel Praying

The prayer of Martin Luther just before the Diet of Worms in 1521: "O God, send help."

A Living Sacrifice

Thoughtfulness

Some people seem to have a genius for making others miserable! They are continually touching sensitive hearts, so as to cause pain. They are always saying things which sting and irritate. If you have any bodily defect, they never see you without in some crude way, making you conscious of it. If any relative or friend of yours has done some dishonorable thing, they seem to take a cruel delight in constantly referring to it when speaking with you. They lack all delicacy of feeling, having no eye for the sensitive things in others, which demand gentleness of treatment.

Thoughtfulness is the reverse of all this. It simply does not do the things which thoughtlessness does. It avoids the painful subject. It never alludes to a man's clubfoot or humpback, nor ever casts an eye at the defect, nor does anything to direct attention to it or to make the man conscious of it. It respects your sorrow--and refrains from harshly touching your wound. It has the utmost kindliness of feeling and expression. A truly thoughtful person, is one who never needlessly gives pain to another.

Thoughtfulness does not merely keep one from doing thoughtless things; it also leads to continued acts of kindness and good will. It ever watches for opportunities to give pleasure and happiness. It does not wait to be asked for sympathy or help--but has eyes of its own, and sees every need, and supplies it unsolicited. When a friend is in sorrow, the thoughtful man is ready with his offer of comfort. He does not come the next day, when the need is past--but is prompt with his kindness, when kindness means something.

Thoughtfulness is always doing little kindnesses. It has an instinct for seeing the little things that need to be done, and then for doing them!

There are some rare Christians who seem born for thoughtfulness. They have a genius for sympathy. Instinctively they seem to understand the experiences of pain in others, and from their heart, there flows a blessing of tenderness which is full of healing. This is the highest and holiest ministry of love. It is not softness nor weakness; it is strength--but strength enriched by divine gentleness.

Thoughtfulness is one of the truest and best tests of a noble Christian character. It is love working in all delicate ways. It is unselfishness which forgets self, and thinks only of others. It is love which demands not to be served, to be honored, to be helped--but thinks continually of serving and honoring others. He who has a truly gentle heart, cannot but be thoughtful. Love is always thoughtful. J.R. Miller

Soon and Very Soon

"Soon and very soon, the saints of the earth--shall be saints in heaven! Their hairs of 'snowy old age'--shall be crowned with perpetual joy and everlasting youth! Their eyes bathed with tears--shall be made as bright as stars, never to be clouded again by sorrow! Their hearts that now tremble--are to be made joyous and strong, and set forever like pillars in the temple of God. Their follies, their burdens, their griefs, their woes--are soon to be over! Sin is to be forever slain, corruption is to be forever removed--and a heaven of spotless purity and of unmingled peace is to be theirs forever!" --Charles Spurgeon

"For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven for you--pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay!" 1 Peter 1:4

Cast Your Troubles

"Cast your burden on the Lord--and He will sustain you." Psalm 55:21

"Cast all your cares upon Him--because He cares about you!" 1 Peter 5:7

Cast your troubles where you have cast your sins; you have cast your sins onto Jesus--cast your troubles there also! As soon as the trouble comes, quick, the first thing, tell it to your Father in heaven! Remember, that the longer you take telling your trouble to God--the more your peace will be impaired. The longer the frost lasts--the more likely the ponds will be frozen.

Oh! It is a happy way of smoothing sorrow, when we can cast our burden upon the Lord. Oh, you agitated Christians, do not dishonor your religion by always wearing a 'frown of concern'. Come, cast your burden upon the Lord. I see you staggering beneath a weight, which He would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden--would be nothing but a bit of dust to Him. See! The Almighty bends His shoulders, and He says, "Here--put your troubles here!" --Charles Spurgeon

Guard the Heart

"See that your chief study is about your heart:
- that there, God's image is planted;
- that there, His interests are advanced;
- that there, the world and flesh are subdued;
- that there, the love of every sin is cast out;
- that there, the love of holiness grows." Jonathan Edwards

"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine
the mind!" Jeremiah 17:10

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it
is the wellspring of life!" Proverbs 4:23

God's Presence

"Then Moses said to Him, 'If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here!'" Exodus 33:15

God's presence is infinitely better than the presence of all outward comforts. God is with His people to counsel them in all doubtful and difficult cases, and to defend and secure them against all their enemies and opposers.

A sound sincere Christian can never have enough:
- power against sin, nor
- strength against temptation, nor
- weanedness from this world, nor
- ripeness for heaven, nor
- of the presence of the Lord;

The special presence of God with His people, is a most sovereign antidote:
- troubles will be no troubles,
- distresses will be no distresses,
- dangers will be no dangers.

Mountains--will be molehills; stabs at the heart--will be as scratches upon the hand; if God's presence is with you. --Thomas Brooks