Tag: Reformed

The Reformed Pastor Conference

May 29-30, 2024, pastors from different denominations met at Christ Presbyterian Church in Blantyre, Malawi for the 2024 Reformed Pastor Conference. The theme for this year’s conference was, The Sufficiency of Christ. Pastor David Woollin from Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church and Heritage Reformed Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan spoke on the three offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king. He also spoke on faithfulness in ministry.

The Reformed Pastor Conference was started by Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) in partnership with the Malawi Reformation Network (MRN).  The name of the conference was inspired by an address taken from Acts 20:28 by a 17th Century Reformed and Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, which was later turned into a book titled The Reformed Pastor.  The first Reformed Pastor Conference was held on October 27, 2019 at African Bible College campus in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The four major objectives of the Reformed Pastor Conference are:

  1. To encourage pastors to be ordinary means of grace pastors. The Westminster Shorter Catechism question and answer 88 reminds us: “The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially, the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.” The conference seeks to encourage ministers to continue believing in the power of God’s word and constantly preach it faithfully. We would like also to encourage pastors to continue cultivating a healthy prayer life as an indispensable part of their ministry.
  • To provide a platform where pastors can get a better understanding of the Reformed faith. The Reformed faith or being Reformed can sometimes be misunderstood or even caricatured. But through the conference we pray that pastors, especially, those that are not familiar with the Reformed faith or are considering to become Reformed in their faith and ministry (Reforming pastors) might get a good grasp of the faith.
  • To share Reformed literature and resources. One of the greatest challenges that the church in Malawi (and this can be said of Africa as a whole) faces is lack of sound biblical literature and resources. Reformed Pastor Conference seeks to bring pastors together once a year and share with them reformed literature and resources that are beneficial to their ministry.
  • To promote fellowship and networking among Reformed pastors in Malawi. Pastoral ministry can sometimes feel very lonely, more especially, when you do not have many like-minded pastors who can encourage you in your work. Since Reformed pastors are a minority in Malawi, the conference seeks to promote fellowship and networking among these ministers. 

May you join us in praying for revival and reformation in our lives, churches, our nation of Malawi, and the whole world at large.

Happy 499th Reformation Day!

Happy Reformation Day!

Today we celebrate 499 years since the Protestant Reformation began. We need to thank the Lord for his faithfulness and goodness to his church.

As I was reflecting on the Reformation, I thought of the common saying, “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (latin for “the church reformed, always reforming”). No doubt this one of the abused sayings in the Church today. Often it has been used to argue that the church needs to keep reforming or changing according to times.

For instance, I heard one arguing for female leadership in the church basing on the phrase. The argument went something like this: the church has been led by male leadership over the centuries, but now it’s time to embrace female leadership because the Church is reformed and always reforming.

What an abuse of this well-meaning phrase. The Church does not reform with times, it reforms with the word. Christ reforms his Church by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei (the church reformed, always reforming according to the Word of God).

When the Old Testament church was deformed, God used the word to reform it (Nehemiah 8). The Pharisees also deformed the Church with their man made rules and Christ used the word to reform it (Matt. 5:17-20). The same thing happened in the 16th Century. God used his Word to Reform his Church. Reformation without the word is not Reformation at all. If the church is reforming without the Word, it is actually deforming.

Happy Reformation with the Word!