The statement in Belgic Confession 28 that all believers are “in duty bound to join and unite themselves with” an instituted church that has the three marks of a true church has proved to be controversial with some in North America and Europe, as Prof. Engelsma’s recent book, Bound to Join, has been fiercely attacked by both expected and unexpected critics.

This book answers those critics, by defending the doctrine of church membership and demonstrating that love for the universal, invisible church invariably expresses itself by love for the manifestation of this church in the church institute. This new book also examines the “house church” movement and the claim by such men as Harold Camping that the church age has ended. A must-read on biblical and Reformed ecclesiology!

Contents
Preface
The Reformed Confessions on the Necessity of Church Membership
Chapter 1: Criticism by Those at Ease Outside of Zion
Chapter 2: Criticism by Presbyterian Kevin Reed: Distorting Calvin
Chapter 3: Criticism by Presbyterian Kevin Reed: Neglecting the Creeds
Chapter 4: Postscript: Promotion of Reed’s Criticisms by EPC of Australia Minister Rev. C. Connors
Chapter 5: Attack of the “Red Beetle” (a.k.a. Monty Collier)
Chapter 6: Review by a Reformed Pastor (Rev. John Bouwers)
Chapter 7: The Judgment of Harold Camping

Click here for a review of this book.

To watch the video of the author interview concerning this book, click here.

“I just got Defense of the Church Institute yesterday morning and am more than half way through already. Prof. Engelsma’s defence is excellent; it demolishes the opposition … I didn’t know Kevin Reed was a house-church man. Life is full of surprises.” – England

Some professing Christians deny the necessity of church membership. Others join a church for unsubstantial reasons or leave a church for trivial, often selfish, reasons. Many remain members of apostatizing churches because of family or traditional ties. Some Christians find themselves in countries or areas where no true church exists or can be formed. They ask, sometimes in anguish, “What must we do?”

Seemingly forgotten today is the truth that Jesus Christ institutes His catholic or universal church in organized congregations that are clearly identified by objective marks. These are true churches, in distinction from false and apostatizing churches.

In the form of letters to an inquiring (though not always appreciative) European audience, this book addresses the issue of church membership in the twenty-first century. This instruction is applicable to all believers and is based on Scripture, the Belgic Confession and the important, but little known, controversy of John Calvin with the Nicodemites.

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“I found Prof. Engelsma’s Bound to Join a compelling read and very challenging. Since reading it I have dipped into it frequently. I look forward to reading his response to critics. I can understand why objections and criticisms would be raised. But his biblical foundation and logic is in my view unassailable. The marks of a true church are simple enough it seem to me. It is only when they are added to or taken from or indeed ignored that things become complicated, confused and corrupted. Residual sin in man will always want its own way, which is usually the most comfortable to his conscience. When that conscience is pricked, so is his pride. I speak from personal experience. But the dilemma that many face regarding joining themselves to a true church that is both scriptural and confessional in its life and witness is and remains in today’s prevailing apostasy increasingly difficult. – West Midlands, England

“Bound to Join made me realize the importance of church membership, even though I was resistant. Your book also made me realize the importance of membership even though it may take sacrifice to find and join that true church. We desperately need this better understanding of the importance of church membership in this day and age in which Christians are oriented to be too independent and too consumer-oriented and too transitory in attendance in church.” – Florida, USA

To read a review of this book published in the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, click here.
To read a review of this book published in the British Reformed Journal, click here.
To read a defence of this book published in the Standard Bearer, click here.

To watch the video of the author interview concerning this book, click here.

To read letter 1 of this book in Czech, click here.

DESCRIPTION

Abraham Kuyper was born in the Netherlands. He was a Modernist minister when he assumed his first charge, but was led, through the influence and prayers of a saintly woman in his congregation, to see that he was feeding his people husks.

He saw the truth of salvation through the blood of Christ and responded by preaching the gospel with unusual power.

Abraham Kuyper was an outstanding theologian, he led a Dutch political party, and was prime minister of the Netherlands.

Here is a stimulating volume for young Reformed people answering the vital question, “What is expected of me after I make confession of faith?” Interestingly written and easily understood, Dr. Kuyper describes the calling and life of confessing church members. Not only should young people find this book valuable but also Christian parents and church office-bearers will find it helpful for answering questions such as these:

Why should confession of faith be made publicly?
Who should make confession of faith?
Should training be given in preparation for this confession?
Of what should the preparation consist?
Are catechism classes necessary?
Is it necessary to examine candidates for confession of faith?
What is the relation between confession and being received into the church?

This excellent and worthwhile volume will prove itself indispensable indeed—and will assure interested young people all the facts and “implications of public confession.”

Click here to read a chapter from this book.

To read an excerpt of this book in Spanish, click here.

Many church members today have little or no knowledge of the biblical and Reformed principles of church government, especially those in hierarchical or departing churches. Ministers and church periodicals do not teach these things, and members are left ignorant and helpless, unaware of their church rights and responsibilities, and unable to protest or appeal church practices or decisions.

This work by Prof. Hanko, a long-time church member, minister and theological instructor fills this need. As a teacher of church polity and one with many years of experience both of church assemblies and of helping church members formulate their presentations, he provides a safe guide to the confused layman.

The first and longest part of this work, “Notes on the Church Order,” gives a concise explanation of all the 86 articles of the Church Order of Dordt, as used in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

The second part, the “Believer’s Manual for Church Order,” explains how the child of God is to relate to church office-bearers and how he is to bring matters to the assemblies, as well as his calling in family visitation, at congregational meetings and in church discipline, etc.

Even those from different ecclesiastical backgrounds and with different church orders or church codes will find this book helpful as it sets forth the principles of Scripture and Reformed ecclesiology regarding the institutional life of the church of Jesus Christ our Head and Redeemer.

This revised third edition is the accepted standard for the interpretation and application of the Church Order of Dordrecht by Reformed believers, churches and denominations. This weighty and time-tested commentary instructs us today on the need for biblical church polity and principled consistency in church government.

This book preview contains the table of contents and prefaces, as well as the exposition of the first two articles of the Church Order of Dordrecht.

The Lord’s Supper form was adopted by the Synod of Dordt (1618–1619) as the authoritative form for the administration and celebration of the sacrament of the Supper by both the Reformed churches in the Netherlands and by Dutch-speaking churches in the tradition of Dordt elsewhere in the world. Over the years the form has been adopted, translated and used by most—if not all—Reformed churches that stand in the tradition of Dordt.

The Lord’s Supper form, therefore, expresses the faith of orthodox, Reformed Christianity concerning the Supper and all the rich implications of the Supper for doctrine and life.

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Bastiaan Wielenga was a minister of the word in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN) in the early- to mid-1900s. He attended the Theological School in Kampen and earned his doctorate at the University of Heidelberg in 1899.

John Calvin: “The only worthiness which we can bring to God is to offer him our own vileness and unworthiness, that his mercy may make us worthy; to despond in ourselves that we may he consoled in him; to humble ourselves that we may be elevated by him; to accuse ourselves that we may be justified by him; to aspire, moreover, to the unity which he recommends in the Supper. If we ponder and meditate on these things, we may be shaken but will never be overwhelmed by the question of how we, who are devoid of all good and polluted by the defilements of sin, worthily eat the body of the Lord. Rather we shall consider that we, who are poor, are coming to a benevolent giver, sick to a physician, sinful to the author of righteousness, in fine, dead to him who gives life.”

Book Review
The Reformed Lord’s Supper Form: A Commentary
By Dr. Bastiaan Wielenga
Translated by Dr. H. David Schuringa
Reviewed by Dan Key

In the early twentieth century, Dr. Bastiaan Wielenga, a noted Dutch theologian, wrote commentaries in the Dutch language on the Reformed baptism form and on the Reformed Lord’s Supper form. In 2016, the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA) published an English translation of Wielenga’s Commentary on the Reformed Baptism Form. Now the RFPA has published Wielenga’s Commentary on the Reformed Lord’s Supper Form which was translated into English by Dr. H. David Schuringa.

The Commentary on the Reformed Lord’s Supper Form consists of nine chapters: The Introduction; Examination of Faith; The Commencement of Communion; The Authentic Examination; In Remembrance of Him; Altogether One Body; Lift Up Out Hearts on High; The Distribution of the Bread; and The Conclusion of the Service.

Chapter 1, The Introduction, includes a section titled “The Origin of the Form.” In this section you will read that Casper Olevianus, one of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, was the main author of our Lord’s Supper form. However, when Olevianus drew up the form, “he did so in close connection with John Calvin, using his form (The Genevan Form) as building material for his work. That’s why, more than in any other component of our liturgy, Calvin’s influence is noteworthy in the form for the Lord’s Supper.”

Chapter 2, Examination of Faith, highlights what must take place prior to one being admitted to the Lord’s Supper. Parents must fulfill their baptism vows to instruct their children. Catechization, which is a necessary and important part of that instruction, followed by profession of faith, must take place before one shall be admitted to the Lord’s Supper.

Chapter 3 is an exposition of the opening words of the form. Chapter 4 explains the self-examination section of the form. Chapter 5 is an explanation of the section that begins with “Let us now consider, to what end the Lord hath instituted his Supper, namely, that we do it in remembrance of him.” Chapter 6 explains the section that begins with “Besides that we by this same Spirit may also be united.” This chapter concerns the unity of the church body. Chapters 7-9 concern the latter portion of the form including the breaking of the bread, the pouring of the wine and the conclusion of the form.

In closing, the Lord’s Supper form expresses the faith of orthodox, Reformed Christianity concerning the Supper and all the rich implications of the Supper for doctrine and life. The form itself clearly and thoroughly explains the mystery and purpose of the Lord’s Supper. This commentary provides a more extensive explanation of the form. According to Wielenga, this commentary has as its main purpose: “to open the treasure chest of the form itself.” This commentary fulfils that purpose.

I would recommend this book to all confessing members of the church. I would especially encourage young people who are planning to make, or recently have made, profession of faith to read this book. The book provides sound and clear explanations of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and of the form that we use for the administration of the Lord’s Supper.

Read another review of this book by Rev. Martyn McGeown.