SPECIAL LECTURES
Listen to previous recordings of our studies, conferences, and more!
SERVING GOD IN THE CITY OF MAN
spring 2023
WHO NEEDS THE CHURCH IN A POST-CHRISTIAN WORLD?
spring 2022
Justin Holcomb is an Episcopal priest, Professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, co-host of The White Horse Inn radio program and a counselor to victims of abuse. His talk will describe how the heartbreaking statistics on various types of abuse do not begin to reveal the darkness and grief experienced by the survivors. However, the work of Jesus Christ deals directly with the effects of abuse. Holcomb will explore how the church can respond and care for survivors in ways that are compassionate, practical, and informed. His many books include Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault; Is it My Fault? Hope and Healing for Those Suffering Domestic Violence; and God Made All of Me: A Book to Help Children Protect Their Bodies.
Darryl Hart is a church historian and author of many books, including Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant; American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War, and A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State. His talk will explore how the church is called to be in dialogue with our unbelieving neighbors in the world, or in the words of Christ, "in the world, but not of the world.” Drawing on his recent book, he will show what the church can learn from secular thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, and what Ben Franklin can learn from the church.
Senator Sasse is the author of The Vanishing American Adult and Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal. Senator Ben Sasse presents “The Church as Heaven’s Embassy,” in Christ Reformed DC’s spring lecture series, “Who Needs the Church in a Post-Christian World.” This talk will explore how Christ followers are called to live on earth as dual citizens. As Christians live out both heavenly and earthly callings, they should be engaged with faithfully serving their neighbors on earth, while investing their ultimate hope in the world to come.
SEMPER REFORMANDA
fall 2019
Rev. Terry L. Johnson is senior minister of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA. He is author of The Case for Traditional Protestantism and Reformed Worship. Semper Reformanda is an annual conference sponsored by Classis Eastern United States of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). It is held every year in October, usually on the Tuesday before the meeting of our churches in Classis. Rev. Johnson will talk about the place of the Psalms in the Christian life and why we must sing the Psalms.
Rev. Terry L. Johnson is senior minister of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA. He is author of The Case for Traditional Protestantism and Reformed Worship. Semper Reformanda is an annual conference sponsored by Classis Eastern United States of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). It is held every year in October, usually on the Tuesday before the meeting of our churches in Classis. Rev. Johnson discusses the history of Psalm-singing in the church.
Rev. Terry L. Johnson is senior minister of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA. He is author of The Case for Traditional Protestantism and Reformed Worship. Semper Reformanda is an annual conference sponsored by Classis Eastern United States of the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). It is held every year in October, usually on the Tuesday before the meeting of our churches in Classis. Rev. Johnson will talk about recovering Psalm singing in our churches today.
CHRISTIANITY & POLITICS
fall 2011
Dr. W. Robert Godfrey discusses the remarkable history and spiritual power of the Heidelberg Catechism.
CHRISTIANITY & POLITICS
fall 2011
Following up his lecture, Dr. David Coffin was joined in a Question and Answer session with Pastor Brian Lee.
The final speaker in our Christianity & Politics speaker series was Dr. David Coffin, pastor of New Hope Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fairfax, Virginia. Dr. Coffin preached on the biblical doctrine of the spirituality of the church, and lectured on its development in church history.
Dr. David Coffin concluded our Christianity & Politics speaker series with a sermon on the biblical doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church (as it is taught by Presbyterian churches) and a lecture on the historical development of said doctrine.
Dr. David VanDrunen of Westminster Seminary California visited Washington, DC to address the topic of "Natural Law and Christian Politics," as a part of Christ Reformed Church's "Christianity & Politics" speaker series.
Van Drunen provides a brief overview of the role Natural Law has played in Christian thought, and presents some practical considerations for how it may assist us in loving our neighbors through our interactions with the state.
Paul's primary concern about the civil authority in Romans 13 is that believers subject themselves to it. He opens with the basic imperative to “be in subjection” and provides a series of arguments for it, based upon both the command of God and prudential concerns.
Christ Reformed Church convened a roundtable discussion with Michael Gerson (Washington Post columnist and former speechwriter for President Bush), Darryl Hart (Hillsdale College) and Terry Eastland (Publisher of The Weekly Standard) to discuss "The Future of Evangelical Politics."
Darryl Hart discussed his book, "From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal of American Conservatism." Michael Gerson also discussed themes from "Heroic Conservatism" and "City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era."
Paul was obsessed with the gospel -- and with getting it to the Gentiles, which is why he was so ambitious to make it all the way to Rome before he died. However, there is something else with which he seemed almost obsessed, something that I'd missed for many years while reading his epistles. It was a collection from all of the mostly Gentile churches to take back to the struggling believers in Jerusalem. We can easily miss this repeated reference along with all of the incidental greetings and instructions to particular people at the end of his epistles, but it was heavy on Paul's heart. And as we will see, it was inextricably linked to (though not identical with) his ministry of the gospel.
The Great Commission actually begins with the declaration: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt. 28.18). This is the rationale for everything that the church is called to do and to be. The church's commission is indeed DIRECTED by a PURPOSE ("making disciples of all nations"), but it is DRIVEN by a PROMISE.
This is the Q&A session following Michael Horton's lecture, "The Great Commission and Social Justice" at Christianity & Politics 2011.
PREACHING IN THE CAPITAL
fall 2010
CALVIN IN THE CAPITAL
spring 2023
“Only in America would Calvinism be one of Time magazine's top ten ideas for the twenty-first century,” said Dr. Hart. “The beauty of Calvinism has often been in the eye of the beholder. Nineteenth-century Calvinists also did their fair share of adapting Reformed Christianity for an American environment. Those accommodations are still very much with us, and they are the subject of my talk.”
“One problem for most evangelical Christians is that they begin their thinking about humanity after the Fall,” Rev. Jones said. “Calvin brings biblical balance to our understanding of humankind by considering how good we were when created, and how far we have fallen.”
The Rev. Ken Jones will spoke at Calvin in the Capital, a six-week speaker series exploring the life and work of John Calvin in the 500th anniversary of his birth, 2009.
Dr. VanDrunen, a minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, began teaching at Westminster Seminary California in 2001. He formerly served as a pastor of Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hanover Park, IL, and currently serves on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s Committee on Christian Education and Subcommittee on Resources for the Churches. He does much of his current research and writing at the intersection of systematic theology, biblical studies, ethics, and legal and political theory. He was the recipient of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award for 2004, a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in 2009, and a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for 2016-17.
Dr. VanDrunen is the author or editor of twelve books, most recently Politics after Christendom: Political Theology in a Fractured World (Zondervan, 2020), named Book of the Year (2021) in Politics and Public Life by Christianity Today. His scholarly articles have appeared in many journals, including Journal of Reformed Theology, Journal of Law and Religion, and Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.