Jonathan M. Threlfall

Thoughts on Christian Theology and Pastoring

  • Take Heed to the Flock

    The following is the manuscript from a message on Acts 20:17-35 which I delivered on Sunday, June 5, 2022 as part of sermon series on the book of Acts. In light of (1) the crisis of pastoral credibility, (2) reports of churches’ and denominations horrific mishandling of and complicity in sexual abuse, and (3) the…

  • Bavinck’s Christian Worldview

    It wasn’t until I started reading Herman Bavinck’s The Wonderful Works of God (I already owned his four-volume Reformed Dogmatics but had only dabbled in it) that I decided I wanted to read everything that Bavinck had written. That decision prompted me, in 2020, to purchase his recently-translated (2019) Christian Worldview which I wish I…

  • The Magic of Writing

    In the month of November, my wife and I decided that we would spent thirty minutes writing every weekday evening of the month. We didn’t quite reach that goal, but we wrote a lot more than we would have if we had made no goal at all. Because I spend a lot of my workday…

  • Jonathan Edwards’ Method of Study

    Did Jonathan Edwards have a particular method that allowed him to think through a topic with such rigor and clarity?

  • Two Resources for Preaching

    When it comes to preaching—and, for that matter, many areas in life—my motto is always learning. Once you stop learning, you not only stagnate: you revert. Still, it is helpful to have a tried-and-true method for accomplishing a task, especially when you are called to accomplish that task, again and again—with excellence. Over the course…

  • The Preaching of 18th-Century Revivalists in England

    Eighteen years ago, my parents gave me a book by J. C. Ryle which I have picked up again: Christian Leaders of the 18th Century. It contains brief biographical sketches of men who “shook England from one end to another”—men such as George Whitefield, John Wesley, William Grimshaw, and Daniel Rowlands. Reading sections of this…

  • Be Careful What You Call Christian Persecution

    In the final beatitude on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his followers to expect persecution. “Blessed are you,” he declares, “when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:13). But we must carefully consider what we call persecution. Certainly, persecution involves being…

  • What Is Preaching?

    What is preaching? Every pastor should be able to answer that question. Unfortunately, we often lose sight of the answer. With the pressing burdens of church administration, the bewildering variety of high-profile preachers, and countless resources available to him, a pastor may find himself asking, “Now what was I trying to do?” only after he…

  • How to Shipwreck Your Theology

    A Mother’s Rebuke A few years ago, English-speaking fans of Karl Barth were rattled by an essay which shed new light on the personal life of the 20th-century giant of theology. Many had already known about Barth’s love for a woman who was not his wife, but few had read his private letters, which painted a clearer…

  • What To Do When Envy Strikes

    Merriam-Webster defines envy as the “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.” That’s a pretty good definition of what I’ve felt plenty of times. Maybe you know the feeling as well. You see someone who has or does something you want to have…