Today I have decided to start a blog that celebrates the old, a return to classic Christianity as understood by the apostles, the early church, and the Reformation. I think that our problem in the Church today is that we are trying to be relevant or new (not in the sense of new ways of communicating the gospel - contextualization), but in the sense of changing the message itself. This blog will celebrate, as Erasmus said: "a return to the source" of Christianity, or ad fontes approach, namely the Holy Scriptures. We will use the heart cry of the Reformation as a guide: SOLA SCRIPTURA (Scripture Alone), SOLUS CHRISTUS (Christ alone), SOLA GRATIA (Grace alone), SOLA FIDE (Faith alone), SOLI DEO GLORIA (To God be the glory). And my hope and prayer is that this will be used to draw us closer to an understanding of the holiness of God, the grace of God, the sinfulness of humanity, the justice of God, the beauty of Christ, the love of God, the cross of Christ, the sufficency, inerrancy, and authority of the Word of God, the reality of hell, the urgency of world evangelization, the priority of unreached people groups, the need for Biblical and Christ centred preaching, and a richer, deeper, love relationship with God. This blog will strive to be rich theologically, intellectually, and biblically, but also to be very practical in focus, for as James said: "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17).

"How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place...O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation" (Augustine, Confessions, IX, 1, emphasis mine).

To God be the glory,

Nick Hill