Kerry Ptacek
6 articles · 2 topics
Kerry Ptacek is an Associate Reformed Presbyterian pastor and author who advocates for the recovery of household worship. He is the author of Family Worship: Biblical Basis, Historical Reality, Current Need (1994), a historically grounded examination of the biblical warrant for regular family devotions.
Read Articles by Kerry Ptacek
A Brief History of Biblical Family Worship
Family Worship[/caption] The distinctive elements of Biblical family worship, leadership by the male head of the family and the use of God's word, are found throughout the Bible, in the ancient Church, and in those churches which prepared and continue the Reformation to this day. Biblical History…
Family and Government in Puritan New England
New England was the laboratory of Puritan ideas. Throughout the 17th century leading English Puritans emigrated to New England in order to put their beliefs into practice freely. Oliver Cromwell himself, prior to rising to the command of the Puritan New Model Army in the English Civil War, had…
Getting Started: The Biblical Elements of Family Worship
The Bible teaches that Christian men who head households should be spiritual leaders in their families. The principal means for this leadership has been in domestic gatherings called 'family worship,' 'family devotions,' or 'the family altar.' This practice was once widespread in the homes of…
Matthew Henry On Family Religion
Many Christians are familiar with Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. That work has continued to be a great help to Christians even as we approach the third centennial of its original publication. As his 1704 sermon 'On Family Religion' indicates, Matthew Henry was a strong proponent of…
The Apostolic Constitutions and Spiritual Leadership in the Family
The Apostolic Constitutions is a collection of early church law dated by scholars as being predominantly from the second or third century, with only a few additions from the fourth and fifth centuries. We need not accept the claim of the Constitutions to apostolic authorship, although that was the…