May 2016  News from Founders Ministries

In This Issue:

Don't miss our summer courses at the Founders Study Center, including a free audit of the course Evangelism and the Excellencies of God.

Learn about a Pastoral Internship Program at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida

Order the latest addition to our Founders Study Guide Commentary series: Malachi, A Prophet in Times of Despair by Baruch Maoz.

And visit the Founders Blog to catch up on articles you may have missed this month.
Founders Study Center

There is still time to register for summer courses at the Founders Study Center!

Audit for free our course on Evangelism and the Excellencies of God.

Register for Directed Studies and work with one of our course mentors through any of our seven current Summer courses:

Intro to the Puritans
Preaching and Preachers
Evangelism and the Excellencies of God
Worship
Theology of the Reformers
Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure
Baptist Covenant Theology

Or enjoy unlimited access to any of our seven current courses with a Full Site Subscription. You can select from 1 to 5 months (at $12.00/month) or a full year ($99.00). The first month is free.

There are no late fees for those registering for summer courses this year.
Registration for Directed Studies and our free Course Audit ends May 31, 2016.

See what's new at the Founders Study Center
Grace Baptist Church Pastoral Internship
Grace Baptist Church
Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida has announced a Pastoral Internship Program. The program is designed to unveil regular, day-to-day ministerial life and provide men aspiring to be pastors with an ecclesiological and pastoral grid for doing the work of ministry. How should the church be organized? Who should lead the church? Does the Bible discuss church membership? How does church polity affect church practice? In addition to observing church life today, GBC interns will spend much of their time engaging in conversation with great pastors and theologians from the past. The GBC internship is full-time. Housing and a stipend are included. For more detailed information about the Pastoral Internship Program, and to submit an application visit the church website.
Now Available from Founders Press
Malachi: A Prophet in Times of Despair
Founders Study Guide Commentary
by Baruch Maoz 
FSGC Malachi

Founders Press is pleased to include Malachi: A Prophet in Times of Despair in our Founders Study Guide Commentary series. The Prophet Malachi ministered to a chastened but unrepentant people. As the last book in the Old Testament, this prophecy communicates God's judgment against His own people due to their spiritual formality and apathy. The message is as relevant today as when it was first proclaimed. Baruch Maoz has served the church of Jesus Christ well by explaining and applying this message in warm, practical ways that are faithful to the text and to the larger context of the whole Bible.

As a Jewish Reformed Baptist Baruch Maoz pastored the Grace and Truth Congregation in Israel from 1976 until his retirement in 2008. Since that time he has devoted himself to itinerant preaching, teaching and writing. This devotional commentary on Malachi is the fruit of his long, faithful ministry.

Purchase this book from our online bookstore. Cost $7.50. Retail price is $9.99.

Country Church
From the Founders Blog

Can You Be A Christian Without Going to Church?

I've heard it many times. "Well, you don't have to attend church to be a Christian." "Attending church doesn't make you a Christian!" "I don't need the church; I worship God in my own way."

In each case, someone attempts to provide a barrier to further conversation about the gospel and its effects upon the whole of a person's life. In the discomforting moment of confrontation (gently or firmly) concerning sin, Christ's death and resurrection, the call to repentance and faith, and the ongoing call of Christian discipleship, that person wants to push away and still feel satisfied about his position with God.

So, can he/she still be a Christian without going to church? If one means, does church attendance save anyone, we have to agree that it does not. Jesus Christ saves. Certainly, a lack of church attendance likely inhibits one coming to faith in Christ by not being under the proclamation of the gospel. But the question is really not about whether attending church saves anyone-that's only a ruse to steer the conversation away from the pointed realities of the gospel. Instead, what happens once a person is united to Jesus Christ through faith in Him? Can that person, despite his/her profession of Christ, maintain a go-it-alone approach to Christianity and be legitimate as a true believer?

Read more from Phil Newton on The Blog
Alas and Did
From the Founders Blog

Hymns and the Depravity of Man

Hymns are a treasure trove of doctrinal truth. Singing hymns is a wonderful way to teach doctrine and to augment the teaching and preaching ministry of the church. Those who lead the church in singing do well to explore and mine this trove for its rich gems.

Consider the doctrine of the depravity of man. If you were teaching a congregation about the effects of sin, the extent of sin, or the heinousness of sin, several passages of Scripture might come to mind: Romans 3:9-20; Ephesians 2:1-3, Jeremiah 17:9, to name a few. But what hymns could you sing to help the church remember and rightly respond to this truth? Well-written lyrics can make doctrine memorable, winsome, and profoundly personal. What would you choose to underscore the teaching of God's Word?

Read more from Ken Puls on The Blog
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