1/ It’s clear to me that many fail to grasp just how small the American reformed church is compared to both other denominations and the general population.

I believe that it's accurate to say that the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the largest explicitly reformed and...
2/ ...conservative denomination. Its total membership is approximately 350,000.

That’s big in comparison to the OPC (≈ 33,000).
It’s even bigger in comparison to the CREC (≈ 13,000).

So my denomination, the CREC, is just under 4% the size of the PCA.
3/ But the liberal PCUSA’s total membership is ≈1,100,000.

So the PCA is only 32% the size of the PCUSA.

The SBC has around 13,500,000 in membership.

So the PCA is about only 3% the size of the SBC.

And, of course, the total population of the States is around 332 mil.
4/ So the SBC only represents about 4% of the total population of our country.

Point No. 1 - Most reformed denominations represent a percentage of percentage of a percentage of percentage of the population...
5/ Last week, I mentioned that I knew of a pastor who ripped off Keller’s sermons. I saw lots of comments like “Why Keller? How about a non-woke person to copy.” I replied “Keller because, outside of a small subsection of reformed folks, he is still highly respected.”
6/ Which brings me to...

Point No. 2 - Most reformed folks don’t seem to realize how strange and foreign their terminology, positions, and culture are to most everyone outside their tiny tiny pond.
7/ I used to sell mobile phones. I consistently outsold a lot of my co-workers. It wasn’t because I knew more about the product. I could hold my own in product knowledge but many of them knew more about the particulars of the phones than I did.

But...
8/ ...they loved to use all the technical terminology when describing the various phones capabilities: “This phone has a 1.3 GHz dual core 32-bit CPU” or “ The new camera has 8 MP iSight back-side illuminated sensor and shorts 1080p HD video at 30 frame/s."

This sort of...
9/ ...language appealed to phone geeks who were in-the-know. It, however, intimidated normal folks. It caused them to think, “I probably should do more research before making a decision.” They’d leave the store and end up buying somewhere else the next day.

I would just say...
10/ ...things like “it’s twice as fast than the last model” or “the camera is 30% better.” It was accessible language that captured the main idea. It made the decision-making process easier.

Which brings to...
11/ Point No. 3 - Many reformed churches and denominations stay small, not because they are super hardcore, but because they struggle to be relatable to and understood by the people outside their niche of niche subculture.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michael Foster

Michael Foster Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @thisisfoster

Jan 24
1/ Here's a thread on 4 ways both wives and husbands can improve their marriage.

These aren't the only ways and they are even in order of importance.

Also, these won't magically repair bad marriage but they will improve most marriages.

Okay, ladies first...
2/ Grow in making your needs more explicitly known. Men tend to communicate in a straightforward linear way. Women not so much. Learning to speak a little “man” will improve your marriage. Most men are eager to help their wife & simply aren’t picking up on your subtle hints.
3/ Touch him a lot. And it doesn’t even need to be flirtatious touching, though he’ll like that. Men like hugs, kisses, shoulder rubs, you brushing up against him etc. It can be subtle stuff. Your softness keeps him gentle. It can melt and even prevent an anger or cold heart.
Read 10 tweets
Dec 23, 2022
1/ Avatar: The Way of Water
A Lazy Review

I don’t have time to go to the theater often and there especially ain’t much to see these days anyhow.

As a kid, we always saw movies on July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas week/weekend.

So…
2/ It only seem fitting to revisit this tradition as my father was visiting Cincinnati for the first time in well over a decade.

So we caught a matinee of Avatar 2 this afternoon.

I’ll start with the negatives. But there are positives.
3/ Narratively, it still is the recycle story beats from The Last Samurai, Dances with Wolves, and The Last of the Mohicans.

But in space. On Planet Shark Week. But friendlier. And with a real blood thirsty Free Willy. But friendlier. If you’re blue.
Read 7 tweets
Dec 19, 2022
1/ For years, I’d expect my family to leave me alone for a period of “decompression” when I got home from work.

I’ve always worked in highly relational/conversation based positions.

I’d often arrived home in an overstimulated state and disappear to my office for 20 mins.
2/ My wife would want me to deal with a discipline issue with a kid or be interested in what happened in my day.

My kids would want to tell me about their day or have a thousand requests requiring permission from dad.

But I just wanted space.
I was fried. "Give me a min, guys."
3/ I slowly came to see that this was a missed opportunity.

It was a failure of leadership.

The way I re-entered my home after a long day of work played an important role in the forming of my home's culture.

A man doesn’t just provide resources.

He provides leadership.
Read 8 tweets
Nov 5, 2022
1/ “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7

So this means looks don't matter, right?

Wrong.

Let me explain…
2/ This verse says what we all know: looks matter to people.

You may say looks matter to people but not to God. Finding certain attributes attractive a product of the fall?

Maybe some but all? No.

God is the designer of our desires & we naturally find His design desirable.
3/ We care about appearance because God made us to care. Our bodies are wonderfully made (Ps 139:14). The fall has marred our design but not obliterated it. The beauty of certain physical attributes still shines though and we’re attracted to where that light shines more brightly.
Read 11 tweets
Nov 4, 2022
1/ For the most part, I’ve learned to pay little attention and invest little time into what I call “Boomer Christianity.”

By this phrase I simply mean the institutions, leaders, and ministry philosophies that arose from the Christians born in the Boomer generation.

Why?
2/ Because, to use @aaron_renn's paradigm, they were created for a society where Christianity was largely seen as either positive or neutral.

They are increasingly less relevant for a society that sees Christianity as a negative.

And that is our time.
3/ Yes, there are a few that have shifted to this reality but only a few as far as I can tell.

These gray-headed watchmen are rare and especially helpful.

I think of men like @crwiley1962 or @AnthonyEsolen.

Anyhow...
Read 8 tweets
Oct 29, 2022
Megathread

It’s our spiritual obligation to pursue physical fitness.

(5) Scriptural Evidences

1) The positive application of the 6th commandment Image
The Larger Catechism 136 lays out the sins forbidden in the 6th commandment. There two lines that especially important to the issue at hand: Image
2)The ability to obey and fulfill the creation mandate

We find the creation mandate in Genesis 1:28: Image
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(