The RLI promotes worship which is biblical, God-Centered, historically informed, and which strives for serious and vigorous participation from the people of God. We believe that the pattern of covenant renewal displays the biblical actions of worship.
The Reformed Liturgical Institute aims to -
· Strengthen local churches and help churchmen to mature in their understanding of Reformed liturgical principles.
· Make Reformed liturgical resources available through a web-site.
· Encourage the use of the Christian Year or church calendar as an aspect of the dominion of Christ over time.
· Promote and host conferences related to worship.
The Institute aims to make a wide array of information available to pastors and students of liturgy. It does not intend to stamp an official imprimatur on these materials.
Director
Gregory Soderberg is a member of Christ Church, NC (CREC). He has taught Theology, Literature, and Greek at Cary Christian School. He is studying for a Ph.D. in historical theology at Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. He holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Culture from New St. Andrews College. After studying at Reformed Theological Seminary, he earned a M.A. in Church History from the University of Pretoria. He also studied liturgical theology at Trinity Theological College. He serves as the Director of the Christus Rex Study Center. His personal blog is Studium et Liturgica. He is married to a wise and godly woman, with four rambunctious children. They are the main reason he doesn’t blog more.
Co-Director
Robin Phillips studied philosophy at London University and received his B.A. [Honors] in Western Civilization from the UK’s Open University, where he graduated summa cum laude. While living in England he worked as a political journalist and researcher for the pressure group Christian Voice. In 2007, he moved to America to take the position of history teacher at the Classical Christian Academy where he developed a six year curriculum spanning all of Western Civilization.
Robin currently lives in the Pacific Northwest of America but commutes to King’s College, London, where he is working on a PhD in historical theology. He is the director of the Alfred the Great Society, a Columnist for the Chuck Colson Center and the Spokane Libertarian Examiner, the author of the monthly ‘Letter from America’ and ‘The Persecuted Church’ columns for Christian Voice magazine. In addition to these positions he also acts as a contributing author for Touchstone, Fermentations, The Jonathan Edwards Society, World Net Daily, ‘Christianity & Society,’ Salvo Magazine and their blog ‘Signs of the Times.’ He is a conference speaker, a guest blogger for numerous websites and has appeared on international television to debate social issues. His personal blog is Robin’s Readings and Reflections.
Robin is the author of Saints and Scoundrels (Canon Press, forthcoming) and The Decent Drapery of Life (Wipf and Stock, forthcoming).
Contributors
Rev’d John Allen T. Bankson is the pastor of John Knox Presbyterian Church(PCA) in Ruston, LA. He received a Bachelor of Music (Voice) from Samford University, a M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a Master of Music (Choral Conducting) from the University of Southern Mississippi. His personal blog is Know Tea.
Rev. Dr. Donald P. Richmond, a presbyter with the Anglican Province of America, has personal experience in a wide range of liturgical traditions: Roman Catholic (into which he was born and raised), Christian & Missionary Alliance (through whose outreach he was “saved”), Lutheran (the tradition in which he was originally commissioned), Baptist (with whom he served for many years), and Anglican (since 1986). The Rev. Dr. Richmond is the author of five books, most recently A Short Season in Hell: Meditations on Dantewhich is scheduled to be released by Forward Movement Publications. Rev. Richmond may be reached through e-mail at drichmond@kfh.org.
Toby Sumpter is the Pastor of Trinity Reformed Church. He studied at Greyfriars’ Hall and is a graduate of Erskine Seminary. Toby is married to Jenny, and they have a son named River, and two daughters: Felicity and Tovia. Sermon notes, exhortations and communion meditations are regularly posted and may be viewed on Toby’s personal web page: Having Two Legs.
Please tell me more about what you mean by “Encourage the use of the Christian Year or church calendar as an aspect of the dominion of Christ over time.” This sounds exciting!
The question is basically one of “Who will define our calendar?” Should the government and secular holidays be prominent, or should we focus more on the Life of Christ and of heroes of the faith? Is Mother’s Day or Pentecost more important? Is Presidents’ Day or All Saints’ Day more important? As Reformed Catholics, or Protesting Catholics, we believe we should celebrate, at the least, the Evangelical Feast Days, which commemorate major events in the life of Jesus Christ–Christmas, Christ’s Baptism (Epiphany), Easter, Ascension Day, & Pentecost. The early Reformers celebrated these days. It’s an obvious way to remind ourselves that Christ is the ruler of history. In our family, we make a big deal about these feast days, and our kids are growing up looking foward to Pentecost presents, as well as Christmas presents! Of course, we need to work through a lot of issues of how the traditional church year developed, and we don’t want to simply adopt the Roman Catholic (or Orthodox) calendar completely. Still, I think it helps us to change the way we think about time and history, and to focus more on Christ’s Lordship, manifested in time and history.
If we want to encourage the “dominion of Christ over time” how about re-instituting God’s Holy Days (holidays) which, btw, includes Pentecost?
God’s Holy Days/Feasts encompassed all of God’s Plan.
Amen! That’s part of what we’re about!