“The good news is that every day, 100,000s of online searches (Google, Bing, etc.) are conducted for search queries related to the Bible and Christianity. The bad news is that, more often than not, search results for Bible-related queries never connect people back to confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches — despite our robust commitment to the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God.”
Reformed Churchmen Publications, publisher of The Aquila Report, is announcing a new sister publication, the Bible Answers Project.
The goal of The Aquila Report is to build up the peace and purity of the Church, especially the Reformed and Presbyterian branch.
By contrast, the goal of the Bible Answers Project is to reach the lost, and connect them to Reformed and Presbyterian congregations.
For most of us, connecting with unchurched people is hard
“Fostering connections with unchurched people” is a major problem for most churches and pastors, including confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches.
Most of us are probably familiar with the growing body of research:

In 2021, Gallup reported: “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time.” As of 2020, only 47% of U.S. adults were members of “a church, synagogue, or mosque”  … down from 70% in 1999. Meanwhile, the National Congregations Study published in 2021 found that “there are now about as many synagogues, mosques, and Buddhist or Hindu temples in the U.S. (9% of all congregations) as there are Catholic parishes (6% of all congregations)” and also that “one quarter (25%) of congregations teach the prosperity gospel – that God gives financial wealth and physical health to those with enough faith.”
In 2022, Lifeway’s “Greatest Needs of Pastors study” reported that the two greatest needs of U.S. pastors were (1) “seeing their churchgoers grow spiritually” and (2) “making connections with those outside of their churches.” They also said that “disciple making and technology are the two areas of skill development they most need to invest in.”
Last year (2023), Jim Davis and Michael Graham (a couple of RTS Orlando alums of the Reformed Baptist persuasion) published their book The Great Dechurching, sharing the results of their path-breaking research study: “As a nation, we’re currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in the history of the United States… About 40 million adults (16 percent) in America today used to go to church but no longer do.” Not to be outdone by our Baptist brethren, the OPC published an important New Horizons cover story entitled “Presbyterians and Nonverts”: “People who once identified with a Christian religious tradition but now identify with none are the fastest growing group in America today.”
Earlier this year (2024), Pew Research reported that “28% of U.S. adults are now religiously unaffiliated” and Gallup reported: “three in 10 U.S. adults attend religious services regularly, led by Mormons at 67%”

The news headlines are dire and daunting for Bible-based, Christ-exalting believers of all denominations – including those of us in the confessional Presbyterian and Reformed camp.
But all is not lost. As our dear brothers on the Larger for Life podcast have recently been reminding us, King Jesus still rules and reigns! Christ has been exalted in his resurrection (WLC Question 51-52) and ascension (WLC Question 53). Christ is exalted in his enthronement at the right hand of God, where he makes intercession for all believers (WLC Questions 54-55). And Christ will be exalted when he comes again to judge the world in righteousness (WLC Question 56).
Answering the most popular search queries about the Bible and Christianity is a massive opportunity for P&R churches
Aaron Renn gave wise counsel at the end of his recent article about “the end of Protestantism”: “Rather than bemoaning the loss of the products of America’s Protestant culture,… perhaps we should instead look at what we can realistically do from here with the pieces that are actually on the board today.”
So … what are some of “the pieces that are actually on the board today”?
There are many things we could mention, not least the personal relationships we have with family, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, colleagues, and co-workers. Each one of these relationships is a treasure to be stewarded for God’s glory and our mutual joy.
What happens online is another one of “the pieces on the board today.” So what is happening online? Here there is good news and bad news.
The bad news is that many of our neighbors spend so much time online that we may literally never cross paths with them offline: “Non-religiosity is highly correlated to spending large portions of one’s social life online” (“Losing Their Religion,” by Benjamin L. Mabry, First Things, August 2023).
The good news is that every day, 100,000s of online searches (Google, Bing, etc.) are conducted for search queries related to the Bible and Christianity.
The bad news is that, more often than not, search results for Bible-related queries don’t connect people back to confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches — despite our robust commitment to the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God.
For example, consider the following common search queries which each receive 10,000s of searches every year:

“How many books in the Bible?” (40,000+ searches per year). Unless I have missed it, there is no Presbyterian or Reformed website in the top ten search results. And, to make matters worse, uber-skeptic Bart Ehrman’s website shows up near the top.
“Spiritual ringing in the ears in the Bible” (25,000+ searches per year). As you might expect, the search results page for this query is full of false teachings. And there is no Presbyterian or Reformed witness in the top 10 search results. This search query (bizarre as it is) is an example of the hundreds (if not thousands) of popular Bible-related search keywords which are “weird,” “off-the-wall,” and “unhinged.”
“What kind of woman was Esther in the Bible?” (30,000+ searches per year). Again, this popular query does not result in any answers from a P&R source. Maybe there is less uniquely “presbyterian” and “reformed” to say about Esther than about some other topics. But it is nevertheless a very popular search query, and represents a missed opportunity for outreach and engagement.

The good news is that, by working together, we can do something to change this lamentable state of affairs.
This is where the Bible Answers Project comes in.
The confessional Presbyterian and Reformed world is blessed with an abundance of excellent writers and teachers. I have no doubt that we can come up with top-quality, God-honoring, Christ-exalting answers to the most popular questions people are asking about the Bible today. Some of these questions are bizarre: “Does the Bible say anything about spiritual ringing in the ears?” Others are commonplace: “What kind of woman was Esther?” Many are crucial and foundational: “How many books are in the Bible?”
In fact, in many cases, these questions are already being answered by P&R writers and teachers. But they are not showing up at the top of search results. This is because they are being answered in a piecemeal fashion, across multiple tiny websites, without application of the principles of search engine optimization.
As I mentioned above, 100,000s of online searches are conducted for search queries related to the Bible and Christianity on a daily basis. Many of these searches are undoubtedly conducted by Christians who are already members of reformed churches. However, my hypothesis is that the vast majority of them are not. Two reasons: First, we know that the membership of NAPARC churches is less than 0.3% of the total population of the United States. Second, many of the most popular Bible-related search queries are weird and off-the-wall, addressing topics we rarely if ever discuss in our circles: “spiritual ringing in the ears in the Bible” or “meaning of 222 in the Bible” or “Jophiel in the Bible.”
For these reasons, I believe it is safe to say that the majority of Bible-related searches are being conducted by people who are not already part of a presbyterian or reformed church. In many cases, they may not be a part of any church (i.e., unchurched, dechurched, nonvert, etc.). Exactly how many searchers fall into this category is anyone’s guess. But I believe that  we can reasonably assume that some unchurched people occasionally search for Bible-related topics online.
The question is this: When they conduct that Bible-related search, are they going to find a reliable answer? And are they going to be pointed to Jesus Christ and to a Bible-saturated church?
Leveraging search engines to connect unchurched people with P&R churches is simple, but not easy
From a 30,000 foot view, reaching unchurched people by publishing content to the most popular Bible-related search queries is simple:

Research the most popular search keywords
Create the highest quality content
Connect website visitors to P&R churches and pastor

This is the stated methodology of the Bible Answers Project.
It isn’t rocket science. It is a simple and proven methodology. But it is not without challenges.
For one thing, researching popular search keywords requires the use of specialized software. This software has a bit of a learning curve.
For another thing, using a website to convince an unchurched person to step foot into a P&R church will undoubtedly fail without the Lord’s blessing. “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps. 127:1).
But the hardest part is creating the highest quality content. It is not impossible, but the online marketplace of ideas is crowded. We should not underestimate the difficulty of standing out in the crowd. It will require wise stewardship of time, money, and talents over a long period of time. This is not an enterprise for the faint of heart. It is a task for “good soldiers,” “athletes,” and “hard-working farmers” of Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1-7).
Despite the toilsome hardships, the journey of creating top-quality, search-optimized content for unchurched people is worthwhile
Yes, the journey will be hard, but it will be worthwhile.
First, God who cannot lie has promised to build his church and gather his elect from the ends of the earth. As URCNA pastor Rev. Michael G. Brown recently wrote: “The Spirit sends us to plant and water in the field that belongs to Christ, and Christ will ensure the increase (1 Cor. 3:6), for all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him” (“The Mission of God as the Grounds of Church Planting”). Or, in the words of the apostle Peter: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Second, by stretching yourself to consider the most popular Bible-related search queries, you will be better equipped to build relationships with unchurched people. Every day thousands of people ask thousands of weird questions about the Bible, many of them strongly influenced by skepticism or superstition. But that is the world we live in. These are, in the words of Aaron Renn, “the pieces on the board today.”
Finally, it is my belief that, by engaging in the work of the Bible Answers Project, thousands of unchurched people can be introduced for the first time to Presbyterian and Reformed churches and pastors. If we publish one top-quality article per day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year, optimized for the most popular Bible-related search keywords, it is sure to make a difference!
How you can get involved with the Bible Answers Project
If you want to help the Bible Answers Project specifically, you can:

Pray: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places… Therefore take up the whole armor of God … praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication (Eph. 6:12,13,18).
Give: Our goal is to publish 300 top-quality search-engine-optimized articles over the next year, starting in July. Writing, editing, and publishing these articles with the highest standards of excellence is going to require a lot of time and energy. So we intend to pay our writers and editors competitive market wages. For this reason, our budget for June 2024 to May 2025 is about $300,000, meaning that we need to raise at least $25,000/month for the next 12 months. Click here to learn more about making a donation. Reformed Churchmen Publications, the 501(c)3 organization which publishes The Aquila Report, has adopted the Bible Answers Project, and pledged $30,000 of seed money to get it off the ground.
Write/Edit: We are looking for 40+ writers and four editors. Visit the “Join the Team” page on the Bible Answers Project website to learn more and apply.
Connect: We are probably only two or three degrees of separation from everyone we need to know to make the most of these opportunities. Who do you know who might be interested in writing and/or editing? Giving? Praying? Please connect us with them!

No matter what, you can prepare your heart, your household, and your church to grow in hospitality, outreach, evangelism, and apologetics.
The Bible Answers Project is emphatically not designed to be a replacement for the worship and work of local congregations. It is simply an attempt to steward the collective talents of Presbyterian and Reformed content creators for the purpose of outreach. The local church with her ordinary means of grace is where “the real action” is. That’s the point: To draw unchurched people out of cyberspace into the life of local churches.
Daniel Vos serves, starting 1 June 2024 officially, as Project Manager of The Bible Answers Project. He is also Chief Executive Officer of Five More Talents, a digital agency which equips churches to use technology wisely in obedience to the Great Commission.
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A return to the centrality of Scripture and right soteriology is only the first step in letting Scripture shape every aspect of life and doctrine.  Just as individuals are progressively sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we should expect the Church as a whole to be progressively sanctified.  Semper reformanda means that even today the Church is in need of reforming.  I have pointed out various heresies that are official Catholic doctrine, but how many Protestants hold to similar doctrines?  

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
-Romans 1:16-17, ESV
I readily admit that Reformed theology is the perspective of my posts and theology page.  But what does it mean to be Reformed?  This is important for those who find themselves in a Reformed church since the doctrines and practices of churches that call themselves Reformed are actually quite varied.  But there are some distinctives that truly Reformed churches will have in common.  That will be our focus in this brief series.  This post will lay the foundation that all Reformed churches can agree on: soteriology (salvation).  Next time we will expand on this with Calvinism.  Then, we will discuss the importance of confessionalism and finally covenant theology.  This will all lead into the topic of covenant renewal worship, in which I will briefly explain why we do what we do on Sunday morning.
The Reformation Foundation
What does it mean to be Reformed?  Alistair Begg once defined it like this: “You start by reading your Bible, then you become biblical, then you’re Reformed”.  That is the essence of Reformed theology: studying Scripture and then letting Scripture dictate everything else.  But isn’t that just being biblical?  It certainly is, which means that all churches that are being biblical should be “Reformed”.  That so many are not indicates that few Christians know Scripture and fewer make Scripture the final authority over faith and life.  This is not to say that those who do not call themselves Reformed are not Christians or that they do not believe the Bible, but goes to show that the Church as a whole has a long way to go in being conformed to the image of Christ.  So why call it “Reformed”?  Essentially, getting back to obeying the Bible was the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, so we are following in the footsteps of Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, etc. Their emphasis was on salvation, so the Reformed view of salvation is one that most Christians can agree upon, even if they do not call themselves Reformed.  To understand this, we need some background on what led to the Reformation in the first place.
By the time Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, the Roman Catholic Church had strayed quite far from Scripture, and they have yet to recant.  As a result, the Roman Catholic Church cannot be considered a true church but heretical and apostate, having abandoned Scripture’s clear teaching on primary doctrines.  That is not to say there are no true Christians who are Catholics.  God can still work amidst much false teaching, so just because they were taught false doctrines does not mean the Holy Spirit cannot regenerate them.  So just as we should pray that Jews repent and embrace their Messiah, we should also pray that Catholics discover the true Christ and His salvation as Luther did.
How can I call the largest denomination in the world heretics and apostates?  Here is just a partial list of Catholic doctrines that directly contradict what is clearly taught in Scripture.  We have previously discussed their false doctrines about Mary, baptism, and communion, but these are relatively minor when compared to their false doctrines regarding Scripture and salvation.  By the Sixteenth Century, they had exalted the pope and church tradition above Scripture and made salvation about works rather than faith.  Instead of trusting in Christ, salvation became about storing up merit, of which most were deficient but some (the saints) had a surplus.  Instead of Christ as the only mediator between God and man, the pope and all of the cardinals, bishops, and priests below him placed themselves in the mediatorial role along with Mary and the saints.  They then taught that after death comes Purgatory, which is a place of torment where people continue to pay for their sins.  All of this plays into their teaching on indulgence: transferring surplus merit from the saints to others so that they can escape Purgatory.  What set Luther over the edge was that Rome was actually selling indulgences.  All of this contradicts Scripture in several places, so it can only be described as heresy.  These heresies are not the result of Scriptural study but of corruption.  It can be argued that this began as soon as Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and peaked in Luther’s day when Rome was the only entity uniting the disparate peoples of Europe.  Rome had immense power during this time, and these doctrines enabled them to hold onto that power.  But Jesus promised that not even the gates of hell can prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18) and that He would destroy anyone who destroys His Church (1 Corinthians 3:17), so a return to Scripture was inevitable.  Starting with Luther then spreading throughout Europe, the Reformation took different forms in different places, but can be summed up in the Five Solas: sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone).[1]
Sola Scripture (Scripture Alone)
The first (and arguably most important) sola is sola Scriptura: Scripture alone is our highest authority, so the Reformation began with a return to the supremacy of Scripture.  The Bible stands alone as the Word of God, so only Scripture is perfect, infallible, and inerrant.  Only Scripture was inspired by God and contains everything we need for life and godliness.  Only Scripture is the ultimate source and standard for truth, so only Scripture can claim ultimate authority over what we believe and how we live.  This theme was woven throughout our discussion of submission in the church, workplace, community, marriage, and parenting: no one has the authority to disobey Scripture or compel anyone else to disobey Scripture.  The Christian cannot participate in or endorse Pride Month activities, use pronouns clearly inconsistent with biology, support or facilitate the murder of children in the womb, or many other things because Scripture forbids it—and we must obey God rather than man.  But in the same way the Christian cannot pray to Mary or the saints, try to earn salvation by works, go to any mediator other than Christ, or believe any of the other Catholic heresies because Scripture forbids that too.  Scripture alone is our highest authority, and we must reject anything that contradicts Scripture.
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This is the source of communion with God—Someone hears the truths of the gospel, God supernaturally shines light into his heart so that he recognizes the beauty and value of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And when that happens to a person, he will give up everything for Christ; He will value Christ above all else. That is true Christianity. 

The king raged with fury.
How dare they say I have no right to be here? he steamed. I have done right in the sight of God. He has blessed me. He thought of all the rich spoils of battle adorning his chambers. I have grown strong. My fame has spread far. I deserve to be here.
“My lord, you must leave!”
What is his problem? How dare he say I must leave? The king picked up the censor to burn incense on the altar. I am trying to honor the Lord with this.
The priest persisted. “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.”
The king turned. A crowd of strong priests stood behind Azariah in the doorway.
The priest moved a step closer. “Go out of the sanctuary,” he pleaded, “for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.”
How dare he challenge the Lord’s blessed servant? He lowered the censor toward the altar.
He trembled, the censor dropping from his hand. What is that? White scales appeared all over his outstretched hand. His left leg collapsed beneath him. A sharp pain spread across his forehead.

King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death.He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper;for he was cut off from the house of the LORD.(2 Chron 26:21)

Barriers
“Let us draw near” (Heb 10:19).
The Son of God himself invites you to draw near to the presence of God and enter into the eternal communion enjoyed by the three persons of the triune godhead.
But any reader of the invitation in Hebrews to draw near would have immediately recognized its inherent problem—this God to whom we are supposed to draw near is holy; he cannot tolerate sin. Yet we are sinful.
The fall of mankind into sin destroyed the possibility of drawing near to God. After Adam and Even sinned they no longer enjoyed the privilege of walking with God in the garden; instead they hid from him in fear and desperately tried to cover their guilt with leaves. And ever since that time, any attempt to draw near to God results in a profound recognition of guilt and unworthiness.
The Israelites experienced this when they drew near to Mt. Sinai; when they witnessed the majesty and greatness and white-hot holiness of God, they trembled in fear and begged Moses to go in their behalf. This is the reason that although God inhabited the holy place in the tabernacle and later the temple, no person could enter his presence except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. This is what Isaiah experienced when he saw the Lord high and lifted up in all of his glory and holiness and cried out with, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa 6:5).
Second Corinthians 4:3 says that every person is born in the condition of perishing, and thus the beauty of a relationship with God is veiled to us: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” Even worse, Paul says that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (v 4). All people are perishing and blind; all people are depraved. The Bible says that no one seeks after God (Rom 3:11); the natural mind cannot understand the things of God (1 Cor 2:14). And because of this, perishing, blind people do not even recognize the wonder and beauty of communion with God.
The problem with the command in Hebrews 10 is that we have neither the right nor even the desire to draw near to God; we do not have access to him because of our sin. The only way God enabled people to partially draw near to him is through temporary sacrifices, and even then there are barriers keeping us from the very presences of God himself; there is a veil hiding the holy place, only the high priest can enter there and only once a year, and we know what happens if you even touch the symbol of God’s presence, the ark—Remember Uzzah? Even Psalm 100 calls people to come only into the outer courts of the temple, not into the actual presence of God. The people had no direct access.
The point is that we cannot obey this command. God commands us to draw near, but this entering into the presence of God to worship him is not possible.
Or is it?
Through Christ
Hebrews 10 explains the solution to the problem through two “since” clauses. The first is found in verse 19: “Since we have confidence to enter the holy places . . . draw near.” Now the term translated “confidence” in most English translations has the idea of free and open “access” to someone or something. “Since we have access to enter the holy places . . . draw near.” So this verse is specifically addressing our problem. God commands us to draw near to him, but because of our sin we do not have access to him. Yet this verse tells us that such access is possible; it is possible to have access to the holy place of God’s presence.
Here is the first term in our text that is meant to conjure up images of Old Testament worship. The holy place was that most sacred of places in the tabernacle and temple, and several boundaries prevented access to God in this place. The first was the wall that enclosed the outer court of the temple, then was the wall of the temple itself, and finally the veil that hid the holy place where the Ark of God dwelt. In each successive stage, fewer and fewer people had access. No Jew would ever even consider entering the Holy Place; they knew what happened when Uzziah did that.
In fact, if you go to Jerusalem today, you’ll find out that there’s a certain area of the temple ground where it is forbidden to Jews to ever walk, because it may be the area where the Holy of Holies once stood, and no Jew would ever put his foot on the Holy of Holies. So that’s why there are big signs outside the gates of the temple area that say, “Orthodox Jews have been forbidden by the rabbi to enter in this place lest they step on the Holy of Holies.” Orthodox Jews have a fear still today of ever going into the presence of God.
Jesus our Substitute
But Hebrews 10:19 tells us that we have access, not just to the outer court, not just into the entrance of the temple, but beyond the veil into the very presence of God. How can this be? Keep reading: “by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”
Access to God is possible through a sacrifice, and this is no ordinary sacrifice; this is the vicarious, substitutionary atonement of the Son of God. At the beginning of Hebrews 10, the author revealed the insufficiency of animal sacrifices to purify those who come to God in worship: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”
But this sacrifice can perfect those who draw near. This Jesus is fully man, and thus he can stand as our substitute, and he is fully God, and thus he can pay an eternal punishment to an eternal, holy God that no normal man could. And because of the perfection and eternality of this sacrifice, it need not be offered day after day after day to atone for sin; it is offered one time and the complete wrath of God is fully appeased.
This is what God pictured when he slew the animal in the garden and covered Adam and Eve’s guilt. This is what was pictured when Moses offered a sacrifice at the foot of Mt. Sinai so that the elders of the people could approach God. This is what was pictured each year in Israel on the Day of Atonement when an animal was sacrificed and the high priest entered the holy place to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. This is what was pictured when the seraph took a burning coal from the altar and placed it on Isaiah’s lips, saying, “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
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