God's Ambassadors The Westminster Assembly and the Reformation of the English Pulpit 1643 to 1653

The Westminster Assembly is celebrated for its doctrinal standards and debates on church polity. But how often is the assembly noted for its extraordinary intervention in the pulpit ministry of the Church of England? In God’s Ambassadors, Chad Van Dixhoorn recounts the Puritan quest for a reformation in preachers and preaching and how the Westminster Assembly fit into that movement. He examines the assembly’s reform efforts, tracing debates and exploring key documents about preaching in a way that both highlights disagreements within the assembly’s ranks and showcases their collective plan for the church going forward.

Moreover, Van Dixhoorn reveals the rationale behind the assembly’s writings and reforms, both in terms of biblical exegesis and practical theology. Unlike any other book, God’s Ambassadors draws attention to the lengths to which the Westminster Assembly would go in promoting godly preachers and improved preaching.

Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9781601785343

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Chad Van Dixhoorn is Chancellor’s Professor of Historical Theology and Associate Professor of Church History at Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington D.C.

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“Preaching has been the central means of grace for churches that look to the Reformation as God’s greatest work of ecclesial renewal and recovery in the past millennium. And in the anglophone world, this conviction was reinforced by the Puritans above all, and especially at the Westminster Assembly, which was a key moment in the history of the pulpit—not simply for its Presbyterian majority, but also for the Congregationalists and Particular Baptists whose piety and polity were deeply shaped by its confession. In this rich study, grounded in a thorough knowledge of the assembly, its participants, and their thought, Chad Van Dixhoorn has given us a superb study of the assembly’s view of the importance of preaching, its nature and spirituality. This is vital reading for anyone seriously concerned about the prosperity of the church today, for without the preached Word there can be no hope of human flourishing, neither individual nor corporate.” —Michael A. G. Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary