Parkside Church

News

Recent Blogposts

  • Event

    Potluck for Parents

    Location: The Venue
    Start Time: Fri 19, Jan. 2018, 9:30 p.m.
    End Time: Sat 20, Jan. 2018, midnight

    Parents of middle school and high school students are invited to join us at The Venue on Friday January 19 at 6:30pm for dinner.

  • The Year in Review: 2017

    We are thankful for God's many blessings throughout 2017.

  • Christmas Eve Services

    Join us for Christmas Eve Services on Sunday, December 24. Please note that our services this year are at 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm only. There will be no morning services.

  • Taking the Next Step in Lake County

    Dear Friends, the time is upon us [in Lake County] to take the next step in our church.

  • Recommended Reading for December

    Three Recommendations for Christmas

    We'd love to recommend three books to you during the Christmas season.  We hope that you'll read one, give a copy to a friend, and talk about it over coffee or a meal.

    Child in the Manger
    by Sinclair Ferguson

    Prepare Him Room: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus Family Devotional by Marty Machowski

    Christmas Playlist by Alistair Begg

  • Christmas Benevolence Project

    Parkside Church desires to share the joy of Christmas with families in need, both in Cleveland through our partnership with Scranton Road Bible Church and in our surrounding community by partnering with local schools and organizations. By purchasing essentials and Christmas gifts, our goal is to offer families hope during the holiday season: the hope that comes from generosity, and the hope that comes from Jesus.

  • Christmas Concert Volunteers Needed

    We are in need of general volunteers to serve at each Christmas concert helping people to their seats, greeting, scanning tickets, passing out programs, etc.

  • The Spurgeon Study Bible

    This November, Holman Bible has released their CSB Spurgeon Study Bible.

  • Event

    Boys' Game Night

    Location: The Warehouse
    Start Time: Fri 17, Nov. 2017, 9:30 p.m.
    End Time: Sat 18, Nov. 2017, midnight

    Boys' Game Night (BGN) is an evening that dads and boys won't want to miss!

  • Reformation 500th Anniversary

    The Gospel Coalition

    Reformation 500 Statement

     

    Today we join with millions of Christians around the world in celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

     

    Granted, dates like these are hard to pin down. Who is to say when something as big as the Reformation began? And what about those who labored for reform long before October 31, 1517? Nevertheless, for centuries, Protestants have instinctively recognized that a providential series of events was set in motion on this day 500 years ago when a German professor named Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

     

    We give thanks for Martin Luther, imperfect though he was, for the role he played in igniting a reform movement that caught fire in the cities of the Holy Roman Empire, spread through the rest of Europe, and now reaches to the ends of the earth. Wherever we find the Scriptures alone as the highest and final authority, grace alone as the only hope for sinners, faith alone as the only ground for justification, Christ alone as the only atoning sacrifice for sin, and God alone as the ultimate object of our worship—wherever we find these truths sung, savored, and celebrated, we have reason to rejoice in the Reformation.

     

    But we do more on this day than give thanks for the past. We also marvel at what we see in the present. Who but God could have foreseen the triumphs of the gospel in the last 500 years—from the planting of Reformation churches in the New World, to the explosion of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa, to revivals in Korea, to the endurance (and now spectacular) growth of the church in China, to renewed gospel vibrancy in places as diverse as Australia, the Arabian Peninsula, Brazil, and India? Who but God could have known that once the Bible was translated into English and German and French it would also be translated into Albanian, Cambodian, Japanese, Oshindonga, Navajo, and Swahili? Who but God could have predicted that with the advent of airplanes, radios, and the internet, the good news of justification by faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone would be available to more people in more places than at any time in history? This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 118:23).

     

    And yet, we are not blind to the challenges facing the church: secularization in the former countries of Christendom, opposition to biblical orthodoxy in the West, and increasing violence against the church in parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Theological heterodoxy holds sway in too many places, as do grinding poverty (on the one hand) and affluent indifference (on the other). And this is to say nothing of rising racial tensions, widespread nominalism, and the plight of those—numbering in the billions—who have no access to the gospel.

     

    But Scripture tells us that the word of God is not bound (2 Timothy 2:9). What we know from the Bible and have seen in history—that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16)—we expect to see in the years ahead. We are not confident in ourselves or in our ministries. We are but a vapor, a mist that appears and then vanishes away (James 4:4). We will not change the world, or even a single human heart, but we know the One who can and does. The God that Luther proclaimed is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and our God too. Though cultures change, and the church with it at times, the Head of the Church does not change. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).

     

    And so on this momentous day when we celebrate the rediscovery of the gospel and the recovery of true worship, we commit ourselves once again to the worship of our triune God and the gladhearted declaration of this gospel. And if the Lord should tarry another half millennium, our prayer is not to be remembered as Luther is, but only to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands as he was.

     

    The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever (Isa. 40:8).