The email said, “I would like to talk about the prospect of a Westminster Confession podcast—a paragraph at a time. Bring your ideas. –N.” That was sent in December 2016 to friends Shawn Anderson, Kyle Borg, and Joel Wood, and became the genesis of The Jerusalem Chamber podcast. The Jerusalem Chamber recently concluded its paragraph-by-paragraph discussion through The Westminster Confession of Faith. You can still find a Jerusalem Chamber column each month in the Witness.

The Westminster Confession of Faith is a 33-chapter confession written at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The Westminster Assembly met between 1643–1653, called during the English Civil War as a result of the Scots and English covenanting with one another as the English sought Scottish military aid and assistance in the reformation of the Church of England. The result of this reformation was a full and robust system of doctrine that has blessed the Reformed and Presbyterian world ever since. The Jerusalem Chamber podcast has sought to teach through these documents, beginning with The Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Jerusalem Chamber (TJC) podcast recently concluded 164 episodes of paragraph-by-paragraph exposition of The Westminster Confession of Faith. The podcast has thousands of listeners and has introduced many to both the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) as well as the historic Presbyterian positions on many biblical doctrines. Besides the paragraph discussions, several interviews on various topics have occurred. David Whitla, Richard Gaffin Jr., John Bower, Scott Clark, and other professors, writers, and theologians have joined TJC to discuss books related to The Westminster Confession and other areas of expertise.

The Beginnings

Shawn, Kyle, Joel, and I have a text thread that goes back years. As pastor friends, we have encouraged each other, texted prayer requests, challenged each other, and discussed many theological ideas. This discussion thread led to the idea that we might consider starting a podcast as a way to have a theological outlet for discussion and propagating biblical teaching. The Jerusalem Chamber began in December 2016, with the first episode launching the following February.

A series of emails, texts, and Skype calls led to preparation for our podcast. I am a notorious note taker. My children, when I am dead, will throw away dozens and dozens of Moleskine notebooks filled with ideas, sermon outlines, prayer requests, and frantic thoughts. One such notebook page records Shawn saying, “This is to be a podcast on a more popular level.” That same page has Kyle giving these three pieces of advice: 1) We want to make sure we finish the whole Confession, 2) We have to focus on practical application, and 3) This is the original Confession and not the American revision.

Check.

Check.

And check.

Several names were suggested for the new podcast: from Confessional Churchmen to Humble Advice, which was the claim the Westminster divines were making to Parliament, to The Perpetual Monument, which was a London newspaper that reported on the work of the assembly. About 10 other names are on the list of potential podcast names, but The Jerusalem Chamber was chosen, the name of the room in Westminster Abbey where the assembly met to conduct a decade’s worth of business. Logo, website, introductory music, and our very own wives recording the introduction were all completed to help launch TJC.

We got off to a rocky start, with the first couple of episodes lacking volume continuity between speakers and including sound effects intending to be fun or helpful. The sound effects were neither fun nor helpful. After the first couple of episodes, we got the hang of recording, and our various personalities, knowledge of each other, and friendships were useful in teaching through the Confession in an enjoyable way.

The Purpose

As we worked through The Westminster Confession of Faith, we had several ideas in our mind that (we believe) were maintained through these first eight years of TJC. We sought to teach theology in the style of Dr. J. G. Vos. He was “the people’s theologian,” and aiming at the pews rather than the ivory tower, in effect, changed the pews and the ivory tower. J. Gresham Machen was similar in that he was not a productive seminary professor until he began teaching middle school Sunday school classes. We sought to reach the 20-somethings and others who were more into listening to podcasts than reading dusty tomes.

We also aimed at being practical. Systematic theology is practical. Ames said theology was teaching “the art of living unto God.” William Perkins said that theology was the “art of living blessedly forever.” The Jerusalem Chamber has sought both practicality and precision. In this practical-precise approach to theological discussion, we sought also to be polemical in the best sense of the word. We have sought to defend historic Presbyterianism in doctrine, worship, government, and piety. We have also sought to defend the RPCNA, being a positive voice of confessional pastoral theology to a listening world.

Several changes have occurred since The Jerusalem Chamber first aired. Joel is no longer in the RPCNA as he sought refuge in the PCA in La Mesa, Calif. Kyle participated in a year-long, Synod-level investigation and trial, which took much pastoral energy and time. Nathan moved from Los Angeles to Orlando, leaving palm trees and ocean waters for palm trees and ocean waters. Shawn is a workhorse, ever steady, ever true. Since 2016, we have added children, sons-in-law, gray hairs, and college students. Of course, Covid happened. Through these and many other changes, personally and pastorally, we have continued to teach paragraph-by-paragraph through The Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Influence

The influence of *The Jerusalem Chamber *has been wider than we originally expected. We have heard from the 20-somethings that they listen, appreciate the humor and the teaching. We expected that. We did not expect to hear that some congregations use it for Sabbath school or that men preparing for their presbytery examinations use it to refresh their thinking on confessional ideas.

Several other podcasters who began since 2017 have let us know that The Jerusalem Chamber was influential in their desire to start a podcast. From a podcast that focuses on the PCA’s Book of Order to another that teaches through the Larger Catechism *to another that teaches through the *Heidelberg Catechism, The Jerusalem Chamber has influenced other pastors to teach beyond their church walls.

One podcaster, whose podcast started in 2021, told me that he would be offended as we defended the old school Presbyterian positions, and it led him to study those positions further. Upon further study, he adopted the old positions on worship, the law’s uses, and other ideas. He said at times TJC balanced “hard and pastoral.”

Many have found The Jerusalem Chamber to be helpful to their spiritual lives. A few have asked for the scoop on the inside jokes or meaning behind the banter. Many have been annoyed by it, we are sure. That’s fine, too. All of this brings us joy as we have been able to teach through our confessional standards in a warm, confessional, experiential, and entertaining way. This has given us—and the RPCNA—a voice much bigger and an audience much wider than our own congregations.

The Future

Occasionally listeners will ask, “What’s next?” Or “Is Joel going to continue now that he’s PCA?” Do we have an answer in mind as to what’s next? As we have finished The Westminster Confession of Faith, we are remaining committed to our desire to teach through the Westminster Standards. One of the lesser-known subordinate standards is the Westminster Directory for Publick Worship. The Directory begins, “In the beginning of the blessed Reformation, our wise and pious ancestors took care to set forth an order for redress of many things, which they then, by the word, discovered to be vain erroneous, superstitious, and idolatrous, in the publick worship of God.…”

As we delve into our new material, we believe that both the RPCNA, and the greater Reformed world, will benefit from unfolding the doctrine and practice of worship in whole and in its parts. Of course, in many ways, this will keep us RPCNA focused on the parts of worship, but there will be challenges along the way as to what has become the status quo. As they say, “Stay tuned for that.”

Over the next weeks, we hope to revamp our website and add a tab for buying swag or participating in giving. None of us earn money from TJC; we merely want to bring in enough funds to continue to do the work. We also hope to bring our listeners more articles and material such as interviews. We could use the prayer support and encouragement to those ends. Also, become a full subscriptionist by subscribing to The Jerusalem Chamber on your favorite podcast platform…and, of course, become a full subscriptionist to the Westminster Standards.