SB Staff Annual Meeting 2023

Have you ever wondered how the Standard Bearer works? How are content and direction of the publication decided? What goes into the planning of the special issues? These are questions decided upon when, once annually, the editors and writers of the SB meet to decide on topics, rubrics, and writers for the upcoming volume year. Last week Wednesday, June 7, such a meeting was held at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary.

Perhaps most notable was that last week's meeting was to plan for the 100^th volume year! This volume year's first issue will be published, God willing, October 1, 2024. Details and sneak peeks to come via the RFPA email list, to which you can subscribe here.

Editors and writers of the SB meet to discuss the upcoming 100th volume year.

In attendance (both in-person and virtually) were the SB editors—Prof. Barry Gritters, Prof. Brian Huizinga, and Rev. Josh Engelsma—as many writers as could be present (some participated by Zoom), and some members of the RFPA board and staff. Although the RFPA is responsible for the distribution and marketing of the publication, all content and direction of regular and special issues are determined by the SB editorial staff. Like the RFPA, the SB is itself a “free” publication in that it does not exist under any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and thus seeks writers of diverse backgrounds who cleave to its conservative, Reformed mission and roots.

Staff and attendees alike thank these men for their service and dedication to the RFPA and the Standard Bearer.

Before the meeting, staff and friends enjoy lunch and fellowship on the grounds of the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary. 

Thanks be to God for sustaining this publication for a full century of edifying, Reformed content. We on the RFPA staff pray for many more years of such content, to the end that the SB and its editorial staff continue to glorify God by “explaining and defending Reformed doctrine, promoting the Reformed life of the Church and believer, and combating old and new errors that threaten to disrupt the Reformed faith and life.”

Read more from the Standard Bearer via the archives here, and subscribe to the magazine through the RFPA website here. Please note that there are both domestic (USA) and international subscriptions available.

What is the Standard Bearer?

The SB is a publication that’s been in print since 1924. This semi-monthly, 24-page magazine has boldly and unashamedly testified to the faith of the Protestant Reformation for nearly a century. This magazine was the first of the RFPA’s long-term publications, and today has more than 2,200 subscribers worldwide.

The magazine traces its history back to the early 1920s “common grace” controversy between the Christian Reformed synod and a number of pastors, including Rev. Herman Hoeksema (1886-1965). Shortly before these pastors left the CRC to form a new denomination, the Protestant Reformed Christian (PRC) churches, they started a publication called the Standard Bearer, which served as a literary outlet for their views on common vs. particular grace. Hoeksema served as editor of the magazine for many years. Learn more about this history from such RFPA publications as Sin and Grace (2003) and The Rock Whence We Are Hewn (2015).