Short post: Thoughts from John Calvin’s book, The Necessity of Reforming the Church.

One of the most striking aspects of The Necessity of Reforming the Church is Calvin’s insistence that true reformation must not be delayed. He wrote, “I was not permitted to delay with further hesitation, since the matter required immediate change.” After carefully laying out the need for reform in worship, the faithful preaching of the Word, and the proper administration of the sacraments, Calvin ends with a sense of urgency that feels rare even today. For him, reform was not a theoretical ideal or a long-term project to be postponed for comfort or stability—it was a spiritual emergency. What stands out is the pastoral heart behind this urgency: Calvin understood that delay meant continued harm to the church and confusion for God’s people. In contrast, much of Christian leadership can drift into complacency, especially when reform is costly or disruptive. Calvin’s refusal to wait challenges modern readers to examine whether our patience is actually prudence—or simply an excuse to avoid the hard, faithful work of reforming the church according to Scripture.