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| Josiah Pratt |
I would guess that, as with the whole idea of societies in general, the 18th Century is the place to look. From the end of the 17th Century right through into the 19th Century there was something of a craze for forming societies of all sorts. The Methodist revival was marked by the use of societies for prayer and mutual edification. Towards the end of the 18th Century, societies for ministers were beginning to be popular.
As early as 1714 the Baptists had a fraternal in London. This was despite the break down of the churches association and according to some authorities, coincided with an increasingly high view of the responsibility, privilege and dignity of ministers. It was reconstituted on strictly Calvinist lines in 1724 and became known as The Baptist Board, taking on several functions normally assumed by associations including giving advice to ministers and churches located both in and beyond London. The Northamptonshire Association of Particular Baptists began in 1763 and included a ministers’ fraternal. One of its meetings in 1787 is the one where Carey was famously put down regarding his crazy ideas about missions to the heathen. It was eventually the cradle, of course, for the Particular Mission to the heathen whose first missionary was Carey himself. In the same period, there was also a successful Baptist fraternal in the Bristol area.
Perhaps it was what he saw of this association when he was in Olney that led John Newton, at the age of 73 and then ministering in London, to form The Eclectic Society, a fraternal of ministers that has become more widely known through the Banner book The thought of the evangelical leaders which contains notes of their discussions in the years 1798-1814.
The society actually began in 1783 without a name. D Bruce Hindmarsh (in his biography of John Newton, p 312) describes it as ‘a regular, informal synod of evangelical ministers and leading laymen’. John H Pratt states that it was ‘for mutual religious intercourse and improvement, and for the investigation of religious truth.’ It first met at the Castle and Falcon Inn, Aldersgate, on January 16 and was attended by Newton and two fellow ministers, his later biographer Richard Cecil and Rev Henry Foster and one Eli Bates, esquire. It slowly increased to around a dozen and began to meet fortnightly in the vestry of St John’s Chapel, Bedford Row. Most were Anglican ministers but there were always one or two dissenters and ‘laymen’. It too was a cradle for mission, the Church Missionary Society in this case. Josiah Pratt whose notes are preserved in the Banner book became secretary also to the CMS.
The pattern was to meet for tea at four and then after a brief prayer to discuss a pre-arranged subject for around three hours. Hindmarsh interestingly says that it embodied Newton’s ideals – ‘A non-partisan group of evangelical believers, gathered in a spirit of friendship for ‘improving’ spiritual conversation.’ He quotes Newton himself, saying in a letter, ‘I am not fond either of assemblies, consistories, synods, councils, benches, or boards. ... [Ministers’] associations, in my judgement, should always be voluntary and free. Thus there are ten or a dozen of us in London, who frequently meet; we deliberate, ask, and give advice as occasions arise; but the sentiment of one, or even of the whole body is not binding on any.’
If we skip forward to the 20th and 21st Centuries, the fraternal best known to many Reformed people is The Westminster Fellowship. According to Iain Murray, this began as a quarterly Tuesday morning meeting at Westminster Chapel (not Mondays as ministers would be playing golf then!). Attendance was, as with the Eclectic Society, by invitation. Dr Lloyd-Jones had had a similar meeting when he was in Aberavon and, encouraged by Douglas Johnson, he began something on similar lines here in the capital. There were about a dozen at first but then in 1942 Oakhill Principal Alan Stibbs invited the Doctor to speak on the subject of original sin in a small IVF study group. This led to Stibbs, P E Hughes and others joining the Westminster Fellowship too.
From October 1942 Stibbs became secretary and they began to meet at 1.30-4.15 pm. The first half of the afternoon was given over to sharing. (The fellowship got the name ‘The confession’ due to that. It was also known as the black hole of Calcutta as it met in the downstairs parlour where no natural light entered.) The Doctor was keen to discuss things rather than hear papers and was insistent that it should be only for ministers not students or others.
By 1955 the fraternal had outgrown the parlour and was meeting in the Institute Hall (now the Dr Lloyd-Jones Memorial Hall) and by 1958 a ‘large group’ was gathering there. A tradition developed of an away day in June when the Doctor would speak in the morning and discussion would follow in the afternoon. Towards the end of the fifties these meetings began to be at Guessens in Welwyn (now EMF HQ). Murray says that over a hundred were present in 1959. He says that the standard of debate was often high with men like Ernest Kevan able to challenge the Doctor at times. He also remarks on the humour that was even then an essential part of the fellowship. In January 1960 the meeting day changed from Tuesday to Monday (to suit the ladies who made the tea and also met on Tuesdays). From 1963 the meetings also began to include morning sessions when speakers would usually address matters pertaining to church polity and evangelical unity.
On November 29, 1966 the Fellowship met for the last time in its initial form, the Doctor announcing at the end of the morning session ‘The present Westminster Fraternal must be considered as disbanded’ (Murray, p 532). The fraternal was reconstituted as a separatist grouping and continues to this day. Dr Lloyd-Jones continued to chair, even though latterly hampered by a measure of deafness, after his retirement from the Chapel, led discussion being the norm. Murray gives an example of debate on pp 703f of the biography. The Doctor chaired his last Westminster Fellowship in June 1980. Since that time it has been in the hands of a committee with various chairmen. Numbers have dwindled from over a hundred to a present attendance of around 20-40. It is now back downstairs again in the refurbished church parlour. Innovations include many more addresses and occasional preaching sessions. Its strength lies beyond what goes on in meetings and extends to the fellowship that it fosters beyond the four walls of the meeting place.
Some other fraternals are similar to the Westminster but many more meet over the lunch period to hear papers or to discuss.
(Just one more bit after this)
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