The main reason for going up was to be at a wedding. Eleri's cousin's son was marrying a Whitby girl, the third wedding in three years for that family of five, so we will all be twiddling our thumbs rather next August. The wedding itself was in Whitby Evangelical Church, (see here especially) a former shop on Skinner Street that has been attractively converted. The sermon was given by John Perry the groom's brother-in-law and was a straight UCCF style gospel presentation. With several unbelievers present it was good to focus there. The whole service was God honouring and a joy to be involved with. That can be said pretty much about the whole day, which continued with a cake reception at the church then a formal meal at the plush nearby Raithwaite Hotel and dancing 'til late (hopefully not too late). The several speeches were of a very high order, Daniel the groom singing unembarrassingly to his new bride and the seriously funny best man (Alex Passmore) making us all laugh but finding time to testify to God's goodness too, before rounding things off by being joined by a male voice choir to give a slightly amended rendition of Danny Boy. I'm not sure if I've been to a wedding where a wedding planner has been involved before but all sorts of things seem to have been thought of to add to the whole thing. We were sat on a table of 5 couples, most of whom, it turned out, were pastor's kids.
The following day we headed on to have lunch with friends in Carlton Minniot, attending the service at Hambleton Evangelical Church. The preacher that morning was David Owens from Milnrow Evangelical church. His sermon was evangelistic like John the day before but the two sermons could not have been more different. David used a score or more of anecdotes to back up his message, a call to repentance and faith. I guess D L Moody would have preached something like that. There was something decidedly old style evangelist in it.
It was goo to catch up with the Davies's but conscious of the long journey ahead we decided to go further south that afternoon and attend Wycliffe Independent Church, Sheffield. I have never been there before though I know one or two in the church, including the minister Ed Collier. Ed was preaching from James 1 on profiting from suffering. Not evangelistic this time, this was a careful and clear exposition of the passage and theme and for the third time a privilege to hear.
All three of these churches would be similar in that they are evangelical churches in the Lloyd-Jones tradition. They have all had Presbyterian ministers but are probably mostly made up of Baptists. Sheffield (founded 1908) is the oldest and largest with a nice airy building put up in 1994 and set in a busy part of the city. They currently have one minister and would like to increase their staffing back to the two they had until Spencer Cunnah headed this way. Hambleton (begun in 1969) is much smaller and is in the countryside. They have recently called Richard Wigham from Llantrisant, who will be inducted next month. The church in the seaside town of Whitby (formed in 1973) with its extensive refurbished property is probably somewhere in between size wise and is currently without a minister.
My knowledge of the Yorkshire Reformed scene is quite limited but it was good to get this little taste.
It was goo to catch up with the Davies's but conscious of the long journey ahead we decided to go further south that afternoon and attend Wycliffe Independent Church, Sheffield. I have never been there before though I know one or two in the church, including the minister Ed Collier. Ed was preaching from James 1 on profiting from suffering. Not evangelistic this time, this was a careful and clear exposition of the passage and theme and for the third time a privilege to hear.
All three of these churches would be similar in that they are evangelical churches in the Lloyd-Jones tradition. They have all had Presbyterian ministers but are probably mostly made up of Baptists. Sheffield (founded 1908) is the oldest and largest with a nice airy building put up in 1994 and set in a busy part of the city. They currently have one minister and would like to increase their staffing back to the two they had until Spencer Cunnah headed this way. Hambleton (begun in 1969) is much smaller and is in the countryside. They have recently called Richard Wigham from Llantrisant, who will be inducted next month. The church in the seaside town of Whitby (formed in 1973) with its extensive refurbished property is probably somewhere in between size wise and is currently without a minister.
My knowledge of the Yorkshire Reformed scene is quite limited but it was good to get this little taste.
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