Justification by Faith

It was good to be over in Cranford, West London, on Saturday night for a meeting where John Benton spoke very helpfully on the subject of justification by faith (the meaningm the grounds and the instrument - faith). The meeting was organised by my good friend and former assistant, Robin Asgher and pastor friends among the Teugu speakers of London. The bonus was some very nice Siouth Indian food to follow. It is hoped that further such meetings will be possible.

The last two Mondays

I suppose it has been a busy time to some extent recently. We had our son and his family here for a few days at one point and we visited the natural history museum with them. I had a zoom committee meeting about the work in Cranford on January 26. On February 1 we had our first fraternal walk of the year on the Heath. Only four of us. I have also started some baptism classes for our Iranian friends. Then I have also been busy on the last two Mondays in different ways.

Firstly, on Monday Jan 23, I spoke on zoom for the Evangelical Library on Samson Occom and his time in Britain which I am also serialising as articles in In writing, It is a very interesting story and I hope I was able to get it over. A recording is available from the Library. We also had a Library committee on zoom in the afternoon.

Secondly, on Monday Jan 30, I was up at the Pastors Academy for the latst reading grop. We looked at Mez McConnell's book The leat, the last and the lost. We had a bumper turn out. No-one was entirely satisfied with it but most were more willing to give it consideration than I was. I was put off by the amouont of pagan sociology the book contains. I suppose I should see past that and benefit from the content. Hard to do sometimes. Next time we will be looking, God willing, at Michael Haykin's Amidst us our beloved stands.

Lord's Day February 21 2021

Sunday morning was a bit different. I have been doing this series on things to meditate on and one of the things is God's Works. I said something about water as an example and then I took four or five passages of Scripture where animals are mentioned and drew out lessons from this places - ie Job 38-40, Daniel and Jonah in their respective books, Proverbs 30 and Matthew 10:16. We were again around 12 in the chapel but many more listening in on Zoom. In the evening it was Zoom only when I preached on the next story in Luke 5 (verses 17-34). We also had a visit from Robin Asgher a former member, working in West London church planting and ministering in Detention Centres in the area. Amazing stuff going on. What needs. Great day.

Midweek Meeting June 6 2018 etc

For quite a while I have been reporting on this blog what goes on at our regular meetings on the Lord's Day and on Wednesday nights. I didn't do this at first but as these loom so large in my weekly life it seemed strange to say nothing about them week after week.  There is an opitimum two or three day turn around time between each one and sometimes I am a little late with my updates.

We are quite late in the week for this one but I think that has turned to my advantage in the end. I say that because on Wednesday we had a visiting speaker. It was Robin Asgher from Cranford. Robin grew up in Pakistan and I first met him when I was a lecturer on the EMF course. He went on to do two years at the Seminary and was my assistant for a year before beginning as a church planter in Cranford, West London. He always speaks about me and that time very warmly.

It was great to have him back then and hear a little about the work in Cranford which now includes opportunities at nearby detention centre with immigrants interested in the Christian faith. The main topic was reaching out to Muslims. We are having a special focus on outreach in the area this month. He has a lot of experience in that area and had helpful things to say.

One reason I am not sorry to have left this report a little is that the next evening we had a visit from Luke Jenner, who had been lecturing on Acts at the Seminary. He is one of many students who, like Robin, were regularly with us during their time at seminary. Generally speaking I think these were positive times for the men involved. We certainly appreciated having them with us. (I am tempted to start listing them but I will leave someone out I'm sure. There are many. Robin, Mark Raines, Ian Middlemist and Andrew Lolley stand out as they also served as assistants). Most of these men are in ministry at present. I get rather discouraged sometimes and one bright spot that makes me confident it has not been as bad as I feel is these former members of the congregation.

The other reason I am glad that I have delayed is that Robin was encouraging us to be friendly to Muslims and to take time to get to know them. Well, today was the first day of door to door and a deacon and I knocked in one of the high rise flats near the church. Most people were out though those who were in were friendly enough. Then we knocked a door and the lady, a Muslim, I recognised from a local shop. She invited us in for a cuppa and we had a good chat while some Hindi gameshow played on a TV in the corner. She was very positive about Islam (though not fasting and unenthusiastic about some of its modern manifestations). One could think of several women in the congregation who might be able to befriend her and I must get hold of a bilingual New Testament for her. An encouraging start then.

We also had our second actual men's meeting. I must report on that elsewhere.

Cranford Meeting 2015

It was good to be inn Cranford once again with Robin and Muno Asgher for the annual meeting. The situation continue s to be one of vast opportunity among Asian people of Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu background. About 40 of us gathered. The preacher was Gerard Hemmings from nearby Amyand Park. He preached very helpfully from 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. I chaired. It is a privilege to be involved in this work. Do pray for the work.

Cranford Baptist Annual Thanksgiving

It was good to be there on Saturday in Cranford with perhaps 50 others for the annual thanksgiving service for Robin and Muno Asgher and family. I chaired, representing the support group. Other members taking part were Andrew Heron who prayed and Richard Underwood who preached a fine sermon from Ezekiel 37 reminding us of preaching, prayer and the powerful grace of God. David McGowan gave a brief report on our behalf too and Robin himself spoke about the work, which continues to be tough going but not without its encouragements. Do pray for this work, which is a genuine outreach to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, etc.

Wales, The Evangelical Library, Cranford

https://www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/about-regents/portraits/helwys/andrew-fuller/

Last week was very busy chiefly because I was busy ferrying my sons to their respective universities in Wales.

Firstly, on Monday I spent much of the day at the Evangelical Library, first to hear Jeremy Walker give and excellent lunch time paper on Andrew Fuller. We struggled up to double figures once again and so it was a worthwhile affair. There was a committee in the afternoon and then in the evening Jeremy led six of us in the first of our Between the Lines discussion groups (on culture and whether it exists). This is a difficult thing to pull off but at least we've made a start.

On Tuesday I took Dylan (along with Rosie from the church, also a student in the same institution) back to Cardiff. He has new digs further up the same street. The rain was pelting down but we managed to unload quickly enough. I couldn't hang about as there was a church officers meeting that night. Then on Friday Eleri and I took Dewi to Swansea for the first time. That's 50 miles further on and less explored territory for us though Dewi is living in the student village which borders on Gower Road, where Eleri spent the first six weeks of her life. He seems to be settling in. Having been relieved from our normal Friday night duties with children and young people we were able to pop in and see my sister and he children in Cwmbran. We were able to give Charlie and boy friend Dave a lift back here.

On Saturday I chaired the annual meeting over at Cranford where Basil Howlett was the preacher. I was able to join Robin, Muno and the children for lunch beforehand in the manse. That was really good. We were a decent number at the meeting. The Nairobi bombing was dominating thoughts when I first arrived as Muno's parents nearly always go to that mall - but not this time! It was the next day that we heard of the atrocity in Pakistan. What a wicked world this is but one where the Word continues to go out.

10 Years in Cranford

It was good to be present with many others this afternoon at Cranford Baptist marking the tenth anniversary of Robin Asgher coming to lead the work there. It was good to see Robin and Muno and other old friends. Chris Bennett preached well on the living, conquering, empowering and commanding Christ. The service was led by Paul Williams from Swindon and Basil Howlett from Reading spoke on behalf of the support group and trust.

Recent preaching and listening etc

Yesterday we were in North Wales and went to church in the morning to Capelfron, Penrhyndeudraeth, where the minister, Peter Campbell, was preaching on the resurrection. We were among several holiday makers who doubled the congregation to over a hundred. Valiant efforts were made to serve us all with a cuppa after, which was appreciated. We met a number of people we knew including old friends who were based in London back in the nineties who now attend regularly. We have been to the chapel several times before and I have preached there more than once. It is a difficult time for the fellowship at the moment as some will know. We are praying.

In the evening, however, we went somewhere new - to the family church in Criccieth. The church has grown out of SU beach missions work. Again we knew some there including the minister Ben Thomas and his wife, Bethan, who also spent some years in London, this time as part of the LIP team in Covent Garden. It was one of their monthly gospel presentations so it wasn't a worship service as such but Ben preached well from Romans 5. We were about 40. They had had a large number for the morning service (150+).

Back home my new fellow elder Robert Strivens was preaching. I was in Childs Hill the week before (April 1) but had been away preaching the Sunday before that down in the little chapel at Pains Hill, where I have friends. They are good people there. There were some new faces but they are a little discouraged as they are about to lose a key couple who are moving to another needy situation.

I was also preaching last Thursday on the crown of thorns in West London, in Cranford, where a good number gathered from Cranford, Hounslow West, Hayes, etc. My good friend Robin Asgher led the service and it was nice to see so many familiar faces. I also met a lovely Panjabi man called Sanjeev and his family, who are new to these circles and loving it.

The other thing that has been taking up my time recently is the Holiday Bible Club we had at the church April 3-5. We only had about twenty along which is good but we wish there had been a lot more. Like Eleri's sister in Bradford on Avon the same week we used Run the race available from Go Teach, which was a great help, though I was sorry to see pictures of Jesus (though very subtle).

I Quite Like Mondays

The last three Mondays have been pretty busy ones and I've not really reported the good things I've been enjoying. So time for a quick round up.

This last Monday (13th) I was giving a historical lecture at Bulkington Congregational Church. My good friend Mike Iliff had kindly recommended me and it was good to be in the lovely little chapel there near Nuneaton for the first time and to meet their minister Peter Mackenzie. A good crowd gathered and it was good to see a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces and to meet several when tea was served after the lecture (available here).

The Monday before was the first Monday in the month so I was down at the Westminster Fellowship. They have put us in a new room. It's a bit poky and has the humbling words Welcome to the creche on the wall but I'm sure it will do us fine. About twenty of us were there to hear Chris Jenkins of Christchurch, Baldock speak on his experiences with Evangelical Anglicans and then to discuss the matter. It seemed to me to confirm my suspicion that the Anglican approach is almost entirely pragmatic and that they really don't think at all as people like members of the Westminster Fellowship generally do. Chris's point was that may be we can learn something from them and may be we can or at least we can not bemoan the way things go with us partly because we have made the choices we have.

The Monday before that (if that's not considered ancient history) I was at the John Owen Centre leading a discussion group on the Paul Copan book Is God a moral monster? which we liked a bit because he was at least trying to defend the Bible against the atheists. Some of his exegesis got us nervous, however, and so we were reluctant to commend it too highly. It's one of those books that are worth reading even though you are bound to disagree with certain things. In the evening I was chairing the Cranford Support Trust followed by the support group meeting. Robin Asgher was then fresh back from Pakistan where, among other things, he was preaching in a church in the place where Osama Bin Laden lived and died, Abbottabad. (St Luke's Church, is as old as the town [see pic]. "A melancholy Christian cemetery can be found 500m up Circular Rd" according to Lonely Planet). Fascinating!

A good few days

It's been pretty busy the last few days.

Elisha and Hazael

1. Sunday morning I preached here in Childs Hill on 2 Kings 8:7-15 on God holds the future. This was the eighteenth in a series on Elisha. My two main points were that God holds the future and reveals some things about it and that he holds the future, which is not always rosy. We had a good number present including visitors around for Mothers Day and a new couple from the Philippines.



Durands



2. In the afternoon I popped out to nearby Muswell Hill to collect Emmanuel Durand who had been preaching for Chris Bennett so that after tea with us he could preach and speak about the UFM work he is involved in, in Britanny. He enjoyed speaking Welsh with us at tea and a bit of French with members who speak it in church. Thankfully he preached the sermon and gave his report in English. It was great to hear. (Also see here and here)

3. On Monday they had workshops on creation at one of the schools in Childs Hill. I had the opportunity to present the Christian view from Genesis. I began by reading Genesis 1 from the NIrV, getting them to count off Day 1, 2, 3, etc. I then gave a simple powerpoint presentation of the material, touching on Genesis 2, before taking questions. The first group were a little slow getting off the blocks but got going eventually. They wanted to talk about the end of the word as well as the beginning but, while making the point that you can't understand the one without the other, I tried to keep on track. Someone asked me in the afternoon if Adam was a Muslim. Each workshop finished with the kids making posters showing the six days of creation. (I also showed the first group this). There was also a final whole school report back. Most of the workshops had done the Christian view and one the Jewish (pretty much the same). Islam I gather accepts six day creation to some extent but not the biblical account. There were also workshops on some of the more exotic creation stories among Native Americans, etc. (See here). So it was good opportunity and I certainly enjoyed it.

Asghers



4. In the evening I was over in Hounslow for a series of meetings about the church planting work in Cranford. That went well. We are now moving into a new phase of the work with support coming through a trust rather than FIEC. Robin Asgher again had news to report of contacts with Asian people and opportunities to speak to Buddhists, Muslims and others. Always encouraging.



PfS Reading

5. Then this morning I was standing in at the FIEC's PfS course in Reading giving a seminar on Proverbs 9. Around 30 men and women of different ages were present, most of whom I'd not met before, and I think we had a good time. Chris Bennett followed me on the doctrine of Christ. As a WelshmanI've been through Reading a hundred times or more but I don't recall ever being there before so that was good. The Cooks are a lovely couple and made me feel very welcome.

Update

I've been rather busy this week taking a large wardrobe down the stairs and back up again, preparing sermons and writing an article amongst other things but I do want to report on last week.

Last Sunday I drove down to Pains Hill Chapel once again and had a nice day with the Averys (I was in college with Jonathan so it is always good to catch up). I preached from Titus 3 and Romans 8:28. They are  a small group of Reformed Baptists seeking to bear witness in the stockbroker belt. They are pretty conservative but make big efforts to reach out and are slowly making a little impact. A lady wandered in on Sunday Morning. She was of the Baha'i faith. It was gratifying to talk to someone who has really been appreciating my book on Song of Solomon, Heavenly Love.

Saturday morning I was over at the chapel putting gaffer tape on the floor at a clean up morning. Time after that was typically taken up with preparing for Sunday, including photocopying the notices in Swiss Cottage (my current supplier) where I usually have a quick coffee in Apostrophe in the O2 Centre and  a wander round Waterstones. I also bought some shoe laces in Sainsbury's. Eleri took the younger ones to see Harry Potter in the afternoon. The other two made their own way there. Also watched an hour of Harry Hill on TV.

Rhodri was around briefly Saturday having made a flying trip down to see a play (Blasted) at the Lyric, Hammersmith. We collected him from Euston late Friday night. Always good to see my eldest son. It was clubs before that (lost sheep and coin) and we had had a decent turn out at both though some were missing. We got the younger group back on track where we were having some behaviour problems.

Thursday was a church members meeting and a red letter one in that we agreed to welcome five new members including my sons Dylan and Dewi who are to be baptised this Sunday evening. Earlier in the day I spent some time taking our oldest member to the audiologist for a new hearing aid fit - all very interesting.

Wednesday had been a full day with my visits to Spring Court and Heathgrove Lodge both falling on the same day this time. There was also the midweek meeting looking at Titus on avoiding arguments and divisive people.

Tuesday it was my great joy to be at the John Owen Centre for Hebrew with David Green. We were looking at Psalm 104 and two other psalms. Very stimulating.

Monday we had the lunch time lecture from Barry King on Sutcliff and the call to prayer at the Evangelical Library. I'd hoped there'd be more but we were in double figures at least. It was good to be reminded of revival and the importance of prayer. In the evening I made my way over to Hounslow where we had the first official meeting of the new Cranford Support Trust in connection with Robin Asgher's work in Cranford. That went well but we are in great need of God's help.

Church Planting

It's been pretty busy, as ever. Last week I was chairing a new committee to oversee the church planting work in Cranford, West London, led by Robin Asgher. Until recently the FIEC has dealt with paying Robin and similar details but that has to change and soon the work will be under a new trust. Meanwhile the opportunities abound for work among Asians in that part of London.

At the end of last week I was chairing a public meeting in connection with the London Inreach Project, led by Andrew Murray and Derek Sewell in Soho and Covent Garden. I had to be at the trustees committee first and was then present at the early afternoon meeting where Andrew spoke along with Barry King, our evening preacher. Barry, always a compelling speaker, spoke about the Grace Baptist Partnership in the first afternoon meeting and then preached on small things from Proverbs 30 in the later meeting. Around 50 must have gathered through the day. Church planting is far from easy work but it is inching along and in some cases doing something more than that.

The LIP meeting was in Orange Street behind Trafalgar Square. I was also at a meeting yesterday in connection with the outreach in Trafalgar Square. I am trying to stand back from this a little at present due to too many other commitments, there is to be preaching in the square on October 2, however, so do come along if you can.

Focus etc

Tuesday was a good full day. In the morning I drove over to Amyand Park for a fraternal with Gerard Hemmings, Robin Asgher, Peter Law, Paul Levy and others. We discussed the blind spots of our age. We solved little I guess but we aired some issues usefully. I noticed that those fresh to the ministry in London have similar gripes and concerns to those I had as a younger man (eg the way younger people are hived off to Central London churches, how to cohere as a witness to the community, etc). You learn to live with certain things.

After getting back home I headed down to Stanfords Maps where I met up with my good old friend Paul Pease, pastor at Hook Evangelical. We had a good old chinwag over some maps and a coffee. What a tonic fellowship is.

Then after returning home I headed off in the car again down to Epsom Playhouse where I saw the inimitable Focus. This was again one of these Classic Rock packages. Instead of the Groundhogs we started with the Strawbs this time. I liked the acoustic guitars but the singing didn't do too much for me. Loved "Lay Down" at the end though. Then we had (Martin Turner's) Wishbone Ash working their way through Argus. Just fine. Then into overdrive. Focus could only squeeze in an hour - a bit from the first album, a fairly long and jazzy Eruption, three more recent tracks plus the obligatory Sylvia and Hocus Pocus. Got the CD and DVD, which they willingly signed - something to look forward to come Christmas! Took an age to find where I'd parked the car but got home fairly quickly straight through London.

What's happening

Sunday was a good day. I preached from Mark 9 on cutting off hands and feet in the morning and from Hebrews 12 on the Lord's discipline in the evening. They were both very practical passages - one very challenging and one full of comfort. I think they were appreciated by the two congregations - the morning one around 50, the evening one more like 20. Easier to preach than to live I guess. We had tea together before the evening service and reviewed the year gone by (see previous post).

On Monday it was the meeting of the trustees of Grace Magazine. For various reasons we were rather thin on the ground but it was good to meet and seek to encourage the editor Stan Evers and those who assist him. it is an excellent magazine. I raised the issue of providing an online edition, which would be a great help, I believe. I hope something can be doe about that.

In the evening I was over at Cranford where the support group for the church planting work led by Robin Asgher were meeting. It was a good time. Some real progress is being made but there are still important decisions to be made in the near future.

Bloggage

My, it's been busy this week. I haven't even had chance to write it up yet. Monday night we had a meeting at Cranford Baptist Church, West London, a support group for Robin and Muno Asgher, church planting there among Asians.

Then Tuesday night I was in the Evangelical Free Church in Stony Stratford Milton Keynes where I had agreed (in a moment of madness) to speak on Being a better parent. I'll let you know what I said in some subsequent posts. Some four churches were represented I think with over 30 people present. We had a nice question time at the end. I knew some of the folk but not most of them. I'd not met the pastor Robert Lightowler before.

Anyway, I headed back to London and got here around 11.30 pm. I'd agreed to take Rhodri down to Gatwick where he was due to catch a plane to Vietnam with Qatar Airways the next day at 9.15 am. Because it was so late I went through the centre of London and got back home by round 4 am and went to bed. Before six Rhodri was on the phone to say that there'd been a problem over his ticket and he needed me to come and redo it - by 8.15 am! So off I went again and after a prayerful but nerve wrenching trip I arrived at the south terminal again - only to find I needed to be at the north terminal! Just when Rhodri had given up I got to him and he was able to board the plane with only short while to spare. (We later heard, 26 hours later, that he'd made it to Sibyl in Hanoi via Doha and Singapore - but hadn't slept).

I came home via the M25 as I'd have to pay the congestion charge otherwise - same length of journey but around 30 miles longer. I was pretty tired by then but had agreed to be in a meeting at the Evangelical Library so I headed down to Baker Street and fortified by coffee made it through. I had some afternoon kip and finished preparation for the evening. We weren't many but we had a good time of prayer after looking at the end of Deuteronomy 15.

The next day we had someone here doing a survey. He's been booked to look at the house and the church over these few days. Niall is brother-in-law to one of my deacons' wives. He remembered sleeping here when he was still single years ago and courting Ali's sister. I'd quite forgotten.

My parents-in-law have also been around as Geoff was speaking at the Pilgrim Homes conference on dementia. Eleri went for the morning and thought it was useful. They treated us to a meal in Pizza Hut, Brent Cross, on the Thursday. Geoff is also preaching at the Evangelical Reformed Church in South Hackney on Sunday.

Only by today have I felt over my tiredness and a cold and have concentrated on more preparation for the Lord's Day with meetings for children and young people tonight. Good attendances.

GBM Meetings

It was good to be at the annual meetings of Grace Baptist Mission in The Friends Meeting House near Euston once again on Tuesday. The morning meeting allows the 116 or so churches involved to have their say on how the mission is run and although this is obviously a little unwieldy it is unique and no doubt a better approximation to biblical norms than what happens in most societies. As we were reminded the council is also elected by the churches and so the input from local churches is strong. The difficulties that have been experienced in Kenya were rightly alluded to without any detail. It was good to have the report on all the various activities of the year and to know that financially there was actually a surplus this time round. Of course, the present climate means no-one can be too sure what will happen next and once again a tiny minority of churches refused to vote for the proposed budget.
It’s always good to see a large number of familiar faces at these events – not every name immediately comes to mind, sadly, but I had some nice conversations with various people. I grabbed a bite to eat and ended up chatting with the present minister at Over (it used to be Over Strict Baptist Church which if you say it quickly is as funny as St Thomas More Catholic Church which I saw again in Bradford on Avon on Monday). David Smith is from South Africa and seems a good hard working fellow with a heart for sinners.
The afternoon was spent running to various seminars. I managed to fit in three. First, one on training ministers. Jonathan Bayes introduced the work of Guelph based Carey Outreach Ministries and Robin Dowling spoke of his imminent return to FUSBC, the Seminary in Medellin, Colombia – short term at present but may be more long term. Every man and his dog seems to minister overseas these days (there were more examples later in the day of short trips to Armenia and Kenya – I’ve been myself on an occasion!). It’s all very good I’m sure but sometimes one wonders what happened to the Pauline method of going to a place, working hard then leaving the locals to get on with it. I suppose that the argument is that if Paul had been able to use jets he would have.
I bumped into the Days from Pontrhydyrun, Luke Jenner, now at Welwyn, fresh back from the Philippines in connection with CCM, Norman Hopkins from Strood in Kent to talk about the law and the new covenant Baptists and John Hall from Westerleigh who is always guaranteed to show that things are much worse even than I had thought, which in itself is cheering.
Next it was a GPT session with Maciek Stolarski talking about the work in Armenia (where Sin is serious a simplified Ralph Venning work and no 22 in a series, has just been translated) and Ruth Firth from Latvia explaining to Tim Curnow how she has almost finished a simplified version of Horatius Bonar’s Everlasting Righteousness. This reduction of English classics to simplified form ready for translation does seem a way forward. Sin is serious is now available not only in Armenian but also in Bulgarian, Burmese, Kiswahili, Slovak, Spanish and Portuguese.
I went on to hear Malcolm and Ruth talk about the work in Latvia in the main hall. There are lots of encouragements and this lovely couple are obviously working very hard. One senses an underlying discouragement however with the general lack of enthusiasm for things Reformed.
Several spoke at the evening meeting (chaired again by Geoff King) including Jonathan and Robin who I’d heard but also Anthony Green from Peru and Andrew Gullett, who with his wife is about to go out to Kenya to work. We also heard from Nathan and Urpha Javed who are planning to be involved in church planting in Bradford (not on Avon). What a task they have. It made me wonder if they should rethink parading people like that and let them get started first and then come before the meeting. On more than one occasion things have been announced with a fanfare and then come to nothing. Or could they not have asked someone like Tim Mills to talk about reaching people in Bradford? One also wishes there was more of a spotlight on others doing similar work, such as Robin Asgher in Cranford.
Anyway we sang, the tie-less John Benton briefly preached from Acts 1 and we headed home with our goody bags full of info for the folks who couldn’t make it. Nothing on earth is perfect but this is a bright spot in a dark world and I for one was glad to have been present.
Last night I showed the free DVD Comment entendons-ils? This has been done quite well by Roger Cook. Rather than simply focusing on Fiona Steward in Bordeaux (where Alan Davey is) he visits other works and let's them also plead for workers. Clearly the mission field there is vast, demanding and on our doorstep.

LTS at Banner

While at Banner Philip Eveson was keen to snap the many LTSers there together. This one shows over 30 former students, two present students and Robert Oliver (Bradford) and Mostyn Roberts (Welwyn) who are currently lecturers there. Robert Strivens is the Principal designate. Bernard Lewis (Brodgened) was my exact contemporary and Gary Benfold (Bournemouth) was a year ahead of us. Mark Rowcroft (Darlington), Andrew Rowell (Carlisle), Robin Asgher (later my assistant and now in Cranford) and Luke Jenner (Welwyn) attended here while in LTS. Four of us are Aberystwyth graduates (me, Mark, Luke and Ed Collier, now in Sheffield)

Busy as ever

These are busy days as ever. The death of a member of the congregation has dominated the week. Cornelius grew up in Delhi, worked for 25 years in Lybia, where he married and his only daughter was born. Four years ago they moved to London. Both work shifts in a nearby old people's home so they haven't been able to get to church much. In the last few months I learned that he had cancer and that they could do nothing. He was taken back into hospital and his last day on earth came last Friday. I spoke to him earlier in the day. I read Psalm 23, we said the Lord's prayer, I prayed. The family were torn but in the end decided to fly him to Delhi. Yesterday we had a short memorial service in the chapel before they headed off. Around 30-40 came. I spoke from Acts 10 and the story of the centurion Cornelius. I wanted to stress the difference between religion and true faith. Nice chats with people including a young Ismaili Muslim. Family and friends had come on Sunday morning too which was encouraging. We had one or two other visitors too, including an Iranian man, so we were quite packed in the morning. We had been out tracting the day before. No new faces - although one woman has told me she hopes to come the first Sunday in February. Hope so. Oh yes, I was also up helping Dewi on his paper round Saturday as he felt unwell.

Wednesday was also busy with the Mansion House and it was Dylan's birthday. Fifteen already. I was speaking at a regular coffee morning for the elderly in the morning and at our prayer meeting in the evening so with preparation too the day was very full. The day before had been similar. I went down to the Evangelical Library where I and another trustee met with our Landlord to discuss the future. I finished off the latest edition of In Writing in the morning - way over due! In the evening I was at a meeting of the Bible Preaching Trust which seeks to support ministers in need. I popped in to see my friend Robin Asgher, a church planter in West London. He was telling me about how he had been in Pakistan after Christmas and how first there was trouble there and then they heard of what was happening in Kenya where his wife's parents live! It was good to see him.

Today has been a bit slow after all that business. I'll have to work harder tomorrow.

Asgher induction Pics