Being better parents 1

An article appeared in The Times last Friday headlined “Nursery schools struggle with troubled and violent children”. Apparently, there were more than 45,000 suspensions of children aged 2-11 in England last year (up from 40,000 the year before). There were 4,000 suspensions of children aged 5 and under. Most cases involved violence or the threat of it.
This has prompted calls for teachers to be given greater powers of restraint over violent and disruptive pupils. What struck me was how at the end of the article it said that schools are seeing an increasing number of parents who have simply lost control of their children. Mick Brookes of the National Association of Headteachers is quoted as saying: “Some of these children seem never to have heard the word no. It’s down to poor parenting.”
I think that increasingly people are seeing that among the many other problems we have in this country (and making its own significant contribution to others) is poor parenting. Many responsible parents would agree. However, once you say such a thing, if you are a parent, you may feel a little but nervous. Those of us who have been parents for any length of time are conscious of many failures and inadequacies and are looking for help to improve.
I myself have been a parent for over 18 years and am the father of 5 boys. I guess that may be why I've been asked to come and speak to you tonight on being a good parent. I’m also a pastor down in London so I want us to look at this subject chiefly in terms of what the Bible says – I think that in the end that is where we are going to get the best help. So I want to say a number of things tonight and then we’ll open it up for questions and I’ll do my best to answer.
1. Remember whose child it is

We need to start with this fundamental matter. Whose child it is anyway? It may seem a straightforward question but you’d be surprised. It’s one of those questions that usually nobody gives much thought to until something goes wrong. You see, you may instinctively say the child belongs to the parents. But what happens if there is a divorce? Does the child belong to the mother or the father? Or what if the parents begin to abuse a child? Does the state have the right and duty to intervene at some point? And what about the church, does it have any responsibility or right as far as a child is concerned?
So whose child is it? The Bible is very clear about that. Psalm 127:3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. All children are God's children – they belong to him. If we are parents, we are parents because God has made us parents – either in the normal way or by means of some other providence. You can’t simply decide to be a parent. It’s in God's hands. When we think of being parents then we need to remind ourselves of what we are. We don’t own our children, they aren’t projections of our own egos, they are not ours to do with as we wish. No, they belong to God and he has appointed us, for how ever long it may be, to take care of this child or may be more than one, before him.
Being a parent then is a tremendous privilege. I often think of what a privilege it is to be involved in the lives of my boys and to be bringing them up. It is fascinating to see. At the same time it is a tremendous responsibility. I’m their father. The influence I can and do have on them, good or bad, is possibly greater than that of any other person. What potential for good or for harm there is here. What a task – to be a parent! That’s the way to think about being a parent then. It’s the privilege and responsibility of bringing up someone who, like me, will one day stand before God to be judged.
2. Be clear about what your chief aim should be

This leads us to our second point. If you are going to be a successful parent then you will need to be clear what you are aiming at. Now different parents have different aims. You sometimes hear the phrase “I want them to have what I never had” and that can be okay as long as it isn’t code for wanting them to fulfil your failed ambitions. Obviously we want our children to achieve their full potential and we are going to need to push them to some extent if they are to achieve anything. However, it is important from the beginning to think through what exactly you want for your child (for the child God has given you).
Oh yes, it would be wonderful to watch your son play soccer for Arsenal or Chelsea or rugby for England or whoever or who is a successful doctor, lawyer, architect or whatever. It would be great to have a daughter who plays the piano or violin like the best of them or who wins Wimbledon. Mind you, it would be enough for some just to have their kids alive and healthy and happily married and some lovely grandchildren to enjoy.
But in the end think about this, what really matters? This life will soon be over for you and for your children. What really matters is that they should know and serve the Lord. What good is it for anyone to gain the whole world yet lose his soul? Once we see this clearly it is bound to affect how we bring up our children. It will affect our attitude to what they do with their Sundays – to how they are educated. It will affect the whole atmosphere at home. What is my greatest ambition for my child? What an important question. Take care how you answer. It should surely be that they bring glory to God.

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.

New Photo Series 11

Stair Well

Christian's Great Interest

I almost forgot, when I was in Norfolk the other week the chairman commended the book The Christian's Great interest by the Puritan William Guthrie (first published in 1658). It was a favourite among some church members when I first came here and is an excellent book. if you've not read it, you ought to.

It describes simply, clearly and in an attractive style what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. Guthrie has been called "a master spiritual physician". His wisdom is seen on every page of this work.

'I am finishing Guthrie,' wrote Thomas Chalmers once, 'which I think is the best book I ever read.'

On the same book John Owen once said 'That author I take to be one of the greatest divines that ever wrote. His book is my vade mecum. I carry it always with me'.

Perhaps the title isn't the best but it is a great little book. It includes material on what is and is not the unforgivable sin.

Nollaig Shona Daoibh

My heading (NO-Lihg HO-nuh JEEV) means "You [pl] have a Happy Christmas." - a bit early I know but Enya has a new album And winter came. I'd no't known it was coming but I was in Tesco the other night and saw it and bought it as an early Christmas present for my dad to give me (!thanks dad!). The next night I heard the lady herself on Frontrow (listen again).#

There is nothing new here really (though we hear an electric guitar by Pat Farrell on one track, which must be a first or was there one on the Celts album?) but an Enya album is an Enya album and they are obviously all different to some extent. The association with Christmas and snow works well for me. I so liked Amid the snow on the last album. Indeed that whole album was headed in the direction where this one has ended up.

So we start with the title track - similar to other solo piano Enya pieces (Lothlorien, Memory of Trees, etc).* Then comes Journey of the angels, a pleasant modern carol. White is in the winter night (a single) is in the jaunty Enya genre and is a more secular celebration of Christmas with references to mistletoe, holly, skating, snow, children, candlelight, a choir singing glory, etc and the almost obligatory moon and stars.

The fourth track is a hymn often associated with Christmas O come, O come, Immanuel. I've always loved it. Inevitably she breaks into Latin. The whole thing is well done. She finishes with a new version of Silent night in Irish Oíche Chiún using the same choral style.

Track 5, Trains and winter rains (another single) is atmospheric and ends with a nod to the Christ child and the line "And in the sky, the star alone". Dreams are more precious is another modern carol. The secularising tendency is stronger here with its follow your dreams message. Perhaps the strongest track on the album Last time by moonlight is a nostalgic love song mentioning Enya staples - snow and moonlight. Magic! The later Stars and midnight blue is in the same vein but sadder and musically less successful.

One toy soldier is ostensibly a traditional secular Christmas piece, complete with bells (resisitance to their use elsewhere shows great self-restraint). May be there's more going on here as a broken heart manages to cope with the superficial joy of Christmas cheer. The spirit of Christmas past is a simpler call to cheer up as "Tomorrow will be Christmas Day". The penultimate CD track My! My! How time flies is another jaunty piece, perhaps the most interesting lyrically, though how Neil Armstrong and Isaac Newton end up being referenced with Tchaikovski, the Beatles, Elvis and B B King I don't know. I'd thought "a king who's still in the news" was a Christ reference rather than an Elvis one. Apparently it is a tribute to an Irish guitarist called Jimmy Faulkner.

The i-tunes and Japanese editions have a bonus track Miraculum in Latin which uses the One toy soldier melody and appears to reference her previous hit Sail away (Vela).~

So a bit sentimental and safe I guess but great fun.

#Wikipedia says it's been trialed since September! It was released November 7.

*Wikipedia says it's a reworking of Midnight Blue (B side of Wild Child 2001). Knew I'd heard it somewhere. Is Stars and Midnight Blue drawing on the same source?

~Wikipedia says it marks the 20th anniversary of the Watermark album

Anything Bush can do

It's not easy being president. He phoned to apologise to Nancy Reagan, 87. Somehow I don't think the media will treat him like Bush though.

Link to a review

I thought this review here may be of interest and help to someone. One of the first funerals I ever took was a premature baby boy. Thanks Martin.

Akkerman in Haverhill

On Saturday I went with Rhodri to see Jan Akkerman and Gareth Pearson at Haverhill arts centre. They'd been in London on Wednesday but that's prayer meeting night and in a very short tour this was the only reasonable prospect, although I was a little cagey about using a Saturday night like that. Anyway in the end we made something of a trip of it travelling the 66 miles by way of Saffron Walden. We also took pictures of each other at Ugley and had a little look at the impressive Audley End, which is shut up at this time of the year. Saffron Walden is oozing with history and this was a good bit of reconnoitring for a future trip. It has several old buildings (Tudor, Georgian, etc) lots of antique shops and a nice market square. Everything was about to close by the time we got there and so we had a quick look around then had some chips and headed off across country and over the Essex/Suffolk border to Haverhill.

I saw someone describing Haverhill as the ugliest town in Suffolk - which is rather unfair but you can see their point. We looked for somewhere for a coffee and there wasn't really anywhere we could see so we went into a Wimpy. Rhodri had coke which was fine and I had a coffee which was not. He decided he wanted ice cream. They brought this very nice looking ice cream but it was tasteless. Rhodri was sat with his back to the counter but with a mirror in front of him. Through the mirror he could see a tub of Sainsbury's Basics ice cream. That's what they'd given him! I guess such a product is aimed at shutting little kids up but shame on Sainsbury's for producing it and on Wimpy for serving it.

The arts centre is actually a lovely old place inside and out and we had a great concert. Pity there weren't more there. It was good to see Graham, Gareth's dad, who I was in school with, and who goes to my home church. The Akkernutters (Leigh, Lloyd, Jim,etc) were out in force. Gareth did a nice set and talked a bit as he does. It's a shame that great talent and personality are not enough to win you fame and fortune. It was good to see Gareth again and pass on a copy of Steve Nichols' Getting the Blues which seemed appropriate. I also gave one to Jan later (plus a copy of my own book) and had a chat ranging over the happiness of sea lions, Rabindranath Tagore and the Rabbi's tunnel, etc. His own set was superb. He wandered on stage picked up his battered Lowden and said it was cold waiting upstairs so he'd decided to come down (!). He then sat (Gareth had stood) and got going. First we had what he called a medley of old Dutch carpenter songs (ie Focus stuff - beginning with bits from Eruption, unheard until then the Akkernutters told me, Le Clochard, Sylvia, Anonymus, etc). He then played two of the suites from his acoustic album and rather different version of Tranquiliser. I think it was Firenze and something else next (probably not) and then a bit of Django type stuff plus another track. He then got into a storming version of Hocus Pocus that was mesmerising. Sadly (though not surprisingly) a string broke part way in and so we never got to hear the whole thing. Instead he called Gareth up to do another number while he re-strung. They finished off with a fascinating duet playing with Michael Jackson's Billie Jean which Gareth had tackled earlier. Slightly surreal, Jan ended thanking Gareth then Graham (who's been driving Jan around - usually with his head out of the window trying to have a smoke!) then me (!) then Leigh. He would have named the whole audience if he could have - or at least the Welsh ones!

After a quick chat and some photos we headed off into the wet night and got home just outside my personal curfew looking forward to the Lord's Day.

John Newman Martyr

I happened to be in Saffron Walden on Saturday where I saw this blue plaque. Newman was one of hundreds killed in Mary's reign. A pewterer worked with pewter, commonly used for drinking vessels and other objects right to the end of the 18th Century. The entry in Foxe doesn't tell us much more than the plaque. it is a reminder of great faith in difficult times.

John Denley, John Newman, and Patrick Packingham

Mr. Denley and Newman were returning one day to Maidstone, the place of their abode, when they were met by E. Tyrrel, Esq., a bigoted justice of the peace in Essex, and a cruel persecutor of the Protestants. He apprehended them merely on suspicion.

On the fifth of July, 1555, they were condemned, and consigned to the sheriffs, who sent Mr. Denley to Uxbridge, where he perished, August eighth, 1555. While suffering in agony, and singing a Psalm, Dr. Story inhumanly ordered one of the tormentors to throw a fagot at him, which cut his face severely, caused him to cease singing, and to raise his hands to his face. Just as Dr. Story was remarking in jest that he had spoiled a good song, the pious martyr again changed, spread his hands abroad in the flames, and through Christ Jesus resigned his soul into the hands of his Maker.

Mr. Packingham suffered at the same town on the twenty-eigth of the same month.

Mr. Newman, pewterer, was burnt at Saffron Waldon (sic), in Essex, August 31, for the same cause, and Richard Hook about the same time perished at Chichester.

Spirit not intermittent

I came across this helpful quotation from Bonar's Life of John Milne of Perth on page 150 of Iain Murray's new book on Lloyd-Jones.

The Holy Spirit is not intermittent; not limited to revival seasons. Parents give good gifts at all times; and more so God. We are commanded to do all duties in the Spirit; to live, walk, pray, work in the Spirit. We should not be blamed for carnality if the Spirit were not always attainable. God is not impoverished by the abundance of bestowment. Like the sun, He is never exhausted.

Nice Quotation

Going through some stuff recently I noticed I'd jotted down this quotation from Simon Singh's Codebook (p 189). Ths statement was made by Stuart Milner-Barry and is also quoted here and here.

"To feel that you know your enemy is a vastly comforting feeling. It grows imperceptibly over time if you regularly and intimately observe his thoughts and ways and habits and actions. Knowledge of this kind makes your own planning less tentative and more assured, less harrowing and more buoyant."

New Photo Series 10

Transport committee meeting place

Refreshing Brooks 02

The final part of the ET article

Act of restoration
In 1648 Brooks was invited to be minister of St Margaret’s, New Fish Street Hill, but laid down uncompromising terms. He requested that the parish elders chosen under the Presbyterian system should resign and that the godly people of the parish should gather in conference to own one another’s grace and receive godly strangers, though differing in opinion, into their church.
Furthermore, he would offer communion only to members of this newly constituted church and baptise only their children. In effect, he wanted to transform this parish church into an Independent congregation. This was too much for the people and negotiations broke down.
It was not until March 1652 that, with an order from the committee for plundered ministers, he was finally settled at St Margaret’s. After the Restoration, Brooks continued to preach, first in London, then at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields, near St Margaret’s.
In 1662 he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity and was ejected from his living. He continued to preach in London, however, apparently suffering little persecution. Unlike many ministers, he stayed in London during the Great Plague of 1665, faithfully tending his flock and comforting those afflicted by the Great Fire of 1666.
The lengthy treatise London’s Lamentations (Works Volume 6) is based on Isaiah 42:24, 25 and is ‘a serious discourse concerning that late fiery dispensation that turned our (once renowned) city into a ruinous heap: also the several lessons that are incumbent upon those whose houses have escaped the consuming flames’. It is ‘perhaps the most remarkable contemporary memorial’ of the event.

The fall of death
In 1672 he was licensed to preach as a Congregationalist in Lime Street under the Declaration of Indulgence, but that licence was revoked in 1676. In that same year his first wife, Martha Burgess, a godly woman whom he greatly treasured, died.
He wrote: ‘She was always best when she was most with God in a corner. She has many a whole day been pouring out her soul before God for the nation, for Zion, and the great concerns of her own soul’.
He later married a godly young woman named Patience Cartwright — she, as Grosart puts it, ‘spring-young’ and he ‘winter-old’. She proved an excellent companion in his closing years.
Brooks died on 27 September 1680 and was buried on October 1 at Bunhill Fields. In his funeral sermon John Reeve spoke of Brooks’ ‘sweet nature, great gravity, large charity, wonderful patience and strong faith’. Grosart discovered and printed his Last Will and Testament, composed six months before. It begins:
‘Death is a fall that came in by a Fall: that statute Law of Heaven “Dust thou art and to dust thou shall return” will first or last take hold of all mortals; the core of that apple that Adam ate in Paradise will choke us all round one by one; there is not one man living that shall not see death; though all men shall not meet in Heaven, nor in Hell, yet all men shall meet in the grave whither we and all a[re] going’ [spelling modernised].
Brooks’ most important legacy lies in his published writings and in this anniversary year we may want to take time to peruse one or other of his works, giving thanks to God for what remains. In Brooks own words:
‘Remember that it is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most, who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian’.

Theopedia entry here

Refreshing Brooks 01

This is the first part of an article that appears in the current Evangelical Times

In 1860 James Nichol published the six volume works of the Puritan Thomas Brooks. Of all the Puritan divines Nichol reprinted, Brooks proved to be the most popular.
Thomas Brooks was probably born some time in 1608 — 400 years ago this year — and in spite of their age, these chunky volumes were republished in 1980 and remain in print (and on-line). They contain a treasure trove of what Richard Baxter called ‘affectionate practical’ writing and what a more modern writer has dubbed ‘treatises for the heart’.
Unlike some Puritans, Brooks is not difficult to read. For Spurgeon, he was ‘of all the Puritans ... the most readable, if we except John Bunyan; and if he cannot display the depth of Owen or the raciness of Adams, he leaves them far behind in excessive sweetness and sparkling beauty of metaphor’.
According to Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, ‘He communicates profound truths in a simple manner and is appropriate reading for young people and adults. His writings exude spiritual life and power and are particularly comforting for true believers’.

Smooth stones
In 1860 Spurgeon published a book (now available on-line) with the witty title, Smooth stones taken from ancient brooks containing around a thousand sayings gleaned from Brooks writings. Here are some examples:
‘There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace than for a man to live up to that little grace he has’.
‘Zeal is like fire: in the chimney it is one of the best servants; but out of the chimney it is one of the worst masters. Zeal, kept by knowledge and wisdom in its proper place, is a choice servant to Christ and the saints; but zeal not bounded by wisdom and knowledge is the highway to undo all, and to make a hell for many at once’.
‘As a body without a soul, much wood without fire, or a bullet in a gun without powder, so are words in prayer without the spirit of prayer’.

The works
Brooks was a prolific writer. Between 1652 and 1670 he produced some 16 highly popular books of Christian devotion and edification. Apples of Gold (1657) reached 17 editions by 1693. Many works were later translated into other languages.
Volume 1 of his Works begins with his famous Precious remedies against Satan’s devices. This ends with the following ten ‘helps’: Walk by the rule of God’s Word; don’t grieve the Spirit; strive for heavenly wisdom; resist Satan’s first motions; labour to be filled with the Spirit; remain humble; pursue watchfulness; retain communion with God; fight Satan by drawing strength from the Lord Jesus; and be much in prayer.
Also in Volume 1 is The mute Christian under the smarting rod on coping with suffering and the cryptic titles Apples of gold and A string of pearls which look, respectively, at youth and old age and at heaven.
Other volumes contain such excellent fare as Heaven on earth on assurance, and The privy key of heaven on prayer. Volume 4 contains no less than 58 sermons on a single text — Hebrews 12:14 (The crown and glory of Christianity, or, Holiness the only way to happiness).

Mystery man
But what do we know of the man himself? In short, very little. In Nichol’s edition of his works, the editor, Alexander Grosart, is forced to dwell on the lack of information about Brooks and why it has been lost.
There is no known portrait of Brooks and we know nothing of his ancestry or parentage. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) suggests he was born in Sussex, possibly Lewes. Since Brooks died in 1680 aged 72, he was born in 1607 or 1608.
The first solid date we have is a Cambridge University record stating, ‘Thomas Brooks: matriculated as pensioner of Emanuel, July 7th 1625’ — the year Charles I became King. Pensioner suggests that Brooks was well born. Emmanuel was a strongly Puritan college and he probably rubbed shoulders with men like John Milton and the prospective New Englanders Shepard, Cotton and Hooker.
When or how he was converted we do not know. After 1625 the meagre trail again disappears. It is now thought that he left university before graduation and was not ordained until around 1640. In 1652 he writes of having preached for 13 years, mostly in London, but his ministry had been an unsettled one.

An Independent
A strong Puritan, Brooks always stressed that true religious knowledge must be inward, experimental, even mystical — not merely external, notional and formal. The ODNB suggests that in the spectrum of Puritan thinkers he can be placed ‘on the radical side of Independency’.
He denounced antinomians and the radical ideas of Levellers and Fifth Monarchy Men, but like Owen and Thomas Goodwin he believed strongly in the autonomy of the local church.
As an Independent during the Civil War (1642-1648) he supported the army and was close to Thomas Fairfax, Commander-in-Chief of Parliamentary forces. He almost certainly acted as a chaplain to Parliamentary commanders on land and sea.
His ministry at sea is mentioned in some of his ‘sea-devotions’. He also speaks of enduring ‘some terrible storms’ but adds, ‘I have been some years at sea and through grace I can say that I would not exchange my sea experiences for England’s riches’.
Preaching to Parliament
In 1647 and again in 1651 he signed declarations issued by Independent and Baptist churches that openly espoused the principle of rule by the godly. On 14 November 1648 he preached the funeral sermon for Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, urging army leaders ‘to side with the Saints, let the issue be what it will’.
A month later, after the purge of the Long Parliament, he preached to the Rump a sermon on Psalm 44:18 (later published as ‘God’s delight in the progress of the upright’) in which he not only justified the action but exhorted the MPs to execute ‘justice and judgement’. In 1650 he appeared before Parliament again to preach a thanksgiving sermon from Isaiah 10:6, following Cromwell’s victory at Dunbar.
Brooks was one of the Independent ministers Cromwell called to his residence in July 1652 to discuss providing godly men to preach the gospel in Ireland. In early 1655 Cromwell again asked him to be present at an interview with the Fifth Monarchy Men.

(Concluded in another post)

Last weekend

Had a pretty full weekend, preaching four times up in Norfolk. I have hardly been to that county before so most of the people I met were new to me. As you enter Norfolk it reminds you this is Nelson's county. As for Norwich I knew they had a football team but not that the cathedral spire is England's second tallest.
Since returning this rhyme learned as a child has risen to the surface of my mind

The man in the moon

came tumbling down

and asked his way to Norwich;

The man in the South,

he burnt his mouth

With eating burning hot porridge.

I went up via Haverhill as I hope to hear Jan Akkerman and Gareth Pearson there Saturday. As I went on and it began to get dark the rain seemed to come down heavier and heavier. It got a bit late and so in a change of plan I went straight to the church in Norwich where I was to preach.

On the Saturday night I was preaching at a Bible rally in Prince of Wales Road Evangelical Church which is a Railway Mission Hall (very nice art nouveau fronted building with modern well kept interior). It's opposite a night club called MERCY (if you're looking for the church just ask for mercy!). About 6 or 7 local churches were represented, including the one I was in, Norwich Reformed, Cromer Baptist, Great Ellingham RB, Diss Baptist, etc. Also Surrey Chapel. Despite the rain about 40 or so were present. The chairman was Joe Hart from Diss and I preached on Hebrews 6. It was good to be there. It was nice to see again the new minister at Cromer Jon Davis and his wife Lisa, who was with us some years ago. I also bumped into the Foleys, originally from Cwmbran, who are now working with rural ministries at Great Moulton.

I was staying with Bob Gilbert and his family in Brooke and very welcome I was made. Bob is the elder at the Norwich church and I have come to know the family through a college friend who married a Gilbert. They are at Pains Hill Chapel in Surrey. Part of the Railway Mission heritage is an afternoon service. The morning service only started in more recent years. So I preached there at 10.30 am (following communion led by Bob) and 3 pm with a very nice roast in between. We were joined for this by two men from the church - one of who has come to Norwich fairly recently from Knaphill.

In the evening we had tea and some nice chats at Great Ellingham Reformed Baptist where Hugh Collier is the minister. A nice old building and a decent congregation, it was good to be there. I preached on Luke 18:13 (the Pharisee and the tax collector).

I headed off around 8 pm and was able to be home in pretty good time. Very chatty when I got in but not too tired. They'd had a good day here with visiting preachers.