I should have mentioned that IN Writing 147 is now out.
A blog featuring whatever I fancy, often on the Christian faith but not exclusively
Art of Shepherding 2026
It was good yesterday to be with about 40 others at the annual Art of Shepherding conference at St Giles in Islington. The conference for ministers is quite laid back with a flexible but predictable format that includes plenty of coffee and an excellent pulled pork lunch.
The fixed points are the first and third sessions - Phil Heaps on the Bible - this year from 2 Corinthians and Brad Franklin on a historical pastoral theme - this year from Bonhoeffer’s Shared life.
With that this year we had one session on politics and one on envy. For the first they invited John McDermott over from Magherafelt in Ulster who drew on his experiences in that divided world to help us think through our situation. Finally, we had Rob Pickering on the subject of ministerial envy a common enough phenomenon but one rarely touched on in conferences.
All four speakers did well and along with the opportunity to chat to fellow Reformed Baptists new and old the conference proved both challenging and encouraging. The very last thing was a meal with several conference attendees. The usual curry was not possible this year so we headed to the holloway Road to a Lebanese grill and very enjoyable it was. Big thanks to all involved in organising this year's conference.
Evangelical Library Annual Lecture 2026 Brian Edwards on Tyndale
It was great to be one of over twenty gathered at the Evangelical Library in London on Monday to hear Brian Edwards speak on William Tyndale and 500 years of Bible translation in this anniversary year of the first appearance of Tyndale's New Testament. It was an excellent lecture taking us all te way from Luther to the AV and delivered in good style. The lecture will be on our YouTUbe site soon. Btina has a book on the subject available here - Day One
Lord's Day May 312026
A large congregation and then a small one as is ouor patern on the last day of the month, as we continued through Luke morning and evening. We looked at the Last Suppr and the disciples' argument over who was the greatest.
Two Books about the Beatles
One of my sons likes to buy me books on the Beatles and the Nazis (two subjects I find pretty compelling). For my recent birthday, he got me John and Paul by Ian Leslie. I read this well written book that focusses on John and Paul and their relationship, especially in song writing, close after completing a previous book on the Beatles so I noticed what was in the previous book and what was missing. Truth is the Beatles are so well documented and there are so many disputes over certain stories that it is difficult to keep up. Very interesting stab this, which I enjoyed reading. Leslie suggests that with his marriage to Linda, Paul switched from being markedly promiscuous to being markedly monogamous, which he puts down to love of extremes, probably correctly. Ian Leslie is a champion of Paul over John but tries to be fair. I still find myself wanting to favour John, even though he was clearly a monster in many respects. I guess they are both very talented people with huge flaws whose relationship with one another is tangled and full of fascination. The book contains an interesting bibliography so I am in danger of spending even more time on this subject if I am not careful.
I was very drawn to the other book because it deals with The Beatles who I love to read about and Bob Dylan, who I know much less about but who draws me for several reasons. I also like the way journalists write books. Like scholars, they make a through search then collate and write. Unlike scholars, of course, they make it interesting. I knew a lot of the stuff in this book, I guess, but by no means all of it and some of it I had forgottenn, including John Lennon's born again phase. I had also not appreciated how conservative Dylan was from the beginning, despite his way of presenting himself. The book is full of fornication and drug taking, inevitably, and also an unsual amount of throwing up, usually missing from such books. Anyway, the book gives a fairly complete history of two incredible phenomena of the sixties and beyond and where their paths crossed. Fascinating.
10 expressions of faith found in the Psalms
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| Gerard van Honthorst, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
- 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
- 25:1, 2 Of David. In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
- 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
- 31:6 and 14 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the LORD. 14 But I trust in you, LORD; I say, "You are my God."
- 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
- 52:8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.
- 55:23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.
- 56:3, 4 and 11 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise - in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? 11 in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?
- 86:4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.
- 91:2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
10 more unnamed women from the Bible
- Enoch's wife (Edna)
- Moses' Cushite wife (Tharbis)
- The wise woman of Abel (Serah)
- The wealthy Shunammite woman
- Naaman's wife
- And her servant girl
- The woman with the issue of blood
- The woman at the well
- The widow who put two coins in the treasury
- The mother of Rufus
Midweek Meeting May 27 2026
Just four of us and one online last night as we looked at the final part of Romans. We also spent time in prayer. One burden was churches looking for pastors. We know of several at the moment (Swansea, Bradford on Avon, Wellington, Finchley and ourselves).
Birthday Books 2026
Once again the family have been very kind. These are from my wife and sons. (One son made sure he didn't buy me a book as he doesn't like to be too predictable, so I had other good things from him.)
Eisteddfod Yr Urdd Anglesey
FYI The Urdd Eisteddof for young people is on atm. It's live on S4C.
That's my oldest grandson in shot singing in the choir.
Lord's Day May 24 2026
Several away as it was a bank holiday weekend but plenty of extras in the evening from the UBM Christian Answer weekend based nearby. Nice singing to good old hymns. I am carrying on with sermons from Luke back to back at the moment as my retirement nears. So we finished Chapter 23 in the morning and began on Chapter 22 in the evening. The second looked the least promising set of verses but proved to be fuullof interesting things.
Grace Baptist Assembly 2026 Closing Remarks
Of course, the assembly is a whole lot more than I have written about so far. There were prayer meetings at the start of Day 2 and 3, there was the Assembly business session on the afternoon of Day 2, we ate together and chatted together informally, always good. Having decent coffee available at all hours is a good idea. There are also book stalls and one or two other stands. About 44 churches were represented one way or another and there were at least 12 new people there. We are on the old siide and most of us represent small and uninfluential churches. It is good to come together, however. I was encouraged on the whole. Next one May 18-20, 2027.
Grace Baptist Assembly 2026 Day Three
Our final morning at the conference was taken up with an open forum chaired by DAvid Last where we discussed how to mobilise church members. This led to a discussion of the neglect of the Lord's Day, one reason for some of the problems we have. Finally, Simon Green fro Rattlesden preched an excellent and encouraging sermon from Psalm 126.
Grace Baptist Assembly 2026 Day Two (Evening)
The rest of today was taken up with interesting reports from various UK churches and the second message from Peter Schild, who gave us another seven helpful points, this time from 2 Timothy 2
1. The apostles understood training men as passing on the treasured gospel received
2. The apostles looked for faithful men not necessarily talented men
3. The apostles trained men through fatherly nearness, shared life
4. The apostles entrusted men with real responsibilities, tasks that they were to fulfil
5. The apostles corrected warned and protected the churches through clear criteria
6. The apostles trained men for suffering in the battle
7. The apostles ultimately entrusted men to God and the Word of his grace
Grace Baptist Assembly 2026 Day Two (Morning)
We had two sessions this morning - one from Chola Makunga and one from Robert Strivens. They were both stumulating. Chola looked at the subject of equipping God's people to serve today and Robert took a historical approach looking at the use of catechisms and training for the ministry.
Chola asked a number of questions
1 How do we encourage believers on the fringe to become more involved in church life?
2 How do we motivate and mobilise those who are already members? (Converted Hungry for the Word gospel saturated prayer warrior loving to fellow believers regular sharer of the gospel cares for the holiness of the church accountable to the church)
3 What are the constraints and challenges that we need to overcome?
4 What attitude should we have as we seek to motivate and mobilise? (patience hard work prayer love the gospel)
There were plenty of answers but there will eb more discussion tomorrow.
Robert concluded with these conclusions and challenges
• They took the work of discipling and preparing for ministry very seriously.
• They did not despise traditional methods, while adapting and innovating where appropriate.
• They were fundamentally theological in their approach.
• Preaching was central to the promotion of Christian growth and discipleship.
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