Carey 2010 1

The opening session was taken by an old friend of the conference Kees Van Kralingen from the Netherlands 9from Papendrecht near Dordrecht just south of Rotterdam). His subject was the church and the Word. After a little gentle humour he earthed his remarks firstly in the context of current attacks on the doctrine of the church and of Scripture. He had three points

1.The church in Ephesus

This involved a description of Ephesus itself (250K and where the statue of Artemis was found, the Ionic games took place and where there was much wickedness) and then of the planting of the church by Paul as recorded in Acts. Paul's stay there at first was brief but he was followed by Apollos. Later Paul came for 2 or 3 years and lectured for some time. There was much opposition but soon the gospel had gone out to all of Asia. It is a very encouraging story. Paul's final address to the elders in Acts 20 is also of great interest. It seems that Paul did actually revisit Ephesus despite his fears. We get some idea of Ephesus from 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy as Timothy worked there. Epaphras at Colosse and John also had contacts with the church. In Revelation we read of their later heretical tendencies. The letter also makes clear how there were always problems to be faced.
2. The church and its biblical position and role
1 All we say of the church and what it should do must be dictated by Christ, the Head of the church. Too often today this is forgotten. Think of the images used in Ephesus and elsewhere - the body, the household of faith, Temple, etc.
2 The church is a pattern of the kingdom to come
3 It is the church that is God's instrument for bringing the gospel to the world
Hence the need for holiness, the Word, etc. The ministry of the Word is also very important as we see in Ephesians 4 (the chapter read by Erroll Hulse in the beginning).
3. Application
1 Keep the right view of the church and an emphasis on preaching of various sorts. This includes house to house visitation of different sorts.
2 Do not forget the importance of boldness or forget the importance of emotional involvement.
3 He referred finally to Revelation 2 and the way that the Ephesians forsook the Lord because they ceased to keep Christ as their first love
A short discussion followed.