N Ireland

Eleri and I made a short trip to N Ireland last week. It is only the second time I have travelled there. We bussed from Golders Green to Stansted then flew Ryanair to Belfast International. The bus was an hour late but the plane was late too so we didn't need to panic. We had hired a car and drove 20 minutes west to an airbnb near Randalstown which was just tight for us. We had a little wander around the next day seeing Antrim Castle Gardens and walking along the River Bann as far as the massive Lough Neagh (biggest fresh water lake in the British Isles).

We then moved on to Magherafelt and a wander round there. We then called on our friends the Roks who settled last year in Magherafelt last year after being in the seminary for two years. Alexander has become pastor of the Reformed Baptist church in the town. It was lovely to enjoy their hospitality in their lovely new home.

That evening we went along to the attractive building the RBs have in town for the official induction. While without a pastor the church has been under the oversight of Maidenbower Baptist in Crawley. If that sounds a little remote one should bear in mind that in previous such situations over its 22 year in existence churches in America have taken that role and, anyway, Crawley is right next to Gatwick!

The service was led by one of the deacons and another gave the history of the call. The current lead pastor in Maidenbower, Jeremy Walker, preached and led in the laying on of hands. he was assisted in this by Robert Strivens (formerly elder with us and Principal at the seminary but now in Bradford on Avon), Austin Walker (now retired as pastor in Maidenbower) and myself. We prayed.

At the end of the meeting greetings were shared from churches in America and Wetzlar in Germany. A number of friends were present and it was good to have further fellowship over a lovely spread. I enjoyed talking to Reuben Saywell who had travelled as we had, Andrew Rycroft (Baptist pastor in Millisle), Ted Donnelly, John McDermott from the Baptist church, etc.
It was good to be there.The service can be found on Facebook here.

London Seminary End of Year 2018

Alexander Roks

Thapelo Mpai

It was great once again to be in sunny Finchley for the Seminary end of year service. Seven students were leaving. We were particularly interested in the two shown above (with Vice-principal David Green, who perhaps could have given them a little more time) as they have been part of the congregation here since they arrived in London and it has been great to get to know them and benefit from their fellowship. Alexander from The Netherlands has been here with his family and Thepelo from South Africa on his own and so that with their very different backgrounds (they have tested how close Dutch and Afikaans and found it's not enough when English is ready available).

It is a great thing for a pastor to have ministerial students in the congregation as even when the numbers seem low and the progress non-existent one is at the very least modelling ministry . One can lean too heavily on that, of course, but it is a great encouragement, year after year, to have these men with us.

David Earl chaired and the preacher was Mark Dever from Washington DC. He preached a well tailored sermon, brief and to the point, which managed (from Mark 4) to address the students and everyone else (including any unbelievers present). It was nice to speak to him briefly after the service and to his assistant Jason Rivette bfore heading out on to the lawn for the traditional tea in glorious sunshine. It is always good to see old friends. There were about 14 of us present from Childs Hill which is also encouraging in its own way.

Lord's Day March 5 2017

Sunday was rather different in that I was sat listening rather than up the front preaching. This is because I have two students from the seminary with me at the present time on placement. I had wanted to have them preach on two different Sundays but it turned out easiest if they both preached on the same day. I led the communion to begin the day using a communion address from John Owen. The two were also keen that I should lead, which I did although I think it would work better if they had taken it all. Anyway, Thapelo from South Africa preached in the morning from Ephesians 4 on living out the gospel and Alexander from the Netherlands in the evening from Nehemiah on spiritual awakening. They both did very well, especially Alexander in that he was not preaching in his mother tongue. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement and I will be trying to help them with this.

Attendance was good, especially in the morning, although there were quite a few missing. There was another new lady who I hope we see again. Most of the Iranians were there. We also had a visit from someone who I thought had given up us so that was an encouragement.