Westminster Conference 2024 Day 2

Arthur

Weicken

Ebenezer

Our opening paper on day two was a little different in that our speaker Phil Arthur sat, owing to his current health problems. Also, he made good use of the powerpoint facility to guide us through his subject. The subject was Luther and the Peasants revolt 1524, 1525. Owing to Luther's exasperation with the peasants and his outspoken comments this has become a controversial subject. With no attempt to defend the indefensible Phil gave a sympathetic portrait of Luther as he interacted with Thomas Muntzer and the peasants. The famous quote from Luther is as follows

The peasants have taken upon themselves the burden of three terrible sins against God and man; by this they have merited death in body and soul ... they have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers ... now deliberately and violently breaking this oath ... they are starting a rebellion, and are violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs ... they have doubly deserved death in body and soul as highwaymen and murderers ... they cloak this terrible and horrible sin with the gospel ... thus they become the worst blasphemers of God and slanderers of his holy name.

We had a good discussion on the perennial subject of the Christian and the civil government.

In the afternoon Florian Weicken from Zurich spoke on Bullinger and the Decades, the theological writings that had such a widespread effect in their time and beyond. This was an excellent introduction to the Swiss Reformer and his 50 sermon work of systematic theology. Discussion followed.

The last paper of the day marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Elias (1774-1841) and was an excellent survey of the who, the what, the how, etc, from Alun Ebenezer. Great conference once again. Can we expect another Elias? A lot has changed but the gospel has not.

For my John Elias blog see here.

Grace Assembly 2024

Ebenezer, Campbell, Relf, Whitton

Jonathan Gulliford, Mark Richards, Matt Benton, David Last

I have spent the time since Tuesday lunch here in Swanwick at The Grace Baptist Assembly. The assembly used to meet in Childs Hill once upon a time and I was on the committee that arranged the assembly. For the last 20 years, however, we have met for a residential conference. For various reasons I have been unable to attend for a few years but it was good to be there this time. The format is largely unchanged and it was good to meet old friends and new.

Paul and Bridget Relf acted as hosts and so Paul preached at the beginning of our time together, looking at some words of encouragement from 1 Thessalonians. On both evenings David Campbell preached to us from that wonderful verse, Romans 8:28. We had two news sessions - one on Reformed Baptist work in Italy (presented by a gentlman from Rome called Davide Ibrahim) and one on the British scene, including reports on Chorlton and irmston; teaching English to internationals in Leytonstone; College Park, Lewisham; Pidley, N C|ambridgeshire, etc.

The conference theme otherwise was The nurturing church and particualrly the perennial subject of eudcation. So on the Wednesday morning we had an excellent survey of the last 50 years of state education in this country by Alun Ebenezer, former headmaster of Fulham Boys School. He helpfully pinpointed 11 things that have changed over this time with good humour - the culture, the view of children, authority, mental health, technology, the view of the body, the matter of the environment, sex and relationships, equality, religion/beliefs and family. This was followed by a discussion panel featuring men who had (respectively) sent their children to a Christian School (Jonathan Gulliford, Yate) home schooled (Mark Richards, Chesham) and state school (Matt Benton, Aylesbury). This was followed up on the final morning with a discussion session, chaired by David Last.

There was  also a necessary business session on Tuesday afternoon. The biggest decision was to move to Northampton next year, due to rising costs at Swanwick (the same change has had to be made by the Carey Conference).

In the final session, Steve Whitton from Lewisham preached from Genesis 19 on The cost of compromise.

Evangelistic Materials

When I was a young man it seemed to me that all the evangelistic books I saw were by Anglicans. That's no longer the case and here are two excellent tools by two Welshmen both Calvinists and who both happen to be members in the same nonconformist church in London. I know them both. The first item is a booklet by Geoff Thomas called What is true religion? (RHB). This basically expounds what Jesus says about new wineskins and patching up old garments and one or two other Scriptures to give a powerful and very readable call to faith in Christ. Alun Ebenezer, the headmaster of Fulham Boys School, is the author of the second item The heart of the problem (EP). This is more of a book than a booklet, a little longer and more detailed,  but is still very short. Under the conceit of a medical condition we are given the problem, the diagnosis, the prognosis, cure and something about the doctor himself. Again, lots of great stories to help things along. Do get hold of these items and use them