Foundations 72

The new edition of the theological journal Foundations is now availabe online. See here. It contains five articles (mostly on the theme of church planting) adn 10 bokk revviews including this one by yours truly.

I shall not die, but live: facing death with gospel hope

Douglas Taylor, Banner of Truth, 2017, HB, 360pp, £13.00

We live in the age of the blog (or weblog). A popular form of website, all sorts of things, good and bad, get blogged on the worldwide web. When Douglas Taylor was told in 2011 that he had incurable cancer he began a blog. You can still access it today (http://worksworthdeclaring.blogspot.co.uk).

Douglas worked as an assistant editor for the Banner of Truth Trust from 1997 until 2011. Following his death in June 2014 his Banner colleagues felt it worth disseminating Douglas’s blogs in printed form and so have assembled a large number of them (about 250) with a brief foreword by Walter Chantry and a short autobiographical entry penned by Douglas himself in 2013.

This beautifully-produced hardback book would make an excellent present for any Christian, especially one facing something similar to the author. Each entry has a heading and date and is somewhere between 300 and 600 words. It is especially useful for someone unable to read for long.

You may get the flavour from these quotes. One entry begins with a reference to the “Diary of Kenneth MacRae”:

Mr MacRae is described, during his last illness, as dreading the night, with its sleeplessness and loneliness. “Oh, the night, the night”, he said wearily on one occasion. His wife Cathie tried to comfort him: “There are songs for the night, too, my dear. He will compass you about with songs of deliverance”. I can very much identify with this. During sleepless periods lately, I have dreaded the night too. I think Mrs MacRae must have had in mind such scriptures as Psalm 42:8: “In the night his song shall be with me.” Or perhaps Psalm 77:6, or Job 35:10…

He goes on to recommend songs of gratitude, confidence and praise for salvation for those in such a position.

Elsewhere he writes,

It would be interesting to know when the expression, “the intermediate state”, was introduced, and by whom. It certainly seems inadequate to express the ideas of paradise (Luke 23:43), of being with Christ, which is far better (Philippians 1:23), of being absent from the body and present [or, “at home”] with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6), or of being received to glory (Psalm 73:25). Not to mention the very clear testimony of Calvin, of the Reformed confessions and the Shorter Catechism, and of some of the best Reformed writers, like Rutherford and Boston, which are far removed from the concept we are considering.

Gary Brady
Pastor, Childs Hill Baptist Church, London

Barry King

It was my privilege last week both to hear Barry King and to speak for him at his Grace Baptist Partnership gathering. I heard him speak on Monday at the Westminster Fellowship on his favourite subject of church planting. I must have heard Barry on this more than once but he is always fresh and had again stimulating and challenging things to say on the subject. He spoke first on biblical principles and then on the practical outworking.

Then on the Saturday I joined the 15 to 20 who gather one Saturday a month at Wood Green for a training day. Nearly every face was new to me so it was good to get a taste of what goes on. I came via Kings Cross and so was shambolically late. I also failed to stay for the induction of Ryan King as I wanted to be back home for good reason though on reflection I should have stayed. There we are I did enjoy the opportunity to speak on Long pastorates - pitfalls and positives and enjoyed the interaction with the men. I see Barry's prayer letters with their long lists of place names and wonder how he can remember them all but, of course, once you put a face, indeed a real person, with each name it becomes much easier. Even he must forget where he is sometimes I'm sure. As many of you know he has just moved from Wood Green to Edlesborough near Eaton Bray. He is now in his 31st year of ministry and so is my senior by one year.

Valley Commandos

This professionally made video is worth watching. However, I should add that this is not because there's anything particularly new here as such or because the organisations involved are particularly dear to my heart but because this is the area where I grew up and an area that does have needs. In the interests of balance you ought also to know that on the AECW website here are listed more than 30 good churches, most of them with pastors getting along with the work but with no video to promote them (as far as I know - not enough Korean or American money getting to them I guess). I know some of these latter men (I was in school with one of them). So do add a little salt as I have here.

The Wiz, etc

The two middle boys (*) left from Euston today with friends for the CCIW Camp in West Wales. They will be joined by Rhodri and Sibyl and others from the church. They managed quite a quick turn around as they were camping on the Gower until Thursday with Sibyl's family. Eleri and my youngest had been meanwhile at the annual School rendezvous at the Urdd Centre in Llangrannog. That left just me and Gwion back here. I didn't get as much reading or tidying done as intended but made some progress. Wednesday was my busiest day with a long 'phone call; a short visit from my wife's brother-in-law Ian, who drives up here regularly; a good chat with Barry King about church planting in Wales, a quick visit to the pharmacist for a member plus the midweek meeting in the evening, looking at Jeremiah 18. Thursday evening we were all at the school to watch Gwion in the chorus of a production of The Wiz! It's not a great musical I guess but the kids did fine. One or two were amazing.

Barry King at LTS

It is always refreshing to hear Barry King, pastor of Wood Green Baptist Church, North London, and church planter. It was good to be present with about 50 workers, students and others with an interest in church planting at LTS yesterday.

With a great mix of

Illustration from local church history (eg Belvedere, Bexleyheath, Thamesmead and Miles and Proud at Ilston)

Personal anecdote (eg planting his first church with three octogenarians and the great success of recent months in Thamesmead)

Scripture (Acts 17:1-4 and Romans 15:14ff)

Debunking (you don't necessarily need a building, 50 people, £50K and 5 full time workers?)

Alliteration (church planting requires a sower, the right soil, the seed and suffering. Romans 15 reveals Paul's Desire (Rome) Dream (Spain) and Duty (Jerusalem))

An emphasis on preaching (reasoning, explaining, proving, proclaiming, persuading) an emphasis on the sufficiency of Scripture.
Very positive but always realistic his definition of church planting was "Going to a place where they don't want you to be and staying until they don't want you to leave" which is basically the story of the church in Ephesus. Great to be there.

It was good to hear Robert Strivens plugging the seminary too. A website for Grace Baptist Partnership is forthcoming here.

What's happening

Sunday was a good day. I preached from Mark 9 on cutting off hands and feet in the morning and from Hebrews 12 on the Lord's discipline in the evening. They were both very practical passages - one very challenging and one full of comfort. I think they were appreciated by the two congregations - the morning one around 50, the evening one more like 20. Easier to preach than to live I guess. We had tea together before the evening service and reviewed the year gone by (see previous post).

On Monday it was the meeting of the trustees of Grace Magazine. For various reasons we were rather thin on the ground but it was good to meet and seek to encourage the editor Stan Evers and those who assist him. it is an excellent magazine. I raised the issue of providing an online edition, which would be a great help, I believe. I hope something can be doe about that.

In the evening I was over at Cranford where the support group for the church planting work led by Robin Asgher were meeting. It was a good time. Some real progress is being made but there are still important decisions to be made in the near future.

C H Spurgeon Church Planter

Do check out this link which features an audio message given by Doug McMasters at the Evangelical Library last September. it is on C H Spurgeon and his church planting work - not a subject I've ever read about or heard much on elsewhere.

Happy Birthday ICC, Soho

I got this cheering paragraph today from Andrew Murray

Today is a red letter day. 20 years ago today Immanuel Community Church, Soho, was formed! There were four original members, and three people ... waiting to be baptised and join the church (the baptisms took place a couple of weeks later) ... while we might be disappointed at how little progress seems to have been made in the past 20 years, perhaps we should rather be thankful to God for what he has done in sustaining the little church, now in fellowship with CGEC (Covent Garden Evangelical), and looking forward to what the future holds. Yesterday, the Soho members and Derek met with ... (someone who wants to be baptised and join the church) ... it was lovely to hear her tell the story of what God has done in her life.

The picture shows the church's Fair Trade shop in Soho.