Ian Parry on William Carey for the Evangelical Library

 

We had an excellent lunch time zoom lecture on Monday from Ian Parry, speaking on William Carey. Normally we have all the ostroy and then a few applications but this was shaped in an applicatory way and so was mor epointed and led to a decent discussion time too. Ian's point about Carey was that unlike us he was surrounded by prevailing corporate prayer due to an initiative from Jonathan Edwards and others before him; there was also a lot of theological confidence in the air and not ust because of the millennial positon many took; thirdly, there was a deep resilience and persistence that comes out in Carey's familiar story (See here for the lecture). We are very thankful to Ian for this very helpful and stimulating lecture.

Next month we travel from Cardiff, Wales to Inverness, Scotland, from where Dr Nick Needham will give us a lecture on Robert  Dabney. Again on zoom, it is on October 21. Details from The Library.

Aber Conference 2023 Thursday Morning Ian Parry 4

The final session of this year's Aber was Ian Parry's fourth message, this time on the church and focusing in on 1 Corinthians 9. It was great to close with Love Divine, one of only two Charles Wesley hymns sang in the week (I believe). Perhaps we should have sung more.

See here for session.

Aber Conference 2023 Thursday Morning Ian Parry 3

Excellent stuff once again from Ian Parry as we moved to the Holy Spirit and the more practical side of things from Joel as preached in Acts 2.

See here.

Aber Conference 2023 Wednesday Parry and Ash

Good day yesterday. More from Ian Parry and Christopher Ash. Ian took us to Revelation 5 and spoke about the Glory of the Son and Christopher Ash spoke on Psalm 149. His suggestion that the sword swinging is a metaphor for praise might well be right.

Wednesday morning here.

Wednesday evening here.

Aber Conference 2023 Tuesday Morning Ian Parry 1

 

A wonderful sermon this morning from our main speaker, from Ruth on getting the big vision. See here.

Aberlite 3

I am sorry that I have not been able to note the final main session of Aberlite until now. The third and final message was from Ian Parry on Ephesians 1:18. Whereas Stephen Clark was in his study and Phil Swann in some sort of studio Ian preached from his church. it would have been nice of the camera could have come a bit closer. Otherwise the format was the same - various intros and adverts, a prayer and reading, a hymn then the sermon and a closing section with a hymn, etc. Like the first message this was aimed perhaps more at everyone rather than the laser focus Stephen Clark seemed to have on the unbeliever. Thank you EMW for your efforts.

Aber Conference 2019

The EMW conference in Aberystwyth is a highlight in the year that we usually highlight. I was unable to do that this last week owing to the computer problem. I did want to note it, however. I normally get time before and/or after the conference which helps me cope with such a busy week. Things have been different this year (I was at a conference in London the week before, for example, and I did not arrive until the Monday) and so I was very selective in what I attended.

I only physically attended the morning sessions. These were taken by Ian Parry who spoke on Galatians. Quite Kelleresque, he preached very well and mostly helpfully. I am not sure why he wanted to say that the law does not help to sanctify us. We didn't learn anything about Ian himself and I'm not sure if that is good or bad. There was a little banter about London Seminary - not initiated by Ian. Perhaps any publicity is good publicity.

I also listened to most of the evening sessions at home (we stayed with our son and his family in the manse). I missed Conrad Mbewe on the Sunday but heard him on the Monday night. He has a fairly unique style with no illustrations and a focus on the cross. Vaughan Roberts, John Benton and Andy Pitt did well in their different ways. Lyndsay Brown is always enjoyable to listen even if you have heard the anecdotes many times before.

I didn't get to any seminars. One of my sons went to Vaughan Roberts one on gender and found it very helpful. I did get along to the missionary exhibition and wish I could have spent longer there. Not sure what to think of the bookstall. It was a sunny week but the rain on the Friday put paid to the traditional sports matches. David N Jones next year.

The videos are all available on Youtube.

Aber 2019

The brochure for the Aber Conference 2019 is now out. See here.

Aber 2017 First Evening

We had a great start to our conference yesterday evening. Ian Parry preached from Exodus 15. I was surprised to know he had been 55 minutes. It didn't really seem that long. You can access the wholeservice here on Youtube. 

Busy Four days

It's been perhaps more busy than usual and so there' been no blogging for a little while.

Saturday morning was time for our monthly tracting  It was gratifying to have a full team out this time round. People from the Iranian Church in Finchley were also out so there were few places for pagans to hide in Golders Green that day. After a quick lunch I headed for Welwyn where the EMF (European Missionary Fellowship) were saying goodbye to Martin and Penny Leech and hello to Steve Bowers and Ian Parry. There were a large number there and Ian Parry preached well from Acts 16. I was sorry to have to dash off. I'd intended to arrive early and talk to people then but that didn't work out. Anyway, I got back home in time for the second half of the England Wales game. I don't really know what Wales were playing at in that first half but they finally came to life in the second half and almost did it. The 25-21 score line flatters Wales to some extent.

The Lord's Day was a good one. We ploughed on with Revelation in the morning, looking at Revelation 14, a most searching and no holds barred chapter dealing with the realities of heaven and hell. We closed with John Newton's hymn "Day of judgement". At 5 pm we gathered for tea. We weren't many but it was a nice time. I preached in the evening service to a good sized congregation on Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Then after church we heard that the church in Aberystwyth has issued a call to my eldest son. How thrilling.

The family was with us for tea on Monday evening (Rhodri was preaching in Pembrokeshire the day before). It was good to be with them. Before that I had been at the Evangelical Library. We had the Lunchtime Lecture first. Norman Hopkins from Strood, Kent, gave an excellent lecture on Edward Dering, a forgotten Puritan who he dubbed an Elizabethan Spurgeon. It was the best sort of lecture - where the lecturer knows his subject well but is able to get the story across. It was great to have over twenty people present. Next lecture April  18 - yours truly on F B Meyer. After our evening meal, Eleri had me moving a large cupboard form one room to another that had to come apart in the end. Once that was done, I sat down to University Challenge and the News.

Then today I have been out at the John Owen Centre/LTS for some Greek study with the principal Robert Strivens (my fellow elder who I know is between trips to Eastern Europe lecturing on Hebrews in Serbia and Romania). About nine of us gathered to work our way through Matthew 5-7. Robert does it very well with just the right amount of talking head and questions. I hope to be at the next one on Philippians in June but will be missing the Hebrew Day in May. After a brief session with my grandsons and others in the park I headed home. My parents-in-law arrived a little while after. I watched University Challenge again with Geoff (and got most of the questions right!). Eleri and I then watched the last episode of Happy Valley. There are things to criticise about it but as a piece of drama it is an amazing series. The way the ongoing story of the Sarah Lancashire character and her family and the continuing story of crime in a Yorkshire town are blended and played out is quite masterful. Expect this latest series to be gathering awards like the last one.

Aber Conference 2013 Evening Meetings

The five evening meetings at Aber were arranged this year as a sort of Celtic sandwich. At the centre was Vaughan Roberts, technically a Welshman but a quintessentially Anglican evangelical. He spoke well on Habakkuk 3. No evangelistic content but heart warming for those who heard. At the top and bottom of the sandwich were two Welshmen ministering in Wales. Pembrokeshire born Bernard Lewis now in Newport via London and Papua New Guinea preached manfully, asking the question whether we love Jesus. Cardiff born Ian Parry of the Bay Church did better in some ways on John 20:21. I suppose we must have Welshmen preach but it is not easy to be yanked out of your church of 80 or a hundred and face a thousand and more.

The speaker on Tuesday and Thursday was Highlander Iain D Campbell who gave us theological preaching of the highest calibre. Taking the phrases But I and But Christ he basically summarised Romans and then Galatians before launching into rich expositions of Romans 7:14 and Galatians 2:20. Not everyone is used to this sort of preaching and it was good to have the morning messages alongside these but such God exalting preaching was a joy to experience.

Yng Nghymru 02

The rest of the family had gone on down to Eleri's sister's in Cardiff and I joined them that evening. The next morning Eleri's other sister and husband arrived and they all trooped off to St Mellon's to hear Ian Parry. I half wish I had gone but having been ill the previous Tuesday I thought it wiser to stay at home and read and prepare myself for the evening. In the evening I was preaching in Bethlehem, Sandfields, Aberafan. I had a lovely time with the minister Jeremy Bailey (who I know through the Westminster Fellowship) and his wife Jenny beforehand chatting about Port Talbot and sundry other things then preached in the evening to about 40 something based on Don Carson's chapter on the ironies of the cross. I then headed back to Cardiff where we stayed overnight before heading back to London the next day.

Aber 09 3

Yesterday (Wednesday) I only heard Joel Beeke's second address as I was babysitting in the evening, when Richard Bewes spoke for a second time. People seemed to think he did less well this time, although many appreciated the three point structure. I also missed Ian Parry on Lloyd-Jones the evangelist where he spoke very well on a teacher who taught, a witness who testified, a doctor who diagnosed and an advocate who pleaded, among other things. We were visiting the missionary exhibition here instead and visiting the AP Christian bookshop. Joel Beeke spoke this time on blind Bartimaeus from Mark 10 and Luke 18:43, highlighting his needing, finding and following/glorifying Christ and the effect this had on others. It was quite evangelistic early on and very challenging to Christians from then on. We were all quite moved when he shared how his son had written an essay for school on him and said that despite his faults the son doesn't know a man who loves Jesus Christ more. This was said not to boast but in amazement. It is a paradox that the holier we become the less aware we are of it.
Joel came back to the manse in the evening and it was good to share fellowship with him informally as he talked about the seminary, his new hearing aids, books, selling books to Timothy Keller, his doctor who loves Rob Bell, etc. He plans to do Jacob at Peniel next.