The Art of Shepherding 2025

It has been good today at the St Giles Christian Mission in Islington for the Art of Shepherding Conference. Perhaps we were a litte less than last year (35?). The four speakers were Phil Heaps from Highbury, Dan Green from Banstead, Brad Franklin from SGM and Robert Strivens from Bradford on Avon. The messages were on Proverbs and pastoring, shepherding and the whole counsel of God, David Brainerd and pastors and retirement. All of them had very useful things to share. Audio will I guess appear here at some point.

The Art of Shepherding 2024

Aaron

Jonny

Brad

I have spent the day at my second Art of Shepheding Conference. About 60 ministers met in St Giles Mission, Islington (up from 40 last year). This free conference had four sessions and plenty of time for coffee and chat and even a mid-day meal. We also met at the end of the day for a curry. The sessions were led by Phil Heaps, Aaron Prelock (visiting from the USA) and Brad Franklin with a final session from Jonny Prime. Phil took us to Acts 20 and the lessons for pastors there and Aaron spoke on pastors and authority. Brad brought us some insights from the writings on pastoralia of Eugene Peterson. Jonny Prime spoke form his own long experience on the priority of patience, the protection of purality, the problem of professionalism, the pain of pastoring and the peril of power. So a great day.

Lord's Day October 29 2023

Last Lord's Day was a little bit different. In a welcome initiative from St Giles Christian Mission, four milles away in Islington, we arranged a morning swap. Aaron Prelock preached here and I preached in St Giles, which I'd not done before. The congregation is similar to ouor own in many ways but the building and congregation are twice the size, I guess, and they have managed to retain people who grew up there. We have no-one matching that description at Childs Hill. I preached from Song of Songs becasue it is a neglected book and that went okay but I was rather long needing to set things up for the one off sermon. In the evening I preached here on Job 36 and 37. I have rather struggled with these Elihu chapters having changed my view on him. A lot of epostion today and a lack of preaching I fear. 

Day Off Week 23 at The Art of Shepherding Conference

My day off this week was rather different. A good friendship has grown up between Andrew King and Phil Heaps at Highbury and the Americans Brad Franklin and Aaron Prelock at St Giles Christian Mission. Last year they organised a conference for ministers and this year they met again St Giles. About forty ministers and prospective miisters were there. All Reformed Baptists I guess.

Phil kicked us off with an appropriate trek through the very relevant and stimulating material in Ezekiel 34. Aaron then took us to the much neglected Pastoral Rule by Gregory the Great. We had an excellent Mexican lunch and then Brad took us to Bunyan's Mr Greatheart. The final session was a discussion period led by Andrew, which went well. Several of us then crossed the road for an Indian meal to rounf off the day.

It was good to meet people I've not met before especially several young men, including two whose fathers I know and one who turned out to be the grandson of a former pastor of Childs Hill (ie the late Tony Sandys). Most of them have parents born on other continents, which is a fascinating dimension of life these days. This is a good addition to the roster of conferences for ministers, not that we are short of them. as I've thought about it the phrase "Art of shepherding" sound more and more pretentious but it was not like that at all. The very opposite.