Westminster Fellowship July 2026

Thomas Cross, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I don't always mention the Westminster Fellwoship but I was there yesterday and it was a particularly good one. Around twenty gathered to hear Dr Garry Williams from London Seminary on the Davidic covenant and, as one would have expected, it was incisive and stiimulating as he interected with the Bible and the literature. His main focus was on a 1657 work called Mysterium & medulla bibliorum, the Mysterie and Marrow of the Bible by Francis Roberts (see above). We normally make our own arrangements for lunch but Henry Dixon arranged fro us to have sandwiches together and that worked well. This is my last official Westminster Fellowship (although I have agreed to speak next year). Once I am in Wales I am not sure if I will travel up (although Jeremy Bailey does regularly). I am also thinking through the while question of retired ministers and fraternals and conferences.

10 Reasons to be Cheerful

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I was at the Westminster Fellowship yesterday, a monthly ministers fraternal. Paul Levy had been invited to speak on the current scene. He was very helpful and balanced it out by considering positives and negatives. He had 12 positives and I thought they would be worth replicating here in our own style.

1. The unstoppable growth of the global church

2. The open mindedness that some outsiders seem to have to the gospel at the moment
3. The fact that angry atheism seems to have faded away
4. The fact that Islam appears tobe in retreat for the most part

5. Immigration means that the world is coming to us
6. Many churches have been planted in the last 30 years

7. The work of Christian camps for young people is thriving

8. The mulititude of Christian books that are available today

9. The way the Internet is being used for evangelism

10. The existence of many happy traditonal families who share meals together

(His other two were the abundant opportunities for Christians to speak up and be heard and the disputable fact that ministers tend to be better trained today).

Westminster Fellowship

Paul

I don't always report on my visits to the Westminster Fellowship but it was good to be there again on Monday. Jeremy Bailey chaired and Paul Yeulett gave a helpful paper on the call to the ministry. He spoke of seven aspects of the call (chosen, prepared, compelled, trained, appointed, sent, equipped) and that made for a very rounded piece. Helpful discussion too. Shame there aren't more of us.

Concupiscence

We had the Westminster Fellowship on Monday at Westminster Baptist Church. The speaker was Matthew Roberts the author of the book Pride. One of the main arguments in the book is that there is such a thing as concupiscence or lust and that it is sinful. The subject has come to the fore because some evangelicals say they are same sex attracted and that there is nothing innately wrong with that as long as they do not act on those desires. Mr Roberts seeks, convincingly, to quesion that view. It was good to go through the subject once again and to dicuss it. We were not a great number, failing to reach twenty. Also, I note that most of us are either retired or son to retire. it wa  aworthwhile time, however.

Tony Wilcox at The Westminster Fellowship

I failed to report on last Monday. Last Monday was the November meeting of the Westminster Fellowship. The usual twenty or so gathered to hear Tony Wilcox from Tyndale House. Tony is a very pleasant academic with an interest in the Old Testament. He introduced us, more generally, to Tyndale House and, more specifically, to current Old Testament studies. This latter segment included a quick tour through trauma theology. Copies of the atest TH mag were made available adn I have been enjoying articles this week. We should be thankful to Tyndale House for its work, although it all sounds very tedious and mainly just inches things forward and it is not work I think I could devote myself to. Most of it is appreciated, however.

Westminster Fellowship May 2024

More or less every month it is my privilege to be down in Westminster Baptist for the Westminster Fellowhip. I was there last Monday for the fellowship when Dr Ian Shaw spole on the subject of slavery and the case for reparations. Sadly, numbers were down rather and we were only about twelve or so. The two talks were very belpful, hopwever - the forst looking at oast responses from Wilberforce, Newton, etcl and casting light on Dabney, Thornwell and others who were quite controversial in their views. You can get a taste of what was said here

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Who should take the Lord's Supper?

I have been looking at this subject for some time now and on Monday I delivered a paper to the Westminster Fellowship. We were to have met on February 5 but the train strike menat it was moved and that was a good idea as there were more than 20 present. We had a good discussion after before and after lunch, moving on to one or two other matters in the process. Excellent charimanship from Paul Yeulett of Grove Chapel, Camberwell. Nice to meet his new assistant, David Hendircks. My father-in-law and I had lunch with him. Nice moment when David said his wife was German and Geoff could say his wife is too. I will try and get it into shape for a magazine article.

Fraternal Week Again

As I have mentioned before on this blog I attend two quite different fraternals and they often end up in the same week (Monday and Wednesday). That is what happened this week. Last Monday it was the fairly traditional Westminster Fellowship at Westminster Baptist Church. This time John Benton was speaking to us on this thorny subject of pastoral abuse in churches. As ever, John was very helpful. About 20 of us were there. Then last Wednesday five of us met to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath. We meet at Hampstead Heath Station, walk to Kenwood for a coffee (kindly paid for by Aaron this time) and then on to Gospel Oak Station where we part. So no formality, just chatting about what we wish with whom we wish. It works well, though it would be nice to see more along.

Discouragement in the ministry

I spent much of yesterday in Westminster Baptist Church at the Westminster Fellowship, the ministers' fraternal I attend once a month or so. We had Paul Williams from Swindon speaking. We were the usually twenty or so in attendance. Paul preached helpfully from 2 Corinthians in the morning and we had an hour or so to discuss in the afternoon after prayer and one or two business items. A orivilege to be there.

Another Monday

My two Mondays before last have been busy and the last one was too. This time I was in Westminster Baptist Church for the Westminster Fellowship which meets once a month most months. The usual twenty or so gathered and this time, under the chairmanship of Jeremy Bailey, we had a time of discussion. We discussed a number of subjects including cults and cultic traits, retirement from the ministry and marriage. Useful contributions from many.

Fraternal Week

I was going to put a post called Fraternal week last month but there didn't seem to be time. The way things work for me is that the first Monday and the first Wednesday of each month are fraternal days and so the first week of the month tends to be busy. On the Monday I go to a traditional fraternal, the Westminster Fellowship which now meets in Westminster Baptist Church. Then on the Wednesday a number of us go for a walk on Hampstead Heath. We meet at a station, walk to a coffee place then on to another station. So there is no formality, we just talk about what we wish with whom we wish. It works well though. As for the Westminster Fellowship, last month we had Andy Young speaking very helpfully on evangelism and this month Dr Philip Sampson speaking on the very topical subject of creation care. Dr Sampson works at the Animal Ethics Centre in Oxford and is a Schaefferite. He gave a very interesting presentation on caring for creation, backed up by a range of excellent quotations from all the good guys (Calvin, the Puritans, Spurgeon, etc).

More Thoughts on Religious Experience

It was good to be giving thought to Archibald Alexander's wonderful book once again on Monday. The Westminster Fellowship gathering was led by Stephen Clark a long time fan of the book. We were our usually circa twenty. Good time.

Ministers Fraternals

Ministers fraternals are a great thing especially for ministers in independent churches. I go to two very different fraternals more or less once a month. It is a pity they fall in the same three days but there we are. I have mentioned both here before now. First, there's the Westminster Fellowship which is an all day affair (10.30 am-3 pm with a short break for lunch plus time to travel there and back). Last Monday we had a speaker, which we often do. Robert Strivens addressed us on what to sing and gave us some useful historical and biblical material to chew over. He was keen to point out that the modern way of thinking is not just about using modern hymns but about a certain understanding of worship too. About 20 of us gathered and we had a good session. There are one or two psalm singers among us which slowed down proceedings but they have to think about these subjects too as you still have to decide which psam version to use and which tune. (PS we use New Christian Hymns in book form and are accompanied by a piano). Then today I joined nine other men at Hampstead Heath station to walk over the Heath and get a coffee before heading down to Gospel Oak, talking all the way. This is a much looser way of doing things but means I get my 10,000 steps in, get to know some of my fellow ministers (better than I would at Westminster, although this time I shared a bus ride with two different ones coming and going, which was good).

Interesting books

We had a session at the Westminster Fellowship on Monday where Keith Berry recommended some books worth reading. He mentioned The Noble Liar: How and Why the BBC Distorts the News to Promote a Liberal Agenda by Robin Aitken exposing BBC bias, The Reshaping of Britain: Church and State since the 1960s, A Personal Reflection by the veteran evangelical Clifford Hill, charting his own story and describing changes in the UK in recent decades, and a large book by the Jewish journalist Melanie Phillips called The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power.

What we are talking about, I suppose, is right wing writing that in one way or another exposes evils in our society and analyses them in a way that is of great interest to evangelical Christian. One could add Douglas Murray's recent The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity and slightly more tangential Tom Holland's Dominion, the making of the western mind both recommended to me recently from more than one source. I guess the writings of Jordan Peterson might also be mentioned. Do check them out.

Downton Abbey

Monday was a full day with Westminster Fellowship followed by an Evangelical Library. After that though my good wife picked me up and we went to see the film version of Downton Abbey.

We have left it a bit late so we were in a smaller room in our local Vue than I would have wished but the film's own merits soon overcame any distractions.

We could have done without the homosexual story strand (why did Julian not go for something about racism we would have preferred that - maybe). The film does try to take itself seriously with observations on the decline of England's stately homes but its great strength is its gentle humour. It is very well written and exploits the potentialities of the old English class system to the full. This time Molesely (Kevin Doyle) even outshone Lady Grantham (Maggie Smith) for humour. They feasibly managed to get Mr Carson (Jim Carson) back (and found a part for his real life wife) but couldn't find anything for Bates to do in such a crowded cast.

Do seek it out,

Westminster Fellowship Pastoralia

We had a very good couple of sessions on Monday with Bill James, Principal of the London Seminary, on pastoral care and counselling. Bill spoke about our goal as pastors and the means to it in very helpful terms. About twenty of us were there and we had a good time discussing. The Westminster Fellowship meets in Westminster Baptist Church on the first Monday of most months October-July. The above picture is of what was happening a hundred or so yards from the venue. This was the means of blocking access to Vauxhall Bridge from one side. I have highlighted the fact that several of these protesters were from Aberystwyth where this is very much a  live issue.

Speaking on Proverbs at the Westminster Fellowship

If you belong to the Westminster Fellowship, this is a reminder that I will be speaking on Proverbs

on Monday July 1 from 11 am at Westminster Baptist Church.

Charles Bridges The Christian Ministry

It was good last Monday to meet wth the members of the Westminster Fellowship. Dr Ian Densham had been asked to present a paper on the 19th century Anglican minister Charles Bridge's The Christian Ministry. Like many present I last read it over thirty years ago but unlike others I have not had chance to re-read it more recently but it was good to be reminded of its contents. It can be found easily enough online or in print. One anomaly that Ian discovered is that the Banner version (the one most of us are familiar with) lacks the final sections of the whole work

Some quotations

This sacred office is administered by agents, Divinely-called through the medium of lawful authority, and entrusted with the most responsible and enriching blessing; rendering the highest possible service to their fellow men, because that most nearly connected with the glory of the Saviour.

As to spiritual qualifications, we would be careful neither to lower, exceed, or deviate from, the Scriptural standard.

It is not easy to overcome our natural love of ease, our indisposition to self-denying devotedness, and our false tenderness in flinching from the declaration of unpalatable truths.

When we see the most "able Minister of the New Testament" that the Church has ever known, deeply penetrated, and indeed well-nigh overwhelmed, with the sense of the "necessity laid upon him" — we may well be ashamed, that with qualifications far inferior, our sense of obligation should be less accurate and constraining.”  

Except we realise a high estimation of the Church, the constraining influence of the Saviour's love, and the upholding prop of Almighty grace, what is there to preserve us from sinking in despondency?

Covetousness is far more specious than worldly conformity. It has much to plead under the cover of necessity, justice, prudence, and economy.

In the Church he " transforms himself into an angel of light" — exhibiting either the attractive idol of self-righteousness — or that most inveterate form of antichrist — the dependence on the profession of a pure doctrine.

What a large share of humility, what unceasing supply of Divine grace, is needed to resist a temptation, that falls in so powerfully with the selfish principle of the natural heart!

No one attains remarkable eminence or success, without a resolute and habitual self-denial in subordinating every secondary point to the primary object.

The kindness of the world is far more formidable than its enmity. Many, who were prepared to stem the torrent of its opposition, have yielded with compromising indulgence to its paralysing kindness.

The contempt also of the Sabbath — the predominant character of pleasure, dissipation, and the general inattention or opposition to religion in the heads of the parish — too often present a hostile front to our course of effort and instruction
Thus our whole course is a struggle against the mighty current of sin — flowing out of that restless bias of the natural heart, which upon the highest authority is declared to be "enmity against God."

The Church is the mirror, that reflects the whole effulgence of the Divine character. It is the grand scene, in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe.
If a young man has capacity; culture and application may make him a scholar, a philosopher, or an orator; but a true Minister must have certain principles, motives, feelings, and aims, which no industry or endeavours of men can either acquire or communicate. They must be given from above, or they cannot be received.

Thus discouragements, properly sustained and carefully improved, become our most fruitful sources of eventual encouragement while love to our work bears us on above all our difficulties.

The revelations made to the Church — the successive grand events in her history — and, above all  the manifestation of "the glory of God in the Person of Jesus Christ" — furnish even to the heavenly intelligences fresh subjects of adoring contemplation.

the Divine call to this sacred office will be evidenced by a supply of competent qualifications for its discharge.

In considering "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus," we witness a most harmonious combination of seemingly opposite characteristics. The Ministry of our Lord was distinguished by the dignity of God, and the sympathy of a man and a brother — by the authority of the commissioned delegate of his Father, and yet by the humility of a servant, who " came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.

Ps I'm speaking at the next Westminster Fellowship on July 1 on Proverbs

GT on Dr Lloyd-Jones

It was good to be at the Westminster Fellowship on Monday where we had a bumper turn out to hear my father-in-law speak on the fellowship's founder,the late Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Geoff spoke very openly and helpfully, his advantages being a personal acquaintance with the Doctor adn the length of time since his death. It is now more than 35 years since his death. Geoff spoke very admiringly of his godliness and his preaching power. he spoke clearly on his doctrinal oddities - his view of Romans 7, his belief in baptism being best administered as effusion for believers, his Congregationalism and lack of elders, etc. It was a treat to hear this description of such a significant servant of God. It was good too to have opportunity for discussiion. There was no official recording of the proceedings.

Stephen Lloyd Adam and death

It was good to be at the Westminster Fellowship again yesterday. There was a good turn out to hear Stephen Lloyd on creation issues. The bones of what he had to say can be found here. This article has now been produced as a booklet called Adam or death: which came first? Stephen Lloyd is always worth hearing. He is constantly thinking over these issues with a theological and scientific apporach that is both accessible and thought provoking. For more on such matters see here.