Lord's Day June 28 2026

The church was pretty full yesterday morning as we had three baptisms. One was a young lady who had grown up in the church, another was a local young man who we have got to know this year and the thrid was an Iranian. It was a great time. We also had another four Iranians there for the first time and in the evening a local lady who came once before returned. We were down to 15 in the evening but it wa sa good day all told, all the more poignant as that may be the last time I baptise anyone. Over the years I must have baptised around 43 people here in Childs Hill, an average of one a year.

Lord's Day September 28 2025

Red letter day last Sunday.  We were in Aberystwyth for the baprism of my oldest grandson, Gwilym. It was a joy to hear is brief testimony and to see him baptised. He has been wanting this for some time but as he is only 11 the church has moved slowly. Lovely to see various realtivs along too. Great to hear a clear baptistic sermon from Matthew 3 from my son and then also to be there in the evening when he preached well on John 3:1-15 and there was a student tea to follow. Nice to meet several students old and new and others. Great Lord's Day.

Lord's Day March 30 2025

Many events seemed to combine last Sunday. It was the end of Ramadan and the first Sunday of the new year for Iranians. It was Mothers Day in the UK and the clocks Sprang forward an hour to British Summer Time. Perhaps for the latter reason and may be some others it was not the best Sunday to have a baptism bit we did and followed it with a meal. We baptised two young Kurdish Iranian men. One was so late due to travel problems that we almost postponed it. We got there, however. I reached on Matthew 13:44. About twenty of us stayed for lunch and that was a very nice time. In the evening Eddie preached well to s small gathering, a second look at Colossians 3.

Lord's Day January 28 2024

We had a great turn out last Lord's Day morning, perhaps as many as sixty. We baptised two more Iranians, which got people along (at least 18 there). I preached from the closing verses of Matthew. In the evening we were in double figures but a much smaller cloud when I got round to the message from Revelation 19 I had hoped to preach earlier in the year. Not having preached for three weeks I was raring to go and quite excited.

Lord's Day September 17 2023

What a full day it was last Lord's Day!  We haptised two people in the morning service and that was followed by a lovely fellowship meal together. It was Eleri's birthday and someon had made an aamzing cake for her. We all sang happy birthday. I preached on Acts 22:16. In the evening there was communion and we welcomed oour newly baptised friends into membership. Then Eddie Webster, our new assistant, preached an excellent sermon on Mephibosheth from 2 Samuel 9. Great day.

Baptism in Trowbridge

It was my privilege to be present last Saturday at a baptism in Trowbridge. The baptism took place in Zion Baptist Church, which is the church where John Warburton (1776-1857) was once the minister. We were there mainly becasue ny nephew Osian was being baptised but there were another two baptisms - of an elderly couple, Mrand Mrs Bridges, who had been Anglicans all their lives but were very unhappy that the most recent minister in their local church was a woman who lives with a female companion. All three are reguar members of the congregation that meets in aschool in nearby Hilperton (at Grace Reformed Baptist Church). It was good to see about forty there and we had a nice tea to follow. The opreacher was Geoff Thomas, Osian's grandfather.

Lord's Day July 31 2022

What a great day it was last Sunday. We baptised three people. Like the previous two people we baptised these people were brought up under the Koran. It is a great joy to see people turning to Christ even though they have been a long way off in the past. As it was a baptism, we had quite a few visitors. We decided to have a meal together after the meeting and that was a good occasion. We sang happy birthday twice (two cakes!) and took the opportunity to say a formal goodbye to our longest serving couple, Mike and Ali, who are moving to Pembrokeshire soon. How we will miss them! We were a select group come the evening. We looked at Psalm 37 a psalm I don't think I've preached on before. Probably needed more work.

IPC Catalyst Conference Day 2

On day 2 it was  slightly hotter but the same sort of programme was followed. We began with Sinclair Ferguson again, on the mind of Christ from Philippians 2. Soul stirring stuff. Jonathan Landry Cruse, our new friend from Kalamazoo spoke helpfully on the content of worship, advocating plenty of reading and preaching and calling for a return to the practice of reading the commandments, confession and absolution and the use of the benediction. This was stimulating, although I see the danger of getting bound to a formal liturgy. After lunch it was Jonty Rhodes again with a very full exposition of the priesthood of Christ. The final session, from David Gibson, was difficult to sit through in some ways but worth hearing. It was on baptism from a Presbyterian point of view. A former credobaptist Mr Gibson spoke with the fervency of a convert. He was willing more or less to concede that the Greek word does mean baptism and that there were no children involved in the household baptisms in the New testament. I thought his most telling point was that Acts is not normative, which removes much baptism. I notice, like others, that it was when children came along that he and his wife became Presbyterians. It is not unusual to come across poorly taught Baptists who are won over at such a time. If our friends had known that their children were sanctified by dint of being born into a Christian home (1 Corinthians 7:14) they may not have bothered with the water, perhaps. Anyway good to know how Presbyterians see it.

Yes they really do

Sometimes you are told that people say a certain thing and you wonder if they really do. Yesterday in TableTalk Magazine in comments on 1 Corinthians 16:15-18 it actually does say this (italics mine).

We cannot be sure of who made up Stephanas’ household, but there may be here an indirect reference to infant baptism. The infants would have been baptized along with the rest of the household if, in fact, there were infants in the household (see 1 Cor 1:16). In any case, it is worth noting that some commentators believe that Stephanas and his household played a key role in establishing the church in Corinth and that Stephanas may have been an early leader there given the way Paul speaks about them as those who “devoted themselves to the service of the saints” (16:15).

See here

Lord's Day October 18 2020

Sunday was one of those red letter days that come from time to time. We had our first baptism in a while. This was someone who git in touch with us during the lockdown and despite the difficulties has come to a real faith in Christ even though having a background where Christian faith is actively discouraged. This is the second person with that sort of background to join us, which is encouraging. Of course, the logistics were slightly difficult but I donned rubber gloves, a facemask and visor and I don't think we transgressed any rules. I preached from Acts 8, somewhere I often turn when a baptism takes place. I prepared an entirely fresh sermon, which wrote itself and preached very easily. I hope it will have some impact. (It should be on the website soon). In the evening we zoomed again for the last message on Isaiah 55 (verses 7-13). We then did something I can't remember doing before but people were given opportunities to ask questions. We had a whole raft of good questions  - Why wouldn't Mordecai bow to Haman? What about Christian conspiracy theories? What is the difference between hope and faith? In what sense were Adam and Eve's eyes opened when they ate the fruit? Etc. Good questions I hope the answers were of some use.

Lord's Day January 26 2020

Last Sunday was one of those red letter days that come now and again. In the morning we had a packed church present to witness the baptism of two young men, one of them my youngest son, Owain, who is nearly 19. He is the last of the boys to be baptised. All his brothers and many others from both families were there and other visitors too. I preached from 1 Corinthians 1, which is an unusual place to go but my point was that baptism is both important (it is a matter of obedience for every Christian) and unimportant for what really matters is hearing the gospel. There were several unbelievers present so I hope the message got across. We sat down to lunch in the chapel after that. We must have been about fifty for that. I'm sorry we weren't a few more, though where we would have sat them I do not know. By the evening we were down to a more typical 15 for the second sermon on Song of Songs. I did better this week but still need to get it more streamlined.

Lord's Day November 12 2017

It was a great day yesterday and with a lot going on. We began with the two minutes silence for Remembrance Day then we proceeded with our usual morning service. At the end of this we had a baptism, the second this year. The woman involved grew up in Pakistan and so it was an unusual baptism for us. We are so glad she has come to this point. I preached on Lydia from Acts 16. Following the service we had a lovely meal together, something we try to do every other month. I prefer to have baptisms in the evening as the evening service can be a bit of a damp squib otherwise. It was okay, as it turned out. We looked at the feeding of the 4000 from the end of Matthew 15 with not a bad turn out. It is encouraging to know that others in the congregation are thinking of baptism.

18th century baptistry

Here's something I came across on my recent travels - a plaque marking the site of a baptistry used in the 18th century by the Baptsts of South Craven. The South Craven Baptist Church currently occupies a modern building opposite the beck where baptisms took place in times gone by. The church started in 1711.

Lord's Day June 25 2017

Sunday was interesting. For the morning I had had a request from a member of the congregation that we could mark his sixtieth birthday. (I know that in the 18th century Benjamin Beddome would preach funeral sermons in the regular meetings and was sometimes asked to preach on a certain text and willingly did). This man is especially pleased about reaching 60 because he has been quite unwell. He is Nigerian so he and his friends and family were expecting something a bit more Nigerian. There appears to be a particular fondness for taking the collection by the congregation going to the front instead of the stewads going to them (I know that to some good Reformed people both methods are anathema). Anyway, I felt I could stay within the regulative primciple and please the Nigerians. I think we managed it (though some still thought we were collecting for the man whose birthday it was!). I preached on Psalm 90:12, which you will find in due time on our church website and my Preached Sermons blog. There was a reception after but I could not attend as we had a guest at home (our German friend here again for the EMA) and the evening to prepare for. With all the Nigerian visitors (including one lady and her grandchildren who I don't think was part of the celebration crew) I nearly missed a Ghanaian lady I know not normally with us. I think she was there (as was the returning Portuguese lady) because a large charismatic church in Golders Green has recently moved on. We will see.

In the evening we had a baptism. We have known the lady being baptised, who is Turkish, for man years and it was great to see her coming to this point. We were a larger congregation than we might have been as we were visited by a large family we know en route home to West London. We had a nice little tea to follow. I preached on 2 Peter 3:21. Before the evening meeting I saw two people I know outside the church and invited them in. Both were keen but did not show up. It is easy to get discouraged. I fight it, of course. I failed yesterday but am doing better today.

Baptist Anecdote

I came across this anecdote recently from 1824 in The New Evangelical Magazine, and Theological Review, Volume 10. A correspondent (Elimelech) includes it saying he had it from Benjamin Francis. (Apologies to any paedobaptist friends).

A poor woman, a member of a neighbouring Independent church, requested me to give her a Bible. I replied, “Yes, Mary, I have no objection to give you a Bible, but it must be on one condition.” “Well, Sir,” said she, “ and what is it?” “Why it is this, that you bring me one text from the New Testament that authorises Infant Baptism.” “Yes, Sir, that I will," was her reply; and she went away apparently very much pleased with the success of her application. The next day she came again, I said, “How do you do, Mary - have you got the text?” “Yes, Sir,” said she, “the best I could find.” She replied, with much seeming satisfaction, “It is in 1 Pet. ii. 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake Sir.” I do not recollect the close of this short dialogue, except that it contained a promise that the good woman should have the Bible.

10 Unpopular things that I believe in

It is easy to feel isolated and unpopular to some extent. I suppose some of us should expect this considering what we believe. Here are ten unpopular things that I basically line up with. Not many of you will agree with me on all ten, I guess.

 

1 The inerrancy of Scripture

2 Six day creation

3 The independency of the local church

4 The baptism only of believers

5 An educated ministry

6 The sanctitiy of the first day of the week

7 The priesthood of all believers

8 Male headship in the home and the church

9 The preferability of a republican state government

10 The disestablishment of the Church of England

Lord's Day April 19 2015

It was one of those red letter days yesterday when I baptised my fourth son and the daughter of two Nigerian members of the church. We started the day with a Bitesize Theology lesson on regeneration. I then preached on 1 Corinthians 15:29-32, which are difficult verses but I think we made some progress. It was good to have someone there who has not been in for a while and a member currently in Nigeria visiting. The baptisms were in the evening and it was gratifying to see the congregation greatly swollen by numerous family and friends of both candidates. One of our elderly members who rarely makes it was also present, which was good. I preached from Acts 16 on Lydia and the Jailer. Before the baptisms the two young people spoke, seeking to explain how they had come to this point in their lives. The baptisms themselves, as ever, were very brief, over in a moment. This last week or so has been a good one for me. Speaking at the Banner on Monday was a great honour. The next day was the first anniversary of my heart op and a cause for much thanksgiving. On Thursday my father-in-law gave the closing address at Banner and they asked my eldest son to read and pray, which he did well. It was around this time some 43 years ago that I first came to know the Lord. How very good God has been.

Abraham Conference at John Owen Centre Day 2

Messers Salter (seated) and Gibson (standing) 

We are a bit behind here but the second day at the Abraham conference was a fine one. We opened with a paper from David Shaw of Oak Hill and the whole matter of Abraham and justification by faith. He helpfully brought us up to speed with regard to the current debate with plenty of references to Wright and Barr et al. Perhaps the one failure was to relate this more directly to Abraham and not just to Romans 4 but this was a worthwhile paper. We then tried something a little different as David Gibson and Martin Salter presented papers arguing the paedo- and credo- Baptist positions respectively. Again Abraham was slightly lost in all this but it was a worthwhile exercise even if it shifted nobody's view. Dr Robert Strivens the LTS principal rounded off with an expansive and final paper on Abraham and Paul, arguing that Paul was consciously working out the promises made to Abraham.

I guess when we looked at Adam and Noah it was a little easier to focus simply on them and their times. Both being the first man of creation any extrapolation is both universal and individual to me. Abraham, on the other hand, is the father of the faithful and perhaps counter-intuitively that makes him a much bigger figure, one not so easily surveyed in a two day conference. Perhaps it will be possible to return to this towering figure another time and look at Abraham the prophet, Abraham the liar, Abraham and the land, etc, etc.

The recordings will be online in a few weeks I understand and a conference is planned for next year September 7 and 8.

Strict Baptists

I've been thinking of the phrase Strict Baptist and I think one can fairly say there is more than one way of using the phrase. I guess the four categories I'm thinking of more or less get stricter and stricter. Anyway, I think we can say that Strict Baptists are those who

 

1. Insist on a baptised membersip and will give communion only to church members or members of churches of the same faith and order. (Gospel Standard Strict Baptists)

2. Insist on a baptised membership and will give communion only to church members or members of other churches who have been baptised by immersion. (Regular Strict or Grace Baptists)

3. Insist on a baptised membership and will give communion to church members or members of other churches regardless of baptism.

4. Welcome into membership all believers regardless of baptism and will give communion to church members or members of other churches regardless of baptism but insist that leaders are baptised by immersion and teach that view.

 

I think we are really 4 though we may present as a 3.

Lord's Day January 26 2014

We were in Matthew 3 (Jesus's baptism) and Esther (6) again yesterday. Numbers were down rather especially in the evening for some reason. The sermons were quite a contrast. I found it a little difficult to find my way preaching on the baptism of Jesus for some reason and the sermon came out relatively short (under 30 minutes). I found Esther 6 much easier and it was approaching 40 minutes by the time I had finished. I tried to be evangelistic in both - and hopefully did that. Praying was much more difficult than preaching for some reason.