Midweek Meeting July 17 2019

We did something unusual for us last night  - we combined our church members meeting and midweek meeting.  There are snags with doing that and we have avoided doing it before now. Anyway seven of met to kook at Psalm 134 and then to pray. This was followed by the members meeting. We still managed to finish by 9.35 so pretty good. Psalm 134 is a great psalm. We had not looked at it before.

Midweek Meeting June 21 2017

We were a good number midweek as we began on the teaching from Leviticus on infectious skin diseases. We tackled 13:1-46. I was eager not to be too long as I wanted to allow time for both prayer and a church members meeting. We did not do too badly althoiugh it was gone ten by the time we had finsihed everything. The reason for the members meeting was that we wish to baptise two people shortly and welcome two others already baptised into membership. (We did not absolutely insist on baptism by immersion but it is the norm here). We were all agreed on the way forward. It was a great privilege to hear these four testimonies. The way it works with us is that after speaking to the pastor candidates for membership are interviewed by two members either alone or with someone else who is applying. We seek to establish that they are converted and living the Christian life and how they might contribute to the life of the church. The first of the two baptisms will eb this Lord's Day, God willing.

Lord's Day March 23 2014

So back to it yesterday. Numbers were a little lower than last week but it is always good to be with God's people. We completed 1 Corinthians 12 emphasising the role that we all have to play in church life by drawing out eight principles (unity, belonging, diversity, interdependence, weakness, sympathy, variety, ambition). In the evening I completed Isaiah 40, always an encouraging chapter. How good to be with God's people.

Spurgeon the Strict Baptist

On page 125 of Tom Nettles' new biography of Spurgeon he quotes him at the meeting of the Baptist Brethren when the Met Tab was to be opened in 1861 (see whole thing here).

Spurgeon says

 

I am glad that we have here brethren representing different views among us. Here I am a strict Baptist, and open communion in principle; some of our brethren are strict in communion, and strict in discipline; some are neither strict in discipline nor in communion. I think I am the closest to the truth, but you all think the same for yourselves, and may God defend the right.

 

It is slightly confusing at first (today we call strict communionists Strict Baptists) but what he means is that Baptists at the time (as now) may have

 

A baptised membership and a strict communion (as Strict Baptists do today)

or

A baptised membership but a communion open to all believers (as we tend to do here)

or

An open membership and communion (typical of FIEC churches and others)

 

In practice we do allow some manoeuvre on membership but each fellowship has to make a decision in this area. Who will we accept as members? Who will we accept to the communion table? It is neat to match up the answers to the questions but, like Spurgeon, many of us feel that in an imperfect world a discontinuity is right.

GBA 2012 05 Paul Oliver

Our second morning session was again on church membership, but this time on practical expectations. The speaker was Paul Oliver. He began with some humour speaking of our expectations but pointed out that it is Christ's expectations that matter.

He then spoke on

1. Unrealistic expectations

1 We must avoid placing unscriptural burdens on people eg with regard to Sabbath observance, alcohol, corporate worship.

2 We must avoid an unbalanced message - not make every effort but For this reason make ever effort (see 1 Peter)

3 We must avoid what Paul David Tripp calls personal or locational amnesia. We are this side of heaven and imperfection is bound to exist.

2. Realistic expectations (drawn from 1 Thessalonians)

1. Believing the gospel

2. Turning from idols
3. That we be motivated by faith and love in our Christian lives
4. Growing in faith, grace and love including peace in the church and the helping of the weak and the broken being helped
I found the message a little "touchy feely" myself but there were lots if helpful and challenging things said. The emphasis on God's grace was very much appreciated.

GBA 2012 04 Martin Grubb

Our opening session today was led by Martin Grubb and sought to give the biblical basis for church membership. He began by describing how things are arranged in his own recently constituted church at Charlesworth, quite similar to the 54 churches represented at this assembly. A line is drawn and some are within and some are without.

The question, however, is whether such an arrangement is biblical.

He began by looking at the 1689 Confession and noted how

1. The doctrine of the church is important

2. Scripture is sufficient - there is enough here to know how the church should be organised

3. The visibility of the church is emphasised

Rather than looking at proof texts he took us then to Corinth to show how biblical this is. The situation in Corinth is very much like the situation we are in today. Among the many things he helpfully pointed to were these:

1. There was a church in Corinth to which people belonged

2. We know how the church came into being from Acts

3. All sorts of people belonged to the church

4. Those who belonged had been changed by God

5. A clear line is drawn between those within the church and those outside

6. There is a distinction between the church and the congregation

7. They have many questions and know where to go with them

8. It has the fearful power to hand people over to Satan

9. It has an especial care for its own

10. It welcomes believers from other churches