Covenant Protestant
Reformed Fellowship Ballymena, NI |
To the saints of the
Protestant Reformed Churches,
By God’s grace, the work in Ballymena progresses well. Sean and Maria Hanley were recently received as members of the CPRF, and their infant son, Josiah Calvin, was baptized (12 September). Another single man who left us two years ago at the disbanding of the CPRC has started attending our services. Earlier this week I began a new catechism class at the manse with the three young girls of a Christian lady who has been coming to our meetings for a while.
I’ve just finished a series of 10 sermons on Philippians 3, “Pressing
Toward the Mark,” and plan to begin a study of “Jehoshaphat, the Ecumenical
King” (II Chron. 17-20, etc.). Starting
in early September we began a study of Pentecostalism in our midweek meeting. So far we’re on the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. Later, we plan to consider spiritual gifts, worship, etc. These are pressing issues in Northern Ireland and
the British Isles as the scourge of the charismatic movement is strong here. One of the churches in Ballymena even has links
with Kenneth Copeland Ministries.
Further opportunities are opening up in the Ballymena area. A debate on Psalm singing versus hymn singing has
been arranged between myself and Rev. Ivan Foster (Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster) for
Friday, 14 January 2005 in Ballymena Leisure Centre.
Jonathan Moore, former British Reformed Fellowship Conference Secretary, has agreed
to come over from Cambridge to be the moderator. Also,
I’m now on the rota to speak to the children (aged 4-12) at the morning assembly of
Harryville Primary School in Ballymena a few times in the coming school year. The first date is 20 October. We have arranged a lecture on
“Predestination” (5 November) in Ballymena.
Sean Hanley (our webmaster) has added more material to the CPRF web site (www.cprf.co.uk): articles on John Wesley, 11 sermons on “God’s Hammer,” etc., as well as both Sunday services each week. Now we also have a search engine for searching within our website. The website has been especially busy of late with more sermons being down-loaded than ever before. It is gaining us more and more contacts, some good ones too, as well as orders for books and pamphlets. One of the young men who attends the CPRF is soon to begin work on putting the 14 or so sermons on Elijah unto CD for our website.
CPRF book sales at the BRF Conference (13-20 August, 2004) were good, and
September’s sales came to about £500. All
our 20 sets of Don Doezema’s Upon This Rock
(3 volumes) have sold out. We’re
planning on doing a special promotion of Rev. Ron Hanko’s book The Doctrine According to Godliness. Since he is well known by many over here, and
since the book consists largely of Covenant Reformed
News articles, we expect a lot of interest, and we plan to have some book reviews
written for the Christian press. Recently we
had a sign made and hung at the entrance to our drive: “Covenant Protestant Reformed
Manse & Bookstore www.cprf.co.uk.” It
cost less than £50, and we’ve noticed a number of people looking at it.
On 1 January 2004, the civil government changed the laws regarding officiants at
marriages. Marriages are no longer tied to
buildings (as before in the UK), nor do those who officiate have to pay a fee. We filled in the requisite forms, gathered
signatures from our people, and I have now been authorized to perform marriages. We see this as a step forward. We are wondering which of our young single people
will be the first to avail themselves of this facility.
The British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) Conference (13-20 August) was very
successful, as those from the PRC who made it over will readily testify. The speeches, the fellowship, and the trips to
Westminster Abbey and Cambridge (to see Reformation sites) were excellent. My speech outline on “The Coming of
Elijah” (Malachi 4:5-6) was stolen hours before I was to give the opening address,
causing me much consternation. Thankfully it
was returned by three charismatics who claimed to know of whom Malachi was
prophesying—the coming Elijah was one William Marrion Branham (1909-1965), initiator
of the post World War II healing revival! Needless
to say, I stuck to my original exegesis and lectured them on the eighth commandment!
A new BRF council was elected, with Jonathan Moore retiring and Stephen Rushton (a
good friend of the CPRF) and Chris Fisher (a new man) being elected. Brian Crossett, Ivan Reid, Michael Kimmitt, and I
were re-elected. We decided to hold the next
conference in S. Wales. When in Wales last
week, Mary and I talked with people at Halliwell College, Carmarthen. All the other conference centres we know of are
already booked up for the dates we are looking for in summer 2006. The BRF Biennial General Meeting also decided to
ask Profs. Engelsma and Hanko to write up their six speeches for publication. They agreed. So far, we have sold about 300 tapes
of the various conference speeches. The new British Reformed Journal contains some good
articles on revivals, infant baptism, etc., as well as a report on the conference. It will soon be going to the printers.
Currently, Prof. and Mrs. Hanko are in South Wales holding various meetings in two
different locations and developing contacts there. Last
week, Mary and I travelled to Wales and stayed with Prof. and Mrs. Hanko from Thursday
evening to early Saturday morning (7-9 October). We
were able to talk with Prof. Hanko of the work, look into a possible site for the next BRF
Conference, drop off a lot of pamphlets with a retired Baptist minister, visit with
Christian friends, and attend a lecture by Prof. on “Hypercalvinism.” Another Welsh Baptist minister has been attacking
our witness, and we’ve been told this has led to a number of people looking at our
website.
A second “mission” area has now opened up in Limerick on the mouth of the
River Shannon in SW Ireland. After the BRF
Conference, Prof. and Mrs. Hanko toured the Republic of Ireland with his sister Elaine
Bos, and Rev. and Mrs. Van Baren. Finding out
that they would be going near Limerick (where one man gets our tapes each week and others
e-mail us), we asked Prof. if he’d be willing to meet with them. The five Americans met with five Christian men in
the home of Terry Casey, our main contact man in the area.
Prof. gave an informal speech on the Reformed doctrine of the covenant. A lively question time ensued. Later Mary and I (with Sean and Roni Courtney) met
with the five men and another young man at Terry’s house (7 September). I gave a speech answering the question, “What
Is a Reformed Church?”
Mary and I returned to give a speech on “Predestination” (28 September),
this time in a little hall. The six men at
the last meeting came along with three family members and four other men, making fifteen
of us in all. One Pentecostal chap waved his
hands in the air and said things like “Bless you, Jesus” while we sang the 23rd
Psalm. I’d never had this before while
I was leading a meeting — and certainly not when a Psalm is being sung! The question-time afterward centred on whether or
not God hates the reprobate. The debate came
thick and fast and it was hard to keep the objectors in order. One lay-preaching Arminian walked out. I had a headache after the question and answer
period!
The core group in Limerick have been listening to tapes from Ballymena for over
eighteen months. One of the men has recently
started getting our sermons on CD each week (this is the first order we’ve had for
sermons on CD and we are considering promoting this).
They live relatively close
together and are relatively young. Some have
families. They are also forthright and willing to promote the work and take abuse. They are increasingly marginalized by the
apostatizing churches, and some have been put out—one man for mentioning Hell in a
prayer! They are a spirited lot and make good
company.
We’re currently arranging another meeting in Limerick on “The 1000 years
of Revelation 20.” The men are keen to
promote it and want me to post them a number of flyers that they can distribute. Terry books the hall and puts an ad in the paper,
thus relieving us of some of the work.
We are thankful to God for the growth of the CPRF and our witness. Please pray for Christ’s kingdom in Northern
Ireland and the British Isles.
In Christ,