For those who think that the Puritans have nothing to say to modern day - think again. One of the few times that I have disagreed with something Terry Virgo said concerned this conference. He made a joking comment about "conferences regarding what colour socks the Puritans wore". While I agree that one must not take church history too seriously, there is awesome power locked up in the Puritan era. These men really knew God and had deep communion with Him and I am convinced that this conference is doing an invaluable job in not allowing the memories of these awesome men of God to be forgotten.
The Westminster Conference was started by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and addressed something of the revival of interest in the Puritans alongside the awesome work of the Banner of Truth. I have been once in 2001 when my former pastor Dr Stanley Jebb was speaking on the subject, "Richard Greenham and the Counselling of Troubled Souls". I was unable to get to the Westminster Conference this year although I desperately wanted to, because Dr Jebb was speaking again.
I have found a blog run by Gary Brady from London who went and has summarised the sessions on his site. Here is the link to Dr Jebb's session.
Here is another man who attended and summarised briefly his reflections on the conference. Interestingly enough he said; "The most lively and thought-provoking discussion came after the paper by Stanley Jebb on “The Azusa Street Phenomenon.” This doesn't surprise me! Dr Jebb has the amazing capacity to stimulate much thought and debate on what he says on virtually any topic.
I am thrilled to note from the blog that this year the Westminster Conference will be making the sessions available on audiotape. Since the conference began they have published the papers - which are a valuable asset to any library and I enjoy collecting them. However I will be looking forward to hearing Dr Jebb on tape again and following the discussion.
I am sure that there will be more summaries of the conference in the Evangelical Times or similar newspapers and will comment more when I have got hold of this material.
1 comment:
While we might not be interested in the colour of the puritan's socks, we need to become seriously interested in their awesome insight into the Word of God, powerful teaching that cuts to the heart, and their intimacy with the Lord.
JI Packer rightly called his book about the "Among God's Giants". We would be all much richer for spending time in their works.
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