A new page has been turned. For over 50 years the Banner of Truth ministers’ conference met at Leicester University. This year (24-27 April) the venue changed.
Around 300 men gathered for the first time at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire. It is a purpose-built conference centre and proved to be rather a pleasant upgrade.
The Banner conference is always concerned to encourage pastors in ministry, and there is often a sense of God and his glory which other conferences can’t quite match. This seemed especially true this year.
Three on Philippians
The main speaker was Dr Sinclair Ferguson, whose latest book Devoted to God is encouraging many and causing much discussion. He spoke from Philippians 3 on three consecutive evenings. These were rich expositions, during which one tended to forget the preacher and rejoice in the depth, glory and continual relevance of Scripture. He spoke of Paul’s conversion to Christ (on which new light was shone), his communion with Christ and his consolidation in Christ. Pastors felt they had been spiritually fed and strengthened.
Scripture and preaching
This being the half-millennium anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, quite a chunk of the conference focussed on the twin themes of Scripture and the preaching of Scripture. Dr Garry Williams of the John Owen Centre at London Seminary gave two papers, the first on the Bible as the literary word of God, and the second on the Bible as the living word of God – God is speaking today through Scripture. We need to both rejoice in that and understand that carefully. The messages were live-streamed on the Banner website and a friend texted to say how good these papers were. Stephen Clark spoke on Christ’s view of Scripture. Though this was old ground for many there, it was handled very winsomely and helpfully. ‘How can we call Jesus Lord and not adopt his view of the Bible?’
David Johnston from Bangor spoke on the subject of preaching, taking the book of Hebrews as an example of a NT sermon, and then on the matter of revival, with striking stories of God’s power in Northern Ireland during the revival of 1859. Andy Young spoke from Luke 4.14-30 which is programmatic for the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s ministry used ordinary means, had Spirit-filled might, gave a Christ-centred message, of escha-tological magnitude, with a gracious mission.
I had to leave the conference early in order to take the funeral of an old neighbour, so there was much else of note, I’m sure, which I am unable to report on here. But the Banner conference deserves new attention from a younger generation of ministers. They really are missing out on something which many of us often fail to find elsewhere. I think Dr Lloyd-Jones might call it ‘unction’.
