150 years of Grace

Jim Sayers writes: How important to my spiritual life is my local church? Is it just one more thing to help me, alongside Bible study notes, journaling, conferences, books and the blogger-sphere? On the contrary, Biblical church life is at the heart of a healthy Christian life.

That was the essence of Mark Dever’s message, speaking at a landmark day for Grace Baptist Churches in London recently. The AGBC(SE) celebrated its 150th anniversary at Homerton Baptist Church with Dever (who pastors Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC) as guest speaker. In his keynote session, Dever looked at why ecclesiology matters, tracing out many fads that have eroded the centrality of the local church. Touching on a wide range of current trends, he noted that while nominalism in churches rises the age of baptism decreases, ‘so that we baptise pagans and call them saints’. How children relate to a church is important to its long-term health.

This picked up on a session led by Paul Smith (Broadstairs), surveying the history of the AGBC. Looking at various eras of the Association’s life, not least planting churches after WW2, he drew attention to the huge role played by Sunday Schools in the interwar years. Children’s work was often the bedrock of the long-term growth of many churches. Sowing the gospel into their lives at an early age, in churches with Biblical preaching at the heart of their life, meant that young Christian lives grew and went on to lead and serve. As Dever said, the centre of church life needs to be preaching-focused. Too often we promote church growth through evangelism without preaching truth well at the heart of the church’s life. Personal evangelism and sound preaching together make for a healthy church. ‘Healthy organisms naturally grow.’

Dever also led a session on Jonathan Edwards and the Communion controversy in Northampton, looking at the challenge of nominalism in the local church. In the afternoon he also preached on Hebrews 13, picking up on the theme of the day, ‘Let brotherly love continue’; he applied a call to contentment and to faithfulness, modelled on the faithfulness of God to us.

In the final session, Andrew King, Association Secretary, gave a presentation on the future of AGBC. Modifying the well-known Australian metaphor, he likened the Association to the trellis and the member churches to the vine. While government regulations often create more work for associations, it is the life of the local churches that matters. The AGBC will retain its statement of faith as the basis of associating together – churches bound together by doctrine rather than tradition and cultural factors – a doctrinal statement that had been strengthened earlier in the day with a clear statement about marriage and sexuality. He also announced an apprenticeship scheme that is being planned with London Seminary to help future pastors train in local churches, working alongside experienced pastors who are doing healthy church.