Proclaimer Blog
Autumn Ministers
Booking is now open for the Autumn Ministers Conference. It runs from 7-10 November at Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire and is a good mix of teaching, group work and fellowship. This year it's a pleasure to welcome back (with some persuasion!) Dick Lucas to take the main expositions and then Carl Trueman to teach on Preaching the Trinity. Should be very stimulating. Charles and Tricia Marnham will be leading some sessions on parenting. Given the comments made by Carl recently, it will be good to have a FIrst XV reunion in Leicestershire. We might even get to throw a ball or two around….
It is interesting to read Vaughan's testimony on conferences. It's quite long, but worth repeating in full:
If you’re anything like me, then in the few days leading up to a preaching conference, you’ll be thinking, ‘Why on earth did I sign up for that conference?’ It is very hard to get away in the midst of busy lives. It’s hard for the congregation; there is always a crisis you are leaving behind. It’s hard for your family. But if you’re anything like me, then you will always get to the end of the conference thinking, ‘I’m so glad I came’.
I find that, almost without noticing, my standard in preaching declines. After you’ve been preaching for a little while you can always get up and speak – we all know it’s not difficult to have words coming out of your mouth. You can tell a few good stories and illustrations; you can have something that even looks as though it has something vaguely to do with the passage. But the standards have dropped. And this is not what your people need from you.
I always find it’s a tremendous challenge just to make sure I am preaching what the passage is saying rather than preaching something which is perhaps biblical and true, but vague and not rooted in the text.
So preaching conferences raise my game. I also find that they raise my game spiritually. In the midst of the busyness of life, rushing about, it’s great to spend time away from the front line and think ‘What do I need to change?’ in terms of my pattern of prayer, Bible study, godliness, relationships and all such things.
So if you’re like me and have had that experience, let me encourage you to book in the date in your diary early. There are plenty of other things that you can fill your time with, of course, but here’s one that will actually do you good. And, if you’re anything like me, you will find that if you leave it too late, you never have time.