Our group of churches (EPCEW) has been talking to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ireland (EPs) about coming together in a synodical relationship. Last Saturday, May 9th, we had a day conference (pictured) to listen to each other and try to figure out where to go next. Everyone is convinced about the Biblical mandate but as usual, the practicalities loom large. I was encouraged (have been all along) because both groups are singing off the same sheet (have been all along). The backgrounds and ethos are different and we don't have a history like theirs but I'm encouraged to believe that the spirit of grace, so evident among us at Cambridge, will enable us to surmount peculiar habits of thought and practice and unite on the things that matter. I also think we can do each other a lot of good and present a better witness to the world.
6 comments:
Brilliant to see - thanks for blogging it.
(Hi Revd Holst, I've just discovered your blog, as was searching for more news about my own denomination [CofS], with respect to what I should do/react.)
But it's wonderful to see such unity in Christ down south and across the sea.
Please send my Christian love to Teg.
every blessing from Edinburgh,
Robin
Hi Robin. Greetings from Connecticut where we are visiting a branch of the family. Good to have contact again, though it seems you have more important things to be thinking about at present than looking up old friends! Anyway, you and your colleagues are in our thoughts and prayers. Could we do more to help be sure we would.
Now that would be nice. And then with the Free Church and emigrating CofS congregations and we have an Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the British Isles. You've already got Sweden, so why stop there?
In Christ.
John,
Who wants to stop at Sweden? I have a vision for a European alliance of Presbyterians - but all in its time. Our dealings with the EPs have a longish history which teaches us that patience (mutual) is a virtue.
Dear Richard,
and the IPC in England!
You are quite right that extending presbyterianism across fluctuating political boundaries would be a great witness to the unifying power of the gospel.
It's always a blessing to visit congregations away from home and to appreciate that we do not need to have uniformity in how we do things in order to have unity in the truth. It seems to me this is the essence of Puritan non-conformity.
I wouldn't wonder if our Dutch friends who didn't experience the same seventeenth century struggles see things a bit differently though...
In Christ,
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