Confessional Presbyterianism hasn’t fared well in England since the 17th century. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there has been a small but growing group of confessional Presbyterians in England since 1986, when the (then) Presbyterian Association of England was formed. In 1991 the PAE became the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales. My family and I worshipped in an EPCEW congregation in Oxford in the early 90s.
I mention the EPCEW because they are holding a conference in London, on 20 October 2012. The goals of the conference:
- To present biblical and warm-hearted Presbyterianism. This day will provide a window through which people can learn more of EPCEW.
- To foster and develop our church planting contacts with a view to seeing new churches planted in the years ahead.
- To be a rallying point for our church members as well as our office bearers.
If you aren’t going to be in the UK then you might pray that God would continue raise up and strengthen the confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice in England and Wales. It would be a good thing to pray for the same in Scotland too!
Dr. Clark:
Have you heard much about this sort of thing in the Republic of Ireland?
Hi Paul,
Sadly, no. I do believe that there are confessional Reformed/Presbyterian churches in the ROI but I know little about them. Maybe others can help? Stephen, can you help?
Paul,
Unfortunately there is little of confessional presbyterianism in the Republic. Our sister church the EPC (Northern Ireland) (http://www.epcni.org.uk) once had a plant in Dublin but it folded. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (exclusive psalmody) has a few works in the Republic, just over the border (see http://rpc.org/directory/). Mark Loughridge, for example, is doing great work amongst catholics in Letterkenny and Milford.
I don’t know of anything else. As far as I know there are no plans for a similar conference like ours.
Dr Clark,
Thanks for this plug! I am one of those EPCEW pastors, and we greatly value the prayerful support of our American brothers and sisters. We look forward to an interesting event next month.
Sadly the Oxford work you refer to is no more, but Oxford remains in our prayers as a desirable place to plant again having learned a few lessons since.
Oh yes, and I happen to be Scottish and concerned for the state of affairs north of the border!
Thanks for restarting your blog. Always interesting…
Thanks Stephen.
I’ve had an email from Dan re Oxon. It’s a matter for prayer. It’s an important center for the spread of the faith.
Great! I met Dan and some others earlier this year. Oxford is only an hour away from me. Perhaps, with the Lord’s help, we can get something going there.
Dear Stephen,
Do you know whether David Cross will likely be there? He was clerk to the presbytry about 7 or 8 years ago and was a real help to me at my conversion. I live in London nowadays and it’d be lovely to see him if he’s about.
Ed
From this site, you’d never know Presbyterianism existed in London:
http://www.london2012.com/spectators/visiting/faith-communities/
I want to ask the Presbies in London why they weren’t included!