2007 Conference sermons now available. Listen on-line or download the MP3 sermons.

The God’s Glory, our Joy conference which this year was held in Warrington with a theme of learning from our Christian heritage.

The conference had started on the Friday afternoon with a session for church leaders, followed by an open session in the evening when Oliver Allmand-Smith from Ramsbottom was speaking on The Puritan Family – A Treasure Untold. Using the example of Samuel Sewell (1652-1730) who lived in New England and was out-lived by only 3 of his 14 children, Oliver asked why he, and others of that period, were fundamentally happy in their family lives when, by our standards, their lives were so terrible? He gave us three reasons: they shared the worthy goal of the pursuit of God’s glory; they exulted love as the fundamental means; and they established an honourable structure. He pointed out that the reformers had rescued the family from the distortions of the medieval church; today the family is under attack from different directions and it seemed to me that there was apologetic value in the material presented here.

Saturday morning was opened by Stephen Rees on Guarding the Deposit – Confessions then and now. 

2006 Conference sermons now available. Listen on-line or download the MP3 sermons.

Rainhill, on the outskirts of Liverpool, is famed in railway history for its locomotive trials in October 1829. Five engineers entered their steam engines in a competition to secure the contract to build locomotives for the Manchester to Liverpool Railway. Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ proved its worth and won the day.

It was a test of a different kind which drew about 150 men and women from churches in the north-west and beyond to Trinity Evangelical Church, Rainhill, for the ‘God’s Glory, our joy’ conference on October 14-15 2005. Entitled ‘Building Biblical Churches for the 21st Century’, we were challenged to test our churchmanship and our approach to mission, inter-church relationships and children’s work against Scripture. The papers given were well prepared, well delivered and saturated with Scripture. These conferences, which have been held now for several years, have certainly proved their worth in stimulating thought.