Reformed Particular Baptist Fellowship – Forums

Reformed Particular Baptist Fellowship is a social network/community for Reformed/Particular Baptists that provides a wonderful opportunity for members to communicate, interact, contribute and fellowship with other Particular and Reformed Baptists from around the world. We also welcome other Reformed brethren to our community, but ask you to always remember that this is a ‘Baptistic’ group and it will therefore reflect the distinctives of such believers as expressed in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

Visit and join the community at:
http://grou.ps/particularbaptist

One of the features of our community is the active forum/message boards. Though relatively young, the message boards/forum is providing a wonderful forum for discussing a wide range of topics, including books being read by members, prayer points, current relevant news/trends, theology, Bible studies, etc.

If you want to get involved visit our community at:
http://grou.ps/particularbaptist/talks

What Happened Today in Church History?

Particularbaptist.com is a ‘portal’ for many Reformed and Particular Baptist resources, including a growing resource pool of church history articles, books and studies.

I have recently been working a little on the church history section of the site which is called the ‘Institute of Church History.’ Within the institute portion of the site is a section known as ‘What Happened Today in Church History?’

This is an area of the web site at particularbaptist.com that I am seeking to develop further. I am hoping to embed pictures (where possible) of the various historical figures of the past, as well as links to other resources on my site relating to the event covered for each particular day. These links could be to further articles/books dealing with the historical figure, articles/books dealing with the event or that could shed further light on it, etc. In summary, I am seeking to provide as rich an experience as I can for visitors to the site.

Obviously this will take some time to complete and in some respects the work will be an ongoing one as more information and resources come to hand. I have decided to start with November and work through each month as we come to them within the coming year.

Visit ‘What Happened Today in Church History?’ at:

http://particularbaptist.com/history/happened.html

REFORMED PARTICULAR BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP

The ‘Reformed Particular Baptist Fellowship’ community (social network / group) is a Particular and Reformed Baptist Community, providing a wonderful opportunity for members to communicate, interact, contribute and fellowship with other Particular and Reformed Baptists from around the world. We also welcome other Reformed brethren to our community, but ask you to always remember that this is a ‘Baptistic’ group and it will therefore reflect the distinctives of such believers as expressed in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

There are actually two sites in this community. This is our new and main site. The other site is at http://particularbaptist.ning.com/ (on the Ning Platform), where the community first begun. Eventually I hope to have the site completely contained here on the Grou.ps platform. Because Grou.ps allows very limited customisation of member profiles I have decided to keep the Ning site going for the time being, with the hope that members of the first site will move to Grou.ps when they are comfortable to do so (the Ning site will then be closed). Should members of the community choose to continue on both sites for the time being, it will be necessary to switch between sites, perhaps having two tabs open in your browser).

Please have a look around the site and familiarise yourself with all that is on offer. This platform is in ‘Beta’ development, meaning there is still some way to go before it is fully functional and all features are working in a stable manner (so please be patient).

I would encourage all members of the community to become actively involved and contribute regularly, thereby making our community all the stronger and vibrant.

Introducing Community Features:

At the top of the page is the directory menu if you like. These ‘buttons’ will take you to the main sections of the community and appear on most pages within the community (except at Ning of course). In brief, this is what you will find within the community at each of these locations:

• My Page: This location is a members individual profile page, including such things as a comment wall and a record of your recent activity within the community.

• Mems: This location shows all the members of the community.

• Maps: This location allows for members of the community to plot their current location on a map, etc.

• Calendar: This location allows community members to mark events on a calendar, pass on event details, etc.

• Wiki: This location is the ‘Particular Baptist Systematic Theology Encyclopedia’ wiki, which works in in a similar fashion as Wikipedia.

• Forum: This is a location to discuss various questions and topics raised by community members.

• Blog: This is a Blog that is open to all community members to post on – sort of like an ‘open mic’ type approach to Blogging.

• Files: This is a location for community members to share files with other community members, such as books, articles, slideshows, presentations, etc.

• Links: This is a place for community members to share links they have found useful.

• Photo: This is a place for community members to share photos with one another.

• Video: This is a place for community members to share videos with one another.

• Music: This is a place for community members to share music with one another.

• Groups: This is a place for community members to set up there own groups within the community – you may have a Bible Study Group, a Church Group, etc.

• Contact: This is a place to contact administration.

In short, I am very hopeful that this community location will be far superior to that of the previous. Please join and grow with us.

Visit Reformed Particular Baptist Fellowship at:
http://grou.ps/particularbaptist/home

Visit the network’s ‘parent’ web site at:
http://particularbaptist.com/

Kevin – founder of the Reformed Particular Baptist Fellowship

THE PARTICULAR AND REFORMED BAPTIST HOME FELLOWSHIP NETWORK

Particularbaptist.com is keen to encourage the many Particular and Reformed Baptist’s who feel isolated around Australia to form their own Particular Baptist or Reformed Baptist ‘Home Fellowship’ group in their community. This page has been set up to help point our isolated brethren to resources that are available on the World Wide Web that will help them to set up their small home fellowship churches and congregations – there is no need to remain or become discouraged in the community in which you live.

Here at Particularbaptist.com I have been contacted by numerous people over the last few years concerning locations of Particular and/or Reformed Baptist churches near where they live. Sadly there are not many of these churches in Australia and not all of those that do exist are necessarily good churches – which isn’t to say that some or most aren’t. Generally these believers find themselves stuck in very ordinary local ‘churches’ and they struggle to continue and persevere. Others like myself cannot bear to stay in poor local churches and withdraw, oftentimes becoming spiritual hermits that are greatly discouraged or disillusioned with what they have experienced. What can we do about this?

Over the centuries past such believers have been often criticised for their non-conformist stand and have been further shunned by those who are happy with the established churches. Eventually these spiritual outcasts have formed their own congregations, often meeting in their homes or in times of particularly severe persecution they have met in forests, caves, etc. This day is no different to those days in the past when believers have found themselves forming intimate spiritual communities, which though often small in number, have been spiritual oasis’s in the wasteland of their times.

Brethren, is this the situation you find yourself in? Do you see nothing but a spiritual wasteland and spiritual desert surrounding you in the place in which you live? Then don’t give up – I have been close to this on several occasions and I plead with you to not give up or just accept the status quo in some ordinary local church. If Australia is to be reached by the gospel in this day and age it will be either by some God driven revival or by small faithful Christian remnants that are serious about taking the gospel to this country and in meeting together as a true Christian community.

This page I have set up to try and do all I can to assist believers in actively seeking to establish true Particular and/or Reformed Baptist congregations/churches/fellowships/groups in Australia and around the world. Is this not the New Testament model as seen time and time again throughout the Biblical record? This need not be a particularly difficult exercise for believers to do.

This part of the Particularbaptist.com site is dedicated to assisting believers with this most important work, as well as to provide a network or community of fellow believers who are seeking to establish similar works around the country and/or the world. Believers need each other – we need not face this modern problem alone. There need only be a couple of people for a local work to have begun.

For More Information Visit:

http://particularbaptist.com/network/network.html

 

 

 

The Death Knell of Evangelicalism

There is a good post called ‘The Death Knell of Evangelicalism’ at the Blog called ‘Reformed Baptist Fundamentals.’ The post is at:

http://reformation-truth.blogspot.com/2007/07/death-knell-of-evangelicalism.html

Follow the Christ Convention – JWs

It has been so long since I have been ambushed at my front door by the Jehovah’s Witnesses – in fact, they haven’t been at my place in the entire time I have lived here. I did get them when I lived a couple of suburbs away and then quite regularly. However, this didn’t continue when it became apparent to them that I was a ‘recalcitrant Reformed Baptist.’ They of course tried many tricks to get me to listen to them then, including trying to get a glass of water for the little girl with them – I can only imagine how much water this poor little girl got throughout the round of door knocking that day.

So today they have arrived and departed in quick time – it being really cold out today and blowing quite strongly as well. Anyhow, it was long enough for a leaflet to be pressed into my hand before I knew what had happened ~ and then she was gone.

Anyhow, it was an invite to attend the ‘Follow the Christ!’ Convention in Sydney from the 3-5 August 2007. It promises to have a ‘sound drama’ based on Mark chapters 4 and 5, whatever that is, as well as a ‘full-costume Bible drama’ based on Colossians 3:12 (it would be interesting to see what they would do with that).  There will also be a ‘six-part, fast moving symposium’ on the Sermon on the Mount, whatever that means.

I did of course screw the thing up before thinking I could have a look at it and make a Blog entry about it – I am quite content to have as little to do with the Jehovah’s Witnesses movement as possible. Should I have more of an open mind? No, I don’t think so at all – if I had that, it would surely indicate that I wasn’t convinced about my current position (which I am). I have no need to entertain cultic groups and their teaching, not even for a moment.

Some may think that that approach is somewhat arrogant; however, when you are convinced of what God is teaching through His Word, it is both somewhat foolish and arrogant to go against what He has set down. Indeed it would be arrogant rebellion against Him to adopt that or to entertain that which the Lord God has not taught. What He has made plain it is my duty to cling to and hold dear.

This narrow-minded approach is surely the way of the Christian, for there are not many ways but only one way, according to the God of the Bible. It is because of this that we do not pursue a myriad of varying (and oftentimes contradicting) approaches to religion, for the true religion of the Bible knows but one way – God’s. There is no other.

Procrastinating Calvinists

OK, I should mention right at the outset that I would be classified as a Calvinist, though I am more correctly defined as a Particular Baptist ~ none-the-less, my refined invective is aimed directly at myself, as well as other procrastinating Calvinists. So please, if you are a Calvinist, do not think that this is an attack from someone who doesn’t know what a Calvinist is – I’m smack bang in the middle of your camp. Of course some would say I’m not because I’m Baptist and not a Paedobaptist, but let us not get too bogged down in that on this occasion.

I have had occasion to reflect (meditate) on a particular issue that is found across the board today in Reformed circles and that is on what I am calling procrastinating Calvinism. I was thinking of calling it Procrastinating Hypercalvinism, but that would be extremely inaccurate, for most of the procrastinaters that I am thinking of, whether they be individuals or groups of individuals communing together in churches, actually do believe in evangelism – at least in theory. In practice there seems to be very little of it actually happening however.

I was thinking of what the churches of yester-year got up to and in particular the pastors/elders of these churches. They seemed to be made of a different mettle to people of today. I’ve been involved in works where there has been opposition to evangelistic efforts because people were too busy, too tired, had too many other things to do (mundane things), etc. Now in my opinion, this would seem to be a far cry from the attitude and approach to the lost world by Christians, churches and pastors/elders, than what was the case in days gone by. In fact, I would say that we should be down-right ashamed of ourselves that we have allowed other things outside of our Christian calling to dominate our lives to such an extent that we have forgotten to practice our theory in the area of evangelism – not that this would be the only area affected by such sentiment.

Reformed churches have become just a little (maybe  extremely) too comfortable with their present lot and the committment to evangelism, church planting, missions, etc, has been allowed to slide away to the point of almost non-existence because we care too much for the things of this world, whether it be entertainment, sporting activities, etc – many of which are perfectly acceptable liberties in and of themselves. But the world perishes and the church’s mission is cast aside while we do so.

We are very keen to make a convert of an erring brother or sister, to enter into a debate among ourselves as to whether we should address pastors/elders in certain ways, as to what a person should be wearing in church and the like (sounds a bit like the Pharisees and Sadducees doesn’t it?), etc, but when it comes down to making an effort and self-sacrifice – well, we are just a little too busy for that.

I remember a time when I was extremely horrified by a church that was prepared to loose what had become a fantastic outreach ministry to the surrounding community, because people just had too much on their plates outside of the church ministry – what an absolute disgrace! Yet this was a supposedly Calvinistic Baptist church that believed in evangelism! The outreach ministry had already proven successful, had already established itself in the community and had already brought a multitude of people into contact with the church – yet it was threatened by people being too busy. This proved to be the last straw for me and I left the church not long after. Interestingly, there has been no outreach ministry of the type held since.

Are we just too plain lazy and have we become procrastinating Calvinists? Or have we become practicing Hypercalvinists, believing that no matter what we do the Church will grow because the elect will be brought in by God? I am fearful it is both.

I long for the day when Reformed churches again take up the baton that we have all too easily dropped and left behind in our comfortable little groups that make war on one another ~ and being a Particular Baptist, I am especially thinking of Particular Baptists/Reformed Baptists. We have a heritage from the Lord and we have the truth passed down to us by those that have gone before, yet we are failing to walk worthy of the calling we have in Christ Jesus.

Reforming the Church

One of the things you would expect a Reformed Church to be doing is reforming after the Biblical model, whether they be Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican, etc. But is this the case or have the Reformed Churches lived up to their name – Reformed? Have they already reformed enough – hence the name Reformed? This is a question that we perhaps would do well to ponder – especially if we like to regard ourselves as reformed.

As a Particular Baptist I would be classed these days as being pretty much a Reformed Baptist ~ as much as I would like to protest that I do not believe I am like many modern-day Reformed Baptists, this is still a fairly accurate description. However, I am committed to the idea of constantly reforming after the Biblical model. Now this doesn’t mean that I have to adopt 1st century music, a Grecian Bible, etc. It simply means that I would like to put into practice those principles that are outlined in the Bible as being the Biblical method of doing church, of living, etc.

Now the point of this particular posting is to do with the organisation of the church and church practice – is the modern-day reformed movement being Biblical in its approach to the organisation of the church and church practice? From my observations of the Reformed Baptist movement and those who could be loosely described as such, I would have to say, probably not. A way has been found to do things and there is great reluctance to change that way, even though the Bible would suggest that it isn’t quite right, etc. This would certainly indicate a Reformed Church in so much that it has moved from an error to a certain point and stopped – reformed. This would be like the Church of England in the days of the Reformers and Puritans. There were many men who would have liked to have had the church reform even further than it had done, but this was prevented by the powers that were then in place, hence the withdrawal of these men from the established church and the formation of other assemblies that sought to further reform after the biblical model.

We need today a new committment to one of the principles of the reformation and the reformers, a committment to be constantly reforming after the model of the Scriptures. This is simply an implication of the great reformation catch cry of ‘Sola Scriptura.’ We see what Scripture says should be the way we do things and we then set about to do it. Perhaps this should be a ‘UGR (unwritten ground rule)’ for the church, except it is written, for it is what the Scriptures would have us to do. We read and study the Scriptures, see what it says, and then we set to do it in the true spirit of ‘Sola Scriptura.’

Are we reformed (as in stopped) or are we reforming, as the name was originally seeking to suggest? In what way can we still be reforming in the modern-day reformed setting as churches with a reformed heritage?

This was one of the things we were seeking to do when the ‘Northlake’s Reformed Baptist Church (NRBC)’ was seeking to become established (sadly it is no more) – to be reforming after the model of the Scriptural way of doing things.

One of the things we sought to do was return the Lord’s Supper to the context of the fellowship meal as was the practice of the New Testament church. We would observe the Lord’s Supper as part of our fellowship together, having a meal together after a worship service on a Sunday. It was something we all looked forward to. Now there is no command for that I admit, but it was something we saw great advantages in and so we changed the way we did things and adopted the practice – it was a case of reforming after the biblical model, even though it wasn’t expressly commanded.

We also sought to learn as much as we could from the Biblical text regarding the Lord’s Supper, spending several Lord’s Days preaching through the Corinthians text relating to the Lord’s Supper and seeking to put into practice, both individually and as a church, the truths taught there. Again, an example of reforming the church instead of remaining reformed (reaching a certain point and stopping).

I am not suggesting that NRBC was the perfect model at this sort of thing, no not at all – I am simply holding up the example of NRBC as a church committed to the principle of always reforming the church after the Biblical model. I’m not convinced that we were really brilliant at the task of reforming the church, but we did seek the Lord’s will through prayer and a careful consideration of the Word of God, as well as seeking the ability from the Lord to actually put into practice what we discovered in the Word of God.

There are so many areas that we need to carefully consider again in the light of Scripture – things that have now become merely the tradition of men, rather than the tradition of the apostles (meaning after the biblical model).

When I first got onto the Internet some years ago now, I came across a site that really encouraged me and our church in this area of reforming the church. It has changed URLs once or twice since that time, but I keep returning to it. It is a site called ‘A 21st Century Puritanism,’ operated by a guy called Mitch Cervinka. Obviously what is presented needs to be carefully considered in the light of Scripture and I certainly wouldn’t agree with everything that Mitch presents, yet there is a lot that I find myself having to agree with (gladly) because it is founded on the Scriptures.

The link is:
A 21st Century Puritanism

There are two articles that I really like on the site and these are:

• The Biblical Model for Church Organization
• The Structure of the Local Church

There are some excellent points made in these articles and they should really be considered by reformed churches in this matter of perpetually reforming the church.

THE ‘ELIJAH’ EXPERIENCE

I have now decided to start using the diary as I had before planned to do. This time I’m hoping to actually keep at it (time will tell I guess). I have now added a link to the diary from my page on the website (http://particularbaptist.com/kevins/kevin.html), which may provoke me to actually keep at it.

Here is my opportunity to share something of my spiritual journey with the world – not that I’m a great or outstanding saint in the overall scheme of things (more like one at the bottom of the pile, but that’s OK, for at least I’m in the pile). Perhaps the Lord will be pleased to use the diary as a help to someone in some way, even if it be an obscure way that I never hear about.

For the last few weeks I have been having something of an ‘Elijah’ experience. That is, the feeling of being alone in my spiritual walk and as though the church has abandoned the Lord’s way as outlined in the Scriptures. It’s a rather poor outlook I’ll admit, but essentially that’s what my problem in one sense is all about. The church in this country is in an appalling state (much like my spelling appears to be at times), having long ago abandoned the peculiar truths of our reformation heritage, not to mention our Scriptural heritage.

In my area of this country which I dearly love, I have been involved in just about all the Reformed Baptist churches so-called during the last 15 or so years. At the end of this time I find myself seemingly alone in my search for the true church. There has been all sorts of departures in my understanding of things, from a legalistic hard spirit, right through to a church beginning to embrace a more popular, user friendly approach to things. I have even pastored a church (which seems to have failed) in an attempt to raise a new standard here by way of a Biblically Reforming church – yet many have no interest in such things. Now I find myself at my wits end, waiting on the Lord to bring about some change in the spiritual landscape of this area and indeed this country – how we need a Spurgeon, a Calvin or the like here now!

I have allowed myself to despair and this has been a sin. I should have been trusting the Lord, looking unto Him rather than the chaos in the churches around about. Add to this the usual sins that afflict me and you find a Christian falling woefully short of what he should be, especially in view of the great grace and love which the Father has bestowed upon me in the Person of His Son and in the work that He has performed. May God be gracious to me – a sinner worthy of no grace or blessing from such a holy and majestic God. Yes my Redeemer lives – may he yet raise me up from my despair, for I fear and know I am incapable of delivering myself from the mire.

My only hope is my God, in whom is all grace, mercy and love