Fellowship focus 5 - August 1998
The Banner of Truth Youth Conference 1998
The Banner of Truth youth conference was held in Leicester over the weekend of 24-27 April (preceding the annual ministers' conference). A number of us from the church went along it was the first time we been. On Friday, just after lunch, the five of us (Daniela, Gerald, Jonathan, Ti-hye and myself) squeezed into Jon's car and set off for Leicester. It didn take long to get there, and we arrived well before the first scheduled event (dinner!). The conference was attended by about 200 young people, as well as some who were a little over the recommended age range, from all over the country, and even a few from other countries.
Seven meetings, which were chaired by Iain Murray, were crammed into the weekend. The speakers were Edward Donnelly, who spoke on several aspects of Encouraging one another, Philip Swann, who spoke on Challenging one another, and Lady Catherwood (Dr M Lloyd-Jones' daughter), whose topic was Our home, present and future. There was also a 'question and answer' session on the Sunday afternoon.
The first meeting of the conference was taken by Edward Donnelly. (It was at the start of this meeting that I somehow managed to volunteer to accompany the singing which also meant selecting suitable tunes for the hymns and psalms.) His subject was The need for encouraging one another and he highlighted four reasons: the absence, duty, pattern, and power of encouragement. On Saturday evening, he gave us six suggestions to help us with The practice of encouraging one another: consideration, commendation, community, control, Christ-centredness, and compassion. He also took the last meeting of the conference, on Sunday evening, when his topic was The portrait of an encourager. He spoke about Barnabas, and took us through several incidents in Barnabas' life - showing us Barnabas, the encourager, in action.
Philip Swann took two of Saturday's meetings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and his topic for both was Challenging one another. In the first meeting he concentrated on the Christian's walk with God, and in the second he focused on the Christian's walk before the world. The other meeting on Saturday morning gave us the opportunity to hear Lady Catherwood experiences and advice on what makes a good Christian home, and we were reminded that our homes can be just as much a part of our proclamation of the gospel as any other part of our lives.
Somehow we also managed to fit in some leisure activities on the Saturday afternoon. There was a choice of sports, indoor or outdoor, but the five of us chose to go on a walk in a nearby Country Park. It was a good opportunity for us to get to know one another (this part obviously worked!- editor), as well as some of the others who'd come on the conference, better.
Sunday wasn't quite as hectic as Saturday had been. We worshipped at a nearby church (Oadby Evangelical Free Church, pastor: Michael Stringer) in the morning. The question and answer session was in the afternoon, and in the evening Edward Donnelly closed the conference.
It was well worth going, and I think we all found it both enjoyable and profitable, if not relaxing! If anyone who hasn't been before was thinking of going in the future, I would heartily recommend it.
Martin Biddiscombe.