Category: Ministry

Baptismal service

Next sunday afternoon, we will have a baptismal service in the church. It is exciting since the last Baptism was about 5 years ago. I will be leading the service, and Emmanuel Hartiel will be preaching. In order to prepare myself, I was having a look at the 1689 London Baptist Confession on the subject of Baptism. Their first paragraph is interesting. Contrarily to the modern trend that sees Baptism as a sign for the outside world, the confession describes it as a sign for the one baptised. Here is the paragraph in full:

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptised, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life. (1689 London Baptist Confession, 29.1)

The Westminster Confession of faith says the same thing:

Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in the newness of life. Which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in His Church until the end of the world.

The Micah Challenge

Have you heard of the Micah challenge? Until recently, I must say I hadn’t. It is an initiative from the International Evangelical Alliance, and a number of Christian Charities. It is “a global coalition of Christians holding governments to account for their promise to halve extreme poverty by 2015.” (Micah challenge website).

A few members here are quite interested in the SEL (the French equivalent of Tearfund), and they would be aware that this Sunday (10/10/2010), is a special Sunday for those involved in the Micah Challenge. The SEL would like churches to get involved in reminding their local MPs about the government’s commitment at the UN to help towards halving poverty in the world by 2015. For this, the SEL would like all churches involved to hold a special service, and for this they have sent a whole pack of activities to take place during that service. I personally find it a bit over the top, but you do not have to share my opinion.

Here in Guingamp, rather than following this activity pack to the letter, we have decided that the Micah project would be mentioned, together with a reminder of a Christian view of our involvment in social work. It will take place during the service, for about 10 minutes.

For this, my colleague and I have agreed to use an Article by Mark Barnes, published a year ago in the Evangelical Magazine (available online here). It is a helpful article which outlines some of the dangers to avoid in order not to fall into the social gospel pitfall.

We will finish this time by a prayer.

Micah Challenge website here.

Sunday guest

Our guest this Sunday lunch time was Pastor Claude Broux. This gentleman started in the ministry in 1949. He has ministered in various places in Brittany before settling down in Guingamp in the early seventies where he planted the church we are now in. He is now 86 and lost his wife last June, after over 60 years of marriage. She was 19 when they met, and he was probably about the same age, or a little older. He is also one of the founding members of France mission in the fifties, and he knew Caradoc Jones who was still in Paimpol when he came to Brittany. He described him as very old school Englishman. Probably true although Caradoc Jones was a Welshman.

It was humbling to talk with this elderly brother who has got so much experience. We talked about many different things: his youth, the beginnings of the church, his children (he has got 8), his Grandchildren (33 of them), and great-grandchildren (8 altogether). He shared about his conversion, his time in a children home in Ferney-Voltaire (we lived there)… He doesn’t preach anymore, but attends faithfully the meetings of the church, seating on the front row every Sunday. He was glad of Esther’s arrival as until we came he was the only person who could play the piano, and did not feel very confident about it.

It is a great privilege to have him as an Elder in our church.

Living on rue Yves Guyader

The part of the estate we live on is quite recent, about 5 years old. The street is quiet, with little traffic. There are a lot of families, with young children from our children’s age to 12-13, and a few teenagers. The children often cycle around together, the older include the younger quite easily in their group. They’ve accepted Jean-Baptiste quite quickly, some of them practicing their English with him. We wonder sometimes if he is not too young, but we keep an eye on what is going on, and they usually hang around in front of our house, or on a nearby car park, which mean we can easily see them.

As I am writing, our children and a few others are making the most of the dry weather to play football on the street in front of the house. We pray that somehow we will have the opportunity to witness to these kids and their families. The house is ideally situated since they often gather right in front of it.

Overall, the street is quiet. people work long hours, and keep to themselves. But they are getting used to see us around.