Resources

There was always my dear cousin Bobi. Being an only child, my cousins were important to me and none more so than Bobi who was nine years older than me. He would become my best man on my wedding day in 1964 and we would live more than five decades together in the same small […]

In the first part of our discussion on Worship we were concerned to make the distinction between what would generally be called the body of worship and the heart of worship. We used another illustration of hardware and software to press that distinction. We have thus far identified two key issues which make for the […]

Content is at the heart of worship. It is a sad thing to hear people in worship mindlessly repeat things. Most worship services will differ little from the chanting and frenzied episodes of oriental mysticism or African ‘spirit-ism’. Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle writes, ‘If I am asked to define worship in one word, […]

We were in Uganda two months ago and happened to attend the only church we believed to be reformed. We had this impression because friends of ours had in previous years come to this church and found it to be not too bad. We were rather disappointed when we went in to find that it […]

Paul Levy, George Macaskill, and Billy McCurrie agree to answer questions on the books that have impacted their life and faith. * * * Paul Levy is a Welshman and the pastor of the International Presbyterian Church in Ealing, London. The church is currently involved in a massive building program. George Macaskill is a retired pastor in […]

Regular exposition of the Scriptures in one church fellowship places certain unique demands on the preacher. Remaining fresh while remaining faithful, and preaching consistently without preaching predictably can be significant challenges. A perennial problem for any settled preaching ministry, however, is that of remaining Christ-centered and gospel focused in our ministry of the Word, while […]

Jim Elliot’s wife, Elizabeth, once said of him, ‘At 21, Jim began an adventure that would require the ultimate sacrifice.’ That adventure was to follow Christ toward the mission field of Ecuador and, ultimately, martyrdom at the hands of the Auca Indians he loved so much. A Habit of Reading A big personal part of […]

Keith Underhill, Andrew Roycroft, and Hugh Ferrier agree to answer questions on the books that have impacted their life and faith. * * * Keith Underhill now lives in Liverpool but was a minister for over forty years in Nairobi, Kenya. Andrew Roycroft is a baptist minister in Northern Ireland. Hugh Ferrier is a Free Church minister […]

Many of us can recall the intense light and surprising warmth conveyed to our hearts when we first read the exemplary history of the Reformers and the Reformation Martyrs, along with their expositions of Scripture. Their brave and strong standing fast in the faith (1 Cor. 16:13) reached across the centuries and led us to new heights in serving […]

In the mid-twentieth century, those Christians who were willing to call themselves ‘Reformed’ or ‘Calvinistic’ were relatively few in number. Liberalism had done its work in the large  mainline denominations to discredit ‘Reformation’ doctrine. Evangelicalism had fallen so low that many dismissed theology altogether by saying that doctrine only divides. ‘Calvinist’ was a slur to denigrate a Christian and to advise […]

Mack Tomlinson, Gary Brady, and Gary Williams talk to us about books that have impacted their life and faith in this new series. * * * Mack Tomlinson is a pastor and author in Denton, Texas. Gary Brady has pastor of Childs Hill Baptist Church, London, NW2, for thirty years. Gary Williams is the director of Pastors’ Academy, […]

Much has been said and written about Martin Luther in recent months. A lot has been made of the phrase that he used to characterize his understanding of justification by faith , simul justus et peccator, Latin for ‘simultaneously righteous, yet a sinner’. It certainly does help to clarify the Scriptural teaching on justification. On the […]

If My people will. . . pray and seek My face. . . then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land. , 2 Chronicles 7:14 We must humble ourselves if we are to see revival; ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ they only, ‘for theirs is the kingdom of […]

Bill Hughes, Alec Taylor, and Robert Letham agree to answer questions about books that have impacted them in their faith. * * * Bill Hughes was raised in Liverpool and served a number of churches in England, Scotland and Florida. He has now retired from pastoring one congregation, but continues to preach extensively. Alec Taylor had a long […]

The church today is crippled with a comparative absence of strong and full assurance and, perhaps worst of all, most of us are scarcely aware of it. We live in a day of minimal, not maximal, assurance. How do we know this? Assurance is known by its fruits: a close life of fellowship with God; a tender, filial […]

In 2012, a new five volume edition of the minutes and papers of the Westminster Assembly (1643-52) was published (Oxford University Press). This was the fruit of years of work by Rev. Chad Van Dixhoorn. This monumental work will probably form the basis for study o the Westminster Assembly for the remainder of this century […]

Robert Strivens, Austin Walker, and Mike Iliff agree to answer questions about books that have impacted them in their faith. * * * Robert Strivens is the pastor of Old Baptist Church, Bradford on Avon, and former principal of London Seminary. Austin Walker is the retired pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church, Crawley, Sussex. Mike Iliff of Aberystwyth is […]

Robert Cecil Rayner, a beloved deacon and member at Salem Chapel, Braintree, Essex, for twenty-six years, passed peacefully away on February 9th, 2017, aged 73 years. After a severe illness he wrote the following, dated November 2014. The heading was this: ‘Toiling with Rowing on the Sea of Life’. * * * My first recollections […]

Friends, Thank you for participating in this giveaway. Congratulations to those who will be receiving 1, 10, or 100 Banner books! It is our prayer that these books won’t just be on your shelves, but that you’ll have time to read through them and benefit from them spiritually. Here are the winners who have confirmed […]

I finally paid my first visit to the new location of the London Evangelical Library. It used to be in Chiltern Street, above the original location of the Banner of Truth but now it is to be found on a little industrial estate in the north of the city, just off the north circular road. […]

This month marks 500 years since the day which is conventionally identified as the beginning of the Reformation. On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and theological professor in Wittenberg University, nailed to the church door a set of 95 theses, statements intended for debate. They were provoked by the unscrupulous sale of indulgences […]

500 years ago, the Church in Western Europe was awash with influences calling for much-needed reform. Most of these influences flowed from the Renaissance, whose Christian scholars were weighing the contemporary Church against what they found in the Bible and the writings of the early Church fathers. Their greatest figure, Erasmus of Rotterdam, had in […]

Tomorrow, on the 31st October 2017, we commemorate what was the beginning of the Reformation under Martin Luther. One of the features of his life and work was the central place that the Scriptures played in the spiritual revival that brought about the Reformation. Luther did not think of himself as a Reformer; the reformation […]

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act in the UK. Although this article was written with the UK in mind, much of its content remains relevant to any country in which abortion is considering being legalized or is already legal. * * * Anniversaries are how we mark out our history , some […]

This is the second half of a two part article on the character and writings of William Williams. Part one may be found here. * * * Like all those touched by the eighteenth century awakening, Williams Pantycelyn was led to see that the vital matter is grace. Williams’ characterisation of the years immediately before […]