Approximately fifty people met at Countesthorpe Baptist Church on Saturday the 27th of September
to come together for the Association’s third annual Association Day.
Trinity Baptist Church’s newly minted Pastor Benedict Allmand-Smith kicked the day off with a
thorough treatment of chapter six of the Second London Baptist Confession, on sin, the fall, and
the punishment thereof. Pr. Benedict looked at the state in which man was created, the nature of
the covenant of works, before elucidating the consequences for all of humanity of Adam’s failure to
keep it. He answered thorny questions such as how it is that we inherit the guilt of Adam’s first sin
and the justice of God in doing so. Pr. Benedict is a credit to the International Reformed Baptist
Seminary which trained him, and from which he recently graduated with a Masters in Divinity. Those
interested can find a recording on the Association’s website: www.acbcuk.org.
Following this, Er. Darrin Gilchrist lectured on the life of the great Welsh Particular Baptist Joseph
(Gomer) Harris. A seldom known figure today, Gomer Harris was a Confessional Baptist who
founded the first ever Welsh speaking newspaper, was a bulldog for the truth of the orthodox faith in
Wales, as well as being a faithful Pastor of several decades.
After a lunch of pulled pork, the meeting reconvened to hear from the messengers of the six
churches. The first thing each messenger shared was the current state of the church’s ministry,
which Scripture has been preached on the Lord’s Day, and which has been studied in midweek
meetings. The reports largely consisted of encouragements as churches report expanding
membership rolls.
The day concluded with the business meeting, where there was much discussion over how to
support the work of Reformed Baptist Missions abroad and sharing the various practices of the
member churches in fencing the Lord’s Table.
The association will be meeting next on 3rd of February, at Stanley Park Church, Liverpool.
Acclaimed historian Dr Rober Strivens will give an address on chapter seven of the Confession, on
God’s covenant. If you are curious to find out more about the work of this association, you’d be
more than welcome to join us, even if only to sit in and find out more.
Countesthorpe Baptist Church
On behalf of the Association of Confessional Baptist Churches UK