There is something wonderful about Christians from all over the place getting together to sing, to hear good preaching, to pray together and share fellowship. That all happened at the London Presbyterian Conference last Saturday.

This was the third in the series so far. The first was in 1987 as the Presbyterian Association of England was being formed. The second was two years ago on the 25th anniversary of the first conference. Hopefully, God willing, there will be more.

I have only been to the two recent ones, but this most recent one was a vast improvement both organisationally and in terms of content. I left the venue, with my fellow SPC-ers, encouraged and re-energised for the work ahead.

The conference is organised by the EPCEW and is intended to promote the planting of Presbyterian churches in England, Wales and Europe. But it was not just EPCEW people attending: there were some from the International Presbyterian Church, the Free Church and some from European countries interested in church planting.

The tag-line of EPCEW is "Upholding the Inerrancy of Scripture, Adhering to the Westminster Standards, Fulfilling the Great Commission" - a little cumbersome, perhaps, but it says what needs to be said about us. It formed the backbone of the conference with the overarching title Building by God’s Design but with a strong emphasis on the last of these - fulfilling the Great Commission.

Dr Ligon Duncan III, former Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS and now Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, was our guest speaker and kicked of the day with a sermon on the inerrancy of Scripture from 2 Timothy 3:16,17. Three points: what is it? what is it for? what does it do? Simple yet effective exposition of the plenary, verbal, divine inspiration of scripture, given for our profit to equip the church. I was stuck by the statement that the word of God is sufficient to make us competent for the works of God.

Andy Young, minister of Naunton Lane Evangelical Presbyterian Church, spoke on the biblical basis for confessions. This is not a popular topic in Christian culture. It seems more spiritual to denounce the use of creeds and confessions and appeal to the Bible. It sounds good, and yet it misses the fact that the Bible itself sets out precedents for using a “pattern of sound teaching" (2 Timothy 1:13) and apostolic “tradition" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The Bible itself contains examples of confessions of faith. From there, Andy went on to show the usefulness of confessions to local churches to help them remain faithful to God and his word.

I enjoyed this exposition. While I accept that a church holding to a confession does not guarantee its continuing faithfulness - history is littered with confessional churches gone bad - it serves as a useful measure for any church in defining its faith and mission under God. The answer is surely not to avoid confessions but rather to be more committed to them as a faithful summary of essential scriptural teaching.

Having laid these foundations in the morning, Bill Schweitzer, minister of Gateshead Presbyterian Church took up the cause of the Great Commission in the afternoon to talk about church planting. The session was a combination of a brief talk followed by a interview by Darren Moore of Chelmsford. It was a compelling case. Bill spoke of four ‘M’s - the Mission (to make disciples), the Means (ordinary - teaching, baptising), the Mandate (to plant churches, not just to evangelise), the Measure (faithfulness, not “success"). Perhaps the most compelling part was the assertion that faithfulness to the inerrant word of God and fidelity to a confession of faith must lead to the impulse to “Go!". Anything less shows our heart unfaithfulness.

One might think that faithfulness rather than “success" might lead to non-growing holy huddles - the "frozen chosen". However, the ironic thing is that, while Bill did not make this point at all, I know that Gateshead has seen steady growth, including conversions and baptisms, since its start in 2009 such that it is now one of our bigger churches in the EPCEW. Faithfulness can lead to “success" but we must focus on faithfulness.

Ian Hamilton of Cambridge Presbyterian Church spoke in the final session, not just on the Great Commission, but on having the compassion of our Lord Jesus that must motivate the pursuit of the Great Commission. Ian has a great skill in seeing the heart of things. Our history in the UK is full of a great reformed heritage, and yet in many of the places where that was so, the reformed faith is now forgotten. Was this pride at being reformed? instead of glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ? From there Ian unfolded the nature of the commission itself. A profound, challenging, yet exciting exposition.

Of course, the teaching was not the sum of the conference. There was the singing - some psalms, some hymns, even a Getty/Townend for good measure - entered into with energy. Books to buy. There was fellowship, catching up with old friends and making new ones. All serving to encourage this minister at least to return with renewed energy and heart for the spread of the gospel.