Family Conference in Northern Ireland By Prof.
David
J.
Engelsma
From the British Reformed Fellowship (BRE), a group committed to the promotion of the Reformed faith in the British Isles, we have received a request to publicize in the Standard Bearer a family conference scheduled for this summer. This we gladly do, both because we are pleased to cooperate with the promotion of the Reformed faith everywhere in the world and because the conference in Northern Ireland is connected with the Protestant Reformed mission in Northern Ireland, the Covenant Reformed Fellowship.
The following information about the conference is drawn from materials provided by the BRF.
In cooperation with Covenant Reformed Fellowship, the BRF has organized a week-long family holiday conference in August of this year. The dates are Saturday, August 15 - Saturday, August 22. The conference will be held at "Stricklands," a lovely, spacious conference center overlooking Belfast Lough (an inlet of the Irish Sea) in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. The large, stately conference center can accommodate up to 70 people with comfortable rooms having 2, 3, and 4 beds and with mattresses available for young children. In addition, the nearby town of Bangor, a holiday resort, is well equipped with ample hotel and bed-and-breakfast facilities.
The cost for those who attend has been kept to a minimum. Guests are being charged for meals and accommodation only. For a weeks meals and lodging, prices range from 65 pounds for an adult (about $130) to 15 pounds for a child under 5 (about $30 dollars). A free-will offering will be taken during the week to help with conference and other expenses.
The theme of the conference is "The Covenant of Grace." An attractive brochure put out by the BRF to advertise the conference states that "the covenant of grace is a theme of increasing interest at the present time. That God has bound Himself by covenant to His people (and their children) in all ages of the church is a truth of profound importance and one on which the Christian believer can completely and confidently rest his faith. The Protestant Reformed Churches in America place great emphasis on the covenant of grace . . . . "
The speakers at the conference will be Professors Herman Hanko and David Engelsma of the Protestant Reformed Seminary.
Meetings will be held each evening and on some mornings. Two worship services will be held on the Lord's Day under the auspices of the Protestant Reformed mission in Northern Ireland.
Although the teaching of the Word of God will be central, the "programme" of the conference assures us that the conference will be of a relaxed nature and adequate time will be available for recreation with family and friends. All afternoons will be free. Two full-day coach tours are planned, one to the North Antrim Coast and the Giant's Causeway and the other to Downpatrick, Newcastle, and the Mourne Mountains. Half-day excursions will also be arranged to local places of interest.
The BRF is inviting readers of the SB in the United States and Canada to attend this conference. The Fellowship is hopeful that a number of Protestant Reformed people in particular but others also who have an interest in the covenant of grace will make this conference their vacation this summer. It has, therefore, arranged that two men in the States will serve to give further information to interested persons, as well as to coordinate possible travel to Northern Ireland as a group. Brochures and further details about the conference, including the possibility of traveling as a group, can be obtained from
Mr. Bill Oomkes
6299 Wing Ave. SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
(telephone: 616-698-6697).
For general information about Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, interested persons should get in touch with
Rev. Gise VanBaren
5101 Beechtree Ave.
Hudsonville, MI 49426
(telephone: 616-669-5380).
I take the liberty to extend the invitation still more widely. Readers of the SB everywhere in the world - the British Isles, The Netherlands, France, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other places - are invited to attend this conference. What a fine thing that lovers of the Reformed faith should come together for a week's fellowship around the great truth of the covenant of grace. This would delight the BRF. It would, no doubt, also encourage the Covenant Reformed Fellowship and promote the mission in Northern Ireland. Interested persons outside the United States and Canada should inquire of and make arrangements with Mr. Tony Horne, 9 Church Road, "Thornbury," Bristol BS12 1EJ, England.
Subject to the will of God, the BRF assures all who attend "a rich spiritual feast and a relaxing and enjoyable holiday."
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