From 14th - 21st July, around 40 people from the Scottish RP Church, including 3 from Stranraer, attended the RP International Conference on the south coast of Ireland. There were 530 attendees from 4 continents, 12 countries and 88 congregations. It was encouraging to note that a significant number of those attending hadn't been part of the RP Church when the last conference was held in Gartmore, Scotland, 4 years ago.
The speaker for the week was Rev. Matt Kingswood from Russell RPC in Canada. The congregation began with four families in 1997, and today numbers around 180. Matt & his wife Tara were interviewed on the Lord's Day afternoon to help us get to know them a little, in between morning and evening worship, where the preachers were Andrew Lytle (Nantes) and Matthew Brennan (Clonmel Baptist). Matt preached each morning from Monday - Friday from Psalm 130 with the theme 'Out of the Depths'. The talks are available to listen to / download below:
On four of the mornings there were seminars after the talks, with Stephen doing one entitled 'How to listen to a sermon'. In the afternoon there were different optional activities organised, and then in the evening everyone came together for family worship, and a different organised activity each night: Quiz, Game Show, Concert, Ceilidh & Conference Reflections.
Gemma Macdonald (Glasgow) finishes her report on the RPCS website by saying:
One of the stand out elements of the conference is living in what is essentially a village of Christians for a week; nobody passed on the street without offering a warm greeting and every day people were popping into each other’s houses to share a meal, to share in fellowship, or to borrow some cooking implement. During a time of reflection on the final evening, several people referred to the week as “a small taste of heaven” and with such a spirit of fellowship and the representation of 12 different nationalities, it is little wonder. I would urge you to consider booking a place at the next conference which will take place in 2022.
