Project Description

2014/07

Distinctives

Features of Free Presbyterianism

PREACHING THE WORD

The year was 1960. It was a Sunday morning and I was, as usual, in Mount Merrion church. I was not in my accustomed place, but was seated right at the front, with no one between the pulpit and me. The preacher was Rev. Bert Cooke and I had heard him many times before. But this time was to be different.

That morning has never left me. Indeed it would not be too much to say that it made an impression on me that in some ways fashioned my own preaching ministry. I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe as never before. As I sat listening to the message I was struck with the solemnity of delivering God’s Word and was gripped with a sense of the majesty of true Bible preaching. It would not be putting it too strongly to say that I felt a holy fear of preaching that has never left me.

As one who came into the Free Church in its very early days, I can say that one of the things that set it apart from other churches was the quality of its pulpit ministry. It was not simply that our ministers were men who could expound the Word of God – or that they were evangelistic in their gospel presentation. These things were obviously true, but what marked our early preachers and preaching was the sense that here were men who were not merely doing a job, or even delivering a sermon. No, these were men who knew God, who had sought God for a message, and who preached with a burning zeal for the glory of God and the welfare of souls!

Free Presbyterian preaching was preeminently biblical preaching. Our ministers expounded the Bible with reverence and the total conviction that they were handling the inspired Word of God. Thus their preaching was Christ-centred. Free Presbyterian ministers did not waste their time with the quirky little follies that so many others indulged in. They were men on a mission. They believed that the Lord had raised them up for a specific ministry at a crucial time in Northern Ireland and they did not lose sight of their calling.

The preaching of these men was marked by a deep solemnity. It did not trifle with the things of God. They conducted their ministry in the light of the judgment day. Eternity was stamped on their messages. They were all convinced Calvinists in their theology, but theirs was Calvinism on fire for God and filled with the assurance that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”

Such preaching was the result of much study and fervent prayer. Those were the days before computers and the all too easy access to the “preaching material” now so readily available on the Internet. Our ministers read and studied the great pulpit giants of former days, but they did not do what so many “busy” preachers of today do – namely, hunt up a few alliterated points and apt illustrations from other preachers and recycle them for their own congregations. Over the years I have received countless invitations to tap into such “resources,” all tailored for the busy pastor. Pastors who are too busy to give themselves to the prolonged study of God’s Word and to the solemn pursuit of a message from God for their people are simply too busy – and they are failing in their primary calling. That was not a charge that could be levelled against our ministers.

The result was that when they entered the pulpit they came before their people as men who had come out from the presence of God – or rather who brought to the pulpit with them a deep and real sense of God’s presence. In many ways, that is what I most remember about the preaching that I grew up listening to. Mount Merrion was a fairly small congregation seeking to serve the Lord in a particularly difficult situation on the outskirts of post-war Belfast. Our building and amenities were modest. Well, actually, that is being too kind: they were pretty mean! But one thing we did not lack was the thrilling, yet awesome, sense of the nearness of the Lord. That was particularly true of the Sunday evening evangelistic services. Those were times none of us who were privileged to be there will ever forget. As Mr. Cooke preached the gospel and applied it to the hearts and consciences of men and women, the sense of conviction was, at times, overpowering.

I have naturally written mostly about Mt. Merrion, for that is where I was most affected by the preaching of the Free Church’s ministers. Mr. Cooke was not alone in preaching with such solemn zeal and power. Rev. John Douglas, Dr. Paisley, Rev. Cecil Menary – all came to minister. These men had different preaching styles, but they shared the same fundamental characteristics. Each of them preached as a dying man to dying men and women. Each of them looked on preaching as more than the mere communication of information. That is something that has ruined many a man’s ministry, the notion that a preacher’s job is simply to be a “communicator,” a mere conveyor of information. What a travesty! I learned from Mr. Cooke that a preacher is not just a mouth to communicate. He is a whole man and he must preach the gospel with everything that is in him. He communicates truth not as a lecturer, but as an ambassador of the most high God, a man who speaks with divine authority and spiritual power.

One thing must be noted. Free Presbyterian preaching was unashamedly militant. Because we believed the Bible we opposed and preached against the heresies that were prevalent in other churches and that were largely tolerated – or at least not opposed – by most evangelicals. Our preachers were crusaders against modernism, rationalism, Romanism and ecumenism. A sleep of death was hanging over large parts of the Ulster church scene and we saw it as part of our calling to disturb it. The Lord blessed that stand. Our own people knew why they were Free Presbyterians. They were well instructed in the truths of the gospel and in the issues that challenged the crown rights of King Jesus. And many others learned from us of the inroads of apostasy into their churches and were challenged to take their stand for Christ and His truth.

Here, then, are the features of the preaching on which our churches were built. Our preaching was biblical, Christ-centred, authoritative, solemnly fervent, evangelistic, militant and Spirit-anointed. We were not the most learned, or the most brilliant preachers in the land, but we were sold out to God to preach Christ in all His fulness, expecting Him to pour out His Spirit’s power and blessing, as He had promised. To God’s eternal glory, we can honestly say that we did not expect in vain, as it pleased God through the foolishness of our preaching to bring many to a saving knowledge of His Son. May God enable us ever to see the value of such ministry – and grant us generations of preachers ready and willing to respond to the challenges of this and every succeeding age!

Dr Alan Cairns.