Coming to America!
January 4, 2011
Alistair Begg, Sinclair Ferguson, Derek Thomas, Jerram Barrs, Carl Trueman, Paul Gardner, Mark Johnston, Bill Hughes, Josh Moody and now Liam Goligher. The list could go on.......
On the 5th January 1989 the South Wales Evening Post arrived in the afternoon. I picked it up as a 12 year old boy and immediately burst into tears. Jonathan Davies the Welsh rugby captain and finest outside half of his era had signed to play rugby league for Widnes. For those of you in America, rugby is like American football without pads but with brains. There are two types of rugby - League and Union. In 1989 Rugby Union was still amateur while league was professional. Jonathan Davies was my hero. Posters of him adorned my wall. Every schoolboy in Wales grows up wanting to play outside half for their country. Jonathan Davies going to League triggered a mass exodus of Welsh rugby stars. We were hardly setting the world on fire but we lost our best talent for the guts of 10 years.
We're experiencing something similar in the UK reformed church. The men I've named above are all Brits who've moved from a British church context to an American one. I don't begrudge them going (not openly at least!) but these men are not your average Joes. They are some of our best and brightest men. Surely America can't keep taking our best preachers.
Admittedly America is sending us their preachers too. We've got all sorts of your finest on the satellite channels and you are sending us missionaries (for which I'm very grateful. I have a number of them in my congregation) but by their own admission they would not be the leaders that the men I've named are.
So what's the answer? I think we should trade; we'll give you Liam Goligher if you send us Tim Keller, or how about if we give you a couple of Sunday school teachers and you return Trueman to us. It's a fair swap, admittedly weighted in your favour. It's funny how we don't see reformed leaders from the US called to the UK but maybe I'm just bitter.
On the 5th January 1989 the South Wales Evening Post arrived in the afternoon. I picked it up as a 12 year old boy and immediately burst into tears. Jonathan Davies the Welsh rugby captain and finest outside half of his era had signed to play rugby league for Widnes. For those of you in America, rugby is like American football without pads but with brains. There are two types of rugby - League and Union. In 1989 Rugby Union was still amateur while league was professional. Jonathan Davies was my hero. Posters of him adorned my wall. Every schoolboy in Wales grows up wanting to play outside half for their country. Jonathan Davies going to League triggered a mass exodus of Welsh rugby stars. We were hardly setting the world on fire but we lost our best talent for the guts of 10 years.
We're experiencing something similar in the UK reformed church. The men I've named above are all Brits who've moved from a British church context to an American one. I don't begrudge them going (not openly at least!) but these men are not your average Joes. They are some of our best and brightest men. Surely America can't keep taking our best preachers.
Admittedly America is sending us their preachers too. We've got all sorts of your finest on the satellite channels and you are sending us missionaries (for which I'm very grateful. I have a number of them in my congregation) but by their own admission they would not be the leaders that the men I've named are.
So what's the answer? I think we should trade; we'll give you Liam Goligher if you send us Tim Keller, or how about if we give you a couple of Sunday school teachers and you return Trueman to us. It's a fair swap, admittedly weighted in your favour. It's funny how we don't see reformed leaders from the US called to the UK but maybe I'm just bitter.
