My parents were Baptist Bible College graduates and were serving as missionaries to England in the late 1970’s. Subsequently, I was born and raised in London. They were instrumental in reviving a sovereign grace Baptist church, located in Kensington. My grandfather, Jewell Smith, was also a pastor and itinerate preacher, devoting the last part of his ministry traveling from church to church preaching on the…

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The church that I pastor belongs to an historic circle of churches known as “Strict and Particular Baptists”. Now, it is likely these labels have conjured up some false ideas, or at the very least, some negative views. One might assume the names “Strict” and “Particular” refer to rules and regulations, and therefore the churches are steeped in legalism and double standards. I can assure you, this most definitely is not the meaning of the terms. Here, let me provide some proper definitions…

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This is not a straight forward question, because unlike the Strict and Particular Baptists, the Reformed Baptists do not have a definite set of teachings which distinguish them as a group. Having said that, there tends to be some common teachings shared by most Reformed Baptists—to name a few…

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I believe the first church was organized by Jesus in Jerusalem during His earthly ministry, and that it was a Strict and Particular Baptist congregation. I also believe there has been an unbroken witness (though not necessarily an unbroken ‘chain’) of such churches from then till now, and that there have been hundreds of congregations scattered around various parts of the world. However, many of these churches were…

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There are two groups of Strict and Particular Baptist churches: The Gospel Standard and the Non- Gospel Standard (Independents). While they all share the same faith and order (Strict Communion and High-Calvinism), yet the Gospel Standard require churches to…

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Well, let me begin by rejecting the run-of-the-mill answer most frequently given by the Arminians and Fullerites. These groups assume that because these churches reject duty-faith and the free offer, they must therefore not believe the gospel should be preached to sinners; and henceforth, sinners are not being converted, baptized and added to the membership of the churches. This is utter nonsense! All Strict and Particular Baptist churches believe the gospel should be preached to sinners. How else were more than 600 churches organized by the year 1900?

I believe the real cause for the decline of these churches…

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Of course! Was there not a future for the Strict and Particular Baptists during the days of the Apostles? The church is built upon Christ, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. As God reserved to Himself in the days of Elijah seven thousand men, who did not bow the knee to the image of Baal, even so then at this present also there is a remnant in England according to the election of grace. However, we cannot expect, in England’s current culture, the type of…

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I believe the work of a pastor is to oversee a church, whereas the work of an evangelist is to organize new churches (Eph 4:11). These offices should not be confused. It will that of an evangelist that I hope to organize Strict and Particular Baptist churches in the Philippines. I will focus on two primary goals…

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Yes, we will be ministering south of Metro Manila, in the general area of Laguna. Elna’s extended family live in this location, and our original plan was to begin preaching the gospel to them. This location was wonderfully confirmed by the Lord, when one of the…

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This gospel ministry will be funded by cheerful believers as they purpose in their hearts to give (2 Cor 9:6-8). We are in all things instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. We believe godliness with contentment is great gain, and we must continue to learn, in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content. Our confidence is in the Lord, who will supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Growing up in a missionary home, it was not uncommon to hear of some missionaries hiding their true convictions on various doctrines, in order to secure the financial support of churches holding to opposite views. This is a shamefully dishonest way…

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