Paul relates his experience

Paul relates his experience to the crowd at Jerusalem, Acts 22.

Verses 6-11: “as I made my journey…” Now here is what happened.

• I…was come nigh unto Damascus about noon
• suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. 
• I fell unto the ground
• [I] heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
• I answered, Who art thou, Lord?
• he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
• they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid
• they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
• I said, What shall I do, Lord?
• the Lord said…Arise, and go into Damascus… it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. 
• I could not see for the glory of that light
• [I was] led by the hand of them that were with me…into Damascus.

The book of Acts contains three accounts of Paul’s conversion. The writer, Luke, records the first account as history (Acts 9:1-8). Paul himself gives the second and third accounts, when addressing a mob (22:4-11) and when testifying before Agrippa (26:12-18). Critics make time to mine the accounts for contradictions. They claim that Paul gives two different memories of his conversion, and that his memories contradict each other as well as Luke’s record.[1]

It is a simple fact that there are differences in the accounts. Differences, however, are not necessarily contradictions. All the complaints, save one, are merely that one thing not mentioned in one is mentioned in another. Rather than contradictory, the accounts are complementary and supplementary. A true account told need not include every detail every time. See Appendix T next week for more details.

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[1] For example, skeptic and text critic Bart Ehrman writes, “the three accounts differ in numerous contradictory details.” For some critics, this is just a matter of searching for random contradictions to generally discredit the authority of the Bible. For others, it fits into a larger pattern of claiming that Paul, not Jesus Christ, was the founder of Christianity – and then proceeding to try to debunk the reliability of Paul.

Baptists in the British Isles, 2025 Update

A few years ago I posted a list of Baptist groups in the British Isles. I am updating it here. It mostly contains links to the groups’ web sites, but also includes a listing of regional associations that are affiliated with the Baptist Union of Great Britain. There is one new group added, and another noted as now dissolved. The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches is made up of mostly baptistic churches, but is not included in the list since it also allows membership of pedobaptist churches.

Alphabetical listing of Baptists in the British Isles.

  I. Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (formed in 1895, severing links with the Baptist Union of Great Britain)
 II. Association of Confessional Baptist Churches UK (an association of independent churches united by full subscription to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith)
III. Baptists Together/Baptist Union of Great Britain (founded in 1813 in London; re-branded as “Baptists Together” in 2013, though its official and legal name is still the Baptist Union of Great Britain)
         1. Central Baptist Association
         2. East Midland Baptist Association
         3. Eastern Baptist Association
         4. Heart of England Baptist Association
         5. London Baptist Association
         6. North Western Baptist Association
         7. Northern Baptist Association
         8. South Eastern Baptist Association
         9. South West Baptist Association
       10. Southern Counties Baptist Association
       11. South Wales Baptist Association
       12. West of England Baptist Association
       13. Yorkshire Baptist Association
  IV. Baptist Union of Scotland (founded in Glasgow in 1869)
   V. Baptist Union of Wales/Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru (established at Llanwenarth in 1866, the Baptist Union of Wales also cooperates with the Baptist Union of Great Britain)
   VI. Grace Baptist Assembly (established in 1980 through a merger of the Strict Baptist Assembly and the Assembly of Baptised Churches Holding the Doctrines of Grace)
  VII. Gospel Standard Strict Baptists (Gospel Standard magazine began in 1835, and the first Gospel Standard society was formed in 1872)
 VIII. Jesus Fellowship Church (began as a unique group upon disaffiliation by the Baptist Union of Great Britain circa 1986)
   IX. Old Baptist Union (founded in 1880 by Henry Augustus Squire and others)

Note: The Jesus Fellowship Church, aka Jesus’ Army, grew out of the Bugbrooke Baptist Church in Northamptonshire after division from the Baptist Union of Great Britain over differences in policy in practice. It appears that this church has ceased to exist, possibly around 2023. See Jesus Fellowship Redress Scheme report.

Some of the Baptists in the United Kingdom participate in the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation.

Jesus Fellowship Church

I take this opportunity of saving a record of a baptistic body in the United Kingdom, which appears to now be defunct. The Jesus Fellowship Church, also known as Jesus’ Army, grew out of the Bugbrooke Baptist Church in Northamptonshire. The Bugbrooke Baptist Chapel was built in 1808. The church over the years participated in the Baptist Union of Great Britain and and, much more recently, the Evangelical Alliance. Around 1986, the groups withdrew from the Evangelical Alliance, and was excluded from the Baptist Union of Great Britain over differences in policy and in practice. It appears that this church has ceased to exist, possibly around 2023. See Jesus Fellowship Redress Scheme report for more details. “Worship Time: The Journey Towards the Sacred and the Contemporary Christian Charismatic Movement in England,” a PhD thesis by Esther Elliott, provides an extensive look at this group.

The Jesus Fellowship Church self-described as: “an orthodox Christian group which is reformed, evangelical and Charismatic.” Elliott reports their history, faith, and practice this way:

“As a group it was once a member of the Evangelical Alliance and its activities are frequently mentioned and advertised within the pages of Renewal, a popular magazine of the Charismatic movement. One-time members of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Jesus Fellowship consider themselves to be rooted in the Baptist way of faith and practice. Born out of the congregation of Bugbrooke Baptist Church in Northamptonshire the Jesus Fellowship number their participants to date at approximately two thousand five hundred [circa 1998, rlv]. The Fellowship practise communal living, aggressive evangelism, full immersion baptism, speaking in tongues, foot washing and a weekly Eucharistic rite which they call ‘agape’ or the love feast. They believe in God the Father, Son and Holy spirit, the full divinity of Christ, his atoning death and bodily resurrection, the availability of justification by faith to all, Baptism in the Holy Spirit and believe the bible to be the fully inspired word of God.” (“Worship Time,” Elliott, PhD thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999, p 96)

Jesus Fellowship Church is also mentioned in Baptists Around the World edited by Albert W. Wardin, Jr. (Nashville,TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995, pp. 182, 186).