Caton Baptist Church

Last night I spoke at Caton Baptist Church. Caton is an attractive village, and its Baptists make an attractive church. Having expanded their building several times, its members lamented the lack of further space to build on. How refreshing it is to hear that a church is growing at a time when many are barely holding the fort. The church is located in what I have previously called the North Lancs Bible Belt, in which nearly every village has a busy church that’s faithful to the gospel. This is a great contrast to our East Lancashire desert, where there are fewer churches, and those that exist often spout froth and bubble.

The meeting at Caton was a youth service and I spoke on the rich young ruler as recorded in Luke 18. In Britain, most of our young people are, by world standards, incredibly rich. They have more power and influence than ever before and they have all the benefits of endless energy and general health. Yet how many, like the rich young ruler, will approach Jesus but walk away from Him, refusing to surrender what they cannot keep in order to gain what they cannot lose?

How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

I pray God’s blessing on Caton’s Baptist Church, whose website is here http://www.catonbaptist.org/. I pray that those young people will seek and find Christ before the days of trouble come and the silver cord is broken.