My Advice To My Nephew

Elder John Davenport is my nephew. He took over the pastorship of the church my father started and pastored for about fifty years, the church in Franklin, Ohio called "The Thompson Memorial Primitive Baptist Church." John preached father's funeral. During the time I was in Ohio, staying with my sister, mother to John, and also a attendant of that church, I was able to talk to John a good bit. I had hoped that he and I would come to be close friends. Since then, we have had times where we spoke often, and times where we did not. During the time I was at my sister's house, I would talk to my sister and John about what the church needed in order to grow. I also witnessed to them about some of the errors that father taught them and which they would have to study and hopefully see that fact for themselves.

Since then I have been happy to learn that John, and the church I hope, has come to see that father was wrong on his not allowing women to vote. I also think they see that he was wrong on the adultery issue. One of the reasons I have written on these topics of late is in order to help them.

I have also thought that John was at times close to seeing that the Hardshell anti means doctrine was also an error. Whether that is true or not, and whether he eventually sees it, only time will tell. But, I told him before I left Ohio after father's funeral - "John, you need to imitate Spurgeon if you want the church to grow." I still believe that and hope he will listen. I also encouraged him, if he was intent on remaining with the "Primitive Baptists," to at least align himself with the "Progressives" or with those styled "Liberals." I recently encouraged him to seek out a friendship with Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church and Elder Bradley. The church in Franklin is less than an hour drive away from the Cincinnati church. Further, it was Cincinnati church that originally baptized the first members of the Thompson Memorial church and re-constituted them. I don't know whether Elder Bradley and the Cincinnati church has come all the way back to the faith of their forefathers and embraced a belief in gospel means, but they are, it seems, going in that direction, in the right direction.

Let us keep such churches and elders in our prayers as they study and pray over the state of their churches and as they seek to learn the truth about their history and the teachings of the bible on these issues.