Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers Association

Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom

Ken Forrest (Cathcart) looks at preaching past and present
My great uncle Thomas Forrest was a member of Wishaw Baptist Church and an active lay preacher in the Lanarkshire area many years ago. Although I never heard him preach, I came across a Preaching Return he compiled recording his activities for 1929/1930 (see attached), preserved by our family (along with notes of his Sermons).

Life would have been very different eighty years ago. Computers were unheard of, getting around was not easy, but there were many more churches and congregations would have been much larger. Uncle Tom did not have a car and he would have had to travel to these different churches by bus. All his notes, Sermons, and returns would have to have been hand written. Eighty years ago, the church was more respected and going to church was the norm.

Things are not the same now. We take it for granted that we’ll be able to travel by car, and using devices like the internet or a Sat Nav means we rarely have any difficulty getting to places where Uncle Tom would never have been able to go. We’d be lost if we didn’t have computers and other aids to help us prepare our Sermons. But there are fewer churches, and congregations are declining. Most (though not all) of those Uncle Tom visited are now closed. Church attendance is now seen as exceptional and the church itself is far less respected than it once was.

What should we conclude from this? That we now use cars and computers, that many churches have closed down and less people go to church? We don’t need an example of a Preaching Return to tell us this. Reading his Sermon notes, I know that Thomas Forrest would have agreed that no matter where the Word of God is preached, no matter before whom it is shared, no matter how it is prepared, and no matter when it takes place, “….Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8).