NIMA 2023

Beholding the Glory of Jesus in John’s Gospel

The Gospel of John: A Glimpse of Glory

November 6 - 7 2022
Maze Presbyterian Church
Northern Ireland Ministry Assembly Header Image

The aim of our assembly is to encourage Bible teachers and Bible sharers to give themselves to the indispensable work of presenting the Lord Jesus Christ to believers and unbelievers, to all ages, and to all kinds of people. We, therefore, seek to help those engaged in preaching and teaching to see the expounding of Scripture as the pressing need in today's church and to equip them in the exacting work involved in such a ministry. While the assembly, therefore, is mainly for those in full-time preaching ministries, others are welcome, especially students, interns, and spouses of Christian workers.

In the prologue to his Gospel the apostle John writes of how ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ It is the first of many references in the Gospel to ‘glory’ and, in particular, to the glory of Jesus. This ‘glory’ is the same ‘glory’, as John tells us, that Isaiah witnessed in the temple and spoke about in his writings.

‘Beholding the Glory of Jesus in John’s Gospel’ is the theme that Joe Barnard and Andy Prime will unpack for us in this year’s Ministry Assembly. In ‘The Supremacy of God in Preaching’ John Piper writes that ‘it is not the job of the Christian preacher to give moral or psychological pep talks about how to get along in the world; someone else can do that. But most of our people have no one in the world to tell them week in, week out, about the supreme beauty and majesty of God.’

The essence of this, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4, is to preach Jesus Christ in such a way that those who sit under our ministries are given, through the Holy Spirit, ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’

Speakers:

Joe Barnard

Holyrood Evangelical Church

Joe is the pastor of Holyrood Evangelical Church in Edinburgh and the executive director of Cross Training Ministries, a discipleship ministry focused on training men in spiritual fitness. He is originally from New Orleans in the United States but has ministered in Scotland for more than 10 years. He is the author of three books — The Way Forward: A road map for spiritual growth for men in the twenty-first century; Surviving the Trenches: Killing sin before it kills you; Hymn Workouts: 100 exercises to set your heart ablaze — published by Christian Focus. He is married to Anna and has four children.

Andy Prime

Gracemount Community Church

Andy is a graduate from Oak Hill College and was an Associate Pastor at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh from 2010. In September 2014 he left Charlotte Chapel to join 20schemes, a church planting movement working in Scotland's most deprived areas. Andy and his wife, Sarah, who had previously worked in Gracemount — one of the housing schemes in Edinburgh — for 13 years reaching young people, subsequently planted Gracemount Community Church in 2017.