This five day lecture series held in Wake Forest, NC will seek to fortify doctrinal foundations by doing exposition of one of the premier confessions of faith. After setting the historical context of the various confessions of faith, the conference will proceed to examine the Baptist Confession of 1689. Today, more than ever, churches and families need a thorough, time-tested foundation of biblical orthodoxy to establish faithfulness, counter false teaching, and promote theological unity. We will give lectures on each of the sections of the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689. This is a proven doctrinal foundation on which to build. The Second London Baptist Confession, labored over by godly leaders from 1596 to 1689, is just that. It takes the whole counsel of God in scripture, and carefully summarizes the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.

The role of the family in upholding sound doctrine

This confession was designed for families to help parents instruct children in sound doctrine.  The Westminster Confession of Faith, which is nearly identical to the Baptist Confession, appeals in its introduction first of all to heads of households to teach sound doctrine to their families. It reads like this:

"How much the serious endeavors of godly parents and masters might contribute to an early seasoning, the tender years of such as are under their inspection, is abundantly evident.”

"That, as the Lord has set them in place above the rest of the family, they would labor in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to be above them also. It is an uncomely sight to behold men in years babes in knowledge, and how unmet are they to instruct others who need themselves to be taught, which be the first principles of the oracles of God.

The Westminster Confession was written for families in order to establish sound doctrine so that the church would not end up with spiritually ignorant children.

A church without a doctrinal foundations is an unprotected church

My advice to people is very consistent: Don’t go to a church without a statement of sound doctrine.

Impact of the confession on the church, family, and contemporary society

The Westminster Confession had enormous impact on Christian culture, and even on nations. Benjamin Warfield, the great theologian from Princeton Seminary, wrote this of the confession and its impact on Christianity:

The significance of the Westminster Standards is a creed to be found in these three facts: Historically speaking, they are the final crystallization of the elements of evangelical religion. After the conflicts of sixteen hundred years, scientifically speaking, they are the richest and most precise and best guarded statement ever penned. Of all that enters into the evangelical religion, and of all that must be safeguarded if evangelical religion is to persist in the world. And religiously speaking, they are a notable monument of spiritual religion.

The impact on people’s lives was enormous. Douglas Kelly speaks of the impact of the Westminster Confession on Scottish peasants. He says: “Generations of children brought up on the catechism have had a greater capacity for conceptual thinking, as opposed to merely pictorial thinking, than those who never memorized it.”

Charles Spurgeon told of the value of the Second London Baptist Confession to the family,

Here, the younger members of our church will have a body of divinity in small compass, and by means of the scriptural proofs, will be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them… Remember, it is the ancient gospel of martyrs, confessors, reformers, and saints. Above all, it is the truth of God against which the gates of hell cannot prevail… Cleave fast to the Word of God which is here mapped out for you.”