Conference report by David Fielding, pastor of Castlefields Church, Derby

The weekend of 13 to 15 November was an exciting time for the members of Castlefields Church in Derby. Seizing the opportunity of the 2009 Darwin anniversaries, the church hired the prestigious ‘Darwin Suite’ in the city centre as a venue to host their Creation Outreach weekend. The room is actually dedicated to Erasmus, the grandfather of Charles Darwin and provided an interesting talking point in getting people coming to the meetings. The title of the weekend, ‘Derby, Darwin and Dinosaurs’ was chosen to attract further interest in the city of Derby and as a link to the subject of the talks being presented.

Nearly 200 people attended the event, with many being non-Christian friends of church members and visitors from other churches in the area. The main speakers were Paul Garner and Dr Steve Lloyd of Biblical Creation Ministries. A varied programme of talks on creation subjects was presented including a very searching analysis of the spiritual lessons that can be drawn from the life of Charles Darwin. Paul Garner showed how God was, ‘pursuing’ Darwin all through his life by placing Christians in his path and bringing scripture to bear upon his thinking. A serious challenge was posed to those listening not to turn away from God’s free grace, as Darwin did but to seek Him and to find Him as Saviour. In addition, Steve Lloyd gave a fascinating and wide-ranging talk entitled ‘New answers to old questions’, in which he explained the work that creationists are doing to build rigorous scientific models in biology and geology.

It was encouraging to see free evangelistic literature being taken away and many books and DVDs being purchased. The church is looking to the Lord to bring lasting fruit from the event and to bless this endeavour for Him.