Cliff Richmond had the hardest job, starting the conference with a look at Matthew’s Gospel. However, at that point, no one had anything to compare with Matthew. In the second half of the first session, Andrew Marple gave an overview of Mark, and by contrasting this with what had been earlier said by Cliff, people began to appreciate the different purposes for those two gospels and why they have two different viewpoints.

After a break for refreshment, we had two further studies. First Sylvia Penny considered Luke and then Willie Henry covered John. The pieces were then fitting into the jigsaw and we began to appreciate just which audiences the different writers had in mind and why they included some things and left other out.

During another break there was much discussion over the refreshments before we entered the last session. Willie Henry started by contrasting the four Gospels. John is clearly different from the other three, the Synoptics, but he also highlighted other differences. Michael Penny brought the afternoon to a close by looking at the similarities in the Gospels. Also written by different people to different audiences, they aim was to give details of the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, and to show Him as the King of Israel, their Messiah (Christ) and the Son of God.