As far as Christmas goes my attitude is best summed up as ‘bah humbug’; not to the incarnation but all the other trappings. But, over the last decade, I’ve come to appreciate Advent. Advent expresses an important dimension of the Christian life; a life of expectant waiting and a period of hopeful purpose. As... Continue Reading →
Building a ministry team
We are searching for an Associate Minister, a more stressful task than I anticipated. I’ve been through the Baptist settlement process twice as a candidate and once as a church moderator but looking for someone to join the team here brings out different questions. Some while ago I came across Bill Hybel’s 3 C’s for... Continue Reading →
IBS-STL an opportunity?
I’m saddened to see the financial problems of IBS-STL who run Wesley Owen, Authentic Media and others. The temptation is to view financial difficulty as a wholly bad thing but it is an opportunity to take a fresh approach and I hope there is a positive outcome. Finding a buyer for the Wesley Owen chain... Continue Reading →
Watching Christian TV makes me grumpy!
Twice in recent weeks I’ve wasted some free time watching Christian Satellite TV; on both occasions someone speaking at well known evangelical Christian events in the UK. The first programme made my heart sink. The speaker, who I hadn’t heard before, talked complete rubbish making comments that are contrary to the Biblical text (how is... Continue Reading →
Perhaps I’m still a charismatic after all.
Years ago I would happily have owned the labels ‘evangelical’ and ‘charismatic’ but these days I’m more suspicious and when asked if I identify myself as either generally want to squirm out of the implied constriction. Nevertheless I continue to believe that God speaks today; I still believe in prophecy (in the charismatic sense of... Continue Reading →
Consumer ministry?
A thought crossed my mind in a discussion yesterday: to what degree should a minister resist giving people what they want in favour of giving people what is good for them? Both ends of the spectrum are easy enough to rule out. First because it is patronising to believe that I always know better than... Continue Reading →
Trouble with numbers.
Every year we do a church attendance survey for BUGB, this year done in September. We know that on a typical Sunday in January we have about 60% of the regular Sunday congregation present. The recent survey suggests that in the holiday months this falls to about 50% or less. So what are the factors... Continue Reading →
Dissonance
I’m at a Ministers’ refresher conference (along with baptist bookworm and Catriona) laid on by the Baptist Union as part of their commitment to ministers. Listening to the conversations over meal tables and coffee has got me wondering about the relationship between minister and congregation. Clearly there are many ministers who are well suited to... Continue Reading →
Creeping Presbyterianism?
Now back to the routine including Church Meetings which has got me thinking “why do we do them the way we do?” and “there must be a better way”. Church Meetings here are typically held monthly during term time. The agenda includes reports from groups in the church such as the Mission Teams, Youthwork... Continue Reading →
Tired out
I promised some further reflections on ministry and I’m often struck by the way ministry makes me tired. This may say more about me than about the nature of ministry because the things that enthuse or energise people vary, as do the things which drain you. Neither is this to suggest that ministry is more... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 