So today the Co-op bank announces a loss of £1.3bn, acknowledges that it will loose more money over the next couple of years and poses a question over whether the Co-op will invest another £120m in the bank or see it’s ownership share slip further. At the same time the wider Co-op group has seen... Continue Reading →
BUGB ministry review
One subject occupying recent Baptist threads on facebook, particularly a new BUGB Council group, is ministry; ministers both full and part time, accreditation, training and continuing development. Two issues stand out to me: We need to reclaim an understanding of stipend. The discussions about the rise of bi-vocational ministry and the reducing number of full... Continue Reading →
Tragedy of #MH470
Like many people I’ve followed the events of MH370 with interest and sorrow. Sorrow for the family and friends of those on the plane, who still have no idea of what happened and who are living with the enormous strain of this. Interest, because I’ve been fascinated in aircraft since I was a child; when... Continue Reading →
Faith Check, a spiritual review
As a church here we don't usually make a big thing of Lent. However, this year I thought we would use the opportunity to encourage everyone to take some time to reflect on their spiritual journey, think about their relationship with God and consider how they might grow in the year ahead. To help this... Continue Reading →
Song select
The church here has just subscribed to Song Select a service which lets you print out music for songs including chord sheets, lead melody line (which the system will transpose and print out in any key) and lyrics. We hope it will make things much easier for those leading worship and/or the bands, saving time... Continue Reading →
Politics blog – background of MPs
I came across ripped-off Britons blog post lamenting the decreasing number of MPs from manual work backgrounds and the rise of those from who were political organisers before they became MPs. This also linked to a report produced by the House of Commons library giving more details for those elected in 2010 and breaking them... Continue Reading →
This term’s new(ish) worship songs
Like last term the church is aiming to introduce a number of newer worship songs; kicked off with an evening to learn some of them (7:45pm on Feb 13th at Poynton Baptist Church). This term's collection include: In addition to these four we are looking to make use of: ... Continue Reading →
Don’t be a twit: social media guidelines
There is an interesting story on the BBC news about one Church of England Diocese producing some Social Media guidelines. The Diocese of Bath and Wells guidelines are here and some similar advice produced by the Methodist Church is here. Most of the guidance is obvious enough: 1. Remember what you post is public so think first.... Continue Reading →
Fresh Streams 2014 some early reflections #fsnc14
I’ve spent the last 48 hours at the Fresh Streams conference. Although I’ve been to the odd day over the last few years it is the first time I’ve been to the whole thing for 5 years. It hasn’t changed much over that time (though the leadership has become more plural and has a better... Continue Reading →
Lead a movement; what’s that mean?
Earlier this month I blogged that one of my New Year dreams was to lead a movement not an organisation. Recently I’ve heard plenty of talk about the need for a ‘Baptist movement’ which poses the question what do I/we mean by movement, particularly when used in distinction to organisation or institution? A movement is... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 