This week the UK parliament debated foodbanks. On Facebook and Twitter this proved to be a big deal but on the main news outlets it never got a mention. So what’s gone wrong? We need to remember the nature of the debate. It was one of 17 occasions in this parliamentary session that the Labour... Continue Reading →
dream of leading a big church?
Last week I shared three reasons big churches keep getting bigger on facebook and wondered how the UK church would be different if 1 in 10 Christians attended a church of over 2000, whether it would be a good thing and what chance there would be of any of them being Baptist? Whether vision or... Continue Reading →
BMS Catalyst LIve: my impressions of #catlive
Yesterday I went to Catalyst Live in Manchester, a new event put together by BMS world mission. The day aimed to help Christian leaders think about the ‘Mission of the Mind’, bringing together speakers with backgrounds in theology, apologetics, science and culture. I’d been a bit wary of an event with so many different speakers... Continue Reading →
BUGB council meets again – without me :)
The new style BUGB Council meets for the first time today; one of a number of small steps in changing the Union as a result of the ‘Futures’ process. I’m not part of this so have no idea what’s going on, and I suspect that the change of format will mean fewer social media updates... Continue Reading →
Larger Churches leaders gathering
It was great to attend this earlier in the week, an annual gathering facilitated by BUGB for team leaders from the Union’s ‘larger’ churches. It’s encouraging to spend time with people who do a similar role to me, who face similar challenges and struggles, without feeling the need to apologise. [It is a strange quirk... Continue Reading →
A bank which wants to say yes
I had an idea the other day whilst thinking about Baptist life (though it could be applied more widely). Why not start a ‘bank’ whose purpose was to loan money to projects which might not pay back but which need money to get something started. OK ‘bank’ may be the wrong word, but words like... Continue Reading →
UK Christians sexist?
There's an interesting debate opening on the web about the question, 'are UK Christian conferences sexist'? It started off when Rachel Held Evans in the US challenged the organisers of the NINES conference on twitter, (a summary of the tweets are on storify ) which has then prompted some UK folk to look at what... Continue Reading →
Christians and new media #cnmac13
My twitter feed has been filled today with comments from #cnmac13 the Christian new media awards and conference. I’d wanted to go but lack of time and an unwillingness to pay £100 in rail fares got the better of me. Conferences like this bring out the good and the bad in us. Do we really... Continue Reading →
My experiences of Iquitos
Before I last went to Iquitos I agreed to write about it for the Baptist Times. The article's now on line: training pastors in Peru
Keeping perspective in church needs distance
One thing I’ve noticed about being a minister is that the longer you are in a church the harder it is to separate your own thoughts about the church situation from your own sense of identity. In the early day’s it easier to see things because you approach them with fresh eyes; though you have... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 