Mission – Ministry – Life
Back in the UK I attended the annual BUGB/BMS Baptist Assembly on Saturday. This year it was a one day event, which worked better than I thought it might. Obviously reducing the events length means that there are lots of things there isn’t space for, such as opportunities for other Baptist Organisations, plenary sessions with... Continue Reading →
Project 3:28 have published their latest research into gender balance among the speaker teams of UK national Christian conferences. In 2014 two conferences had a 50:50 balance, the BUGB Annual Assembly and the Church and Media Conference. Also, notably, the Youth Work summit has been in second place for the last two years with an... Continue Reading →
As thoughts turn to the year ahead it’s always with a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty that I think about aims / resolutions. In any case 2014 demonstrated that whatever aims I wrote in January, I had no idea what was to happen! My ability to foretell the future hasn’t improved since last year but... Continue Reading →
Personally, I'm sad to see news of Paul Goodliff stepping down as the leader of the BUGB's ministries team. Web article here Someone leaving a role suddenly always causes some uncertainty. The Union has been undergoing signficant transformation in the last few years and Paul's commitment to Ministry and ministers has meant he as been... Continue Reading →
I had the pleasure of chairing a conversation day run by the Baptist Ministers’ Fellowship this week. Entitled “Pathways for Baptist ministry” speakers shared their varied experience of ministerial life, training / formation and ways of working. Although the conversations ranged wide, two things stood out for me from the day: 1. The majority of... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
If I’ve learned nothing else from my years in ministry it is that I need a team. Who you need around you varies depending on your own gifts / skills but I need someone (or people) - Worship leader: someone with musicality who can lead the band, lead the congregation in song, choose songs and... Continue Reading →
Early humans were hunter-gathers, a way of life that gave way to agriculture and settled modes of living. But whatever the advances this had for human history, it marks an unfortunate tendency in church life. Bluntly, most churches structure for comfort and stability. We like each other and like what we do, so developing an... Continue Reading →
Whilst being a minister is not that difficult (as my last post indicated) it is also harder than it looks. Over the last few years I’ve come to recognise a few of the reasons why. 1. The demands are relentless. It is not necessarily the volume but the fact that it keeps coming. Emails and... Continue Reading →
Distinct Reflections 