A Baptist People

jedwardsA Baptist People is the monthly message of Jonathan Edwards, the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.




Impossible Ministries

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 21:24
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Pope Benedict XVI will be remembered for many things – and the shock announcement of his retirement is always likely to be one of them! No Pope has retired for over 600 years, and it would seem that no-one at all saw it coming. Within days the process for electing his successor was under way and it a new Pope will probably be installed within a few weeks. Those who claim that the Church of Rome moves slowly need to think again!

This certainly seems to be a season for new appointments, and during the coming month I look forward to attending the enthronement of Justin Welby as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. I am sure that it will be an amazingly grand and joyful occasion, but nothing can mask the enormity of the role and the human impossibility of the task. After his ten years in office Rowan Williams must, at times, have reflected on the apparent impossibility of getting anything right. The press was always ready to pounce, and display him in the least attractive light.

Baptists are also involved in making new appointments. The search for a new General Secretary for the Baptist Union of Great Britain is well under way now. During the coming month applications will be considered by the Nominating Group with a view to interviewing candidates during April. If you have read the job description you will may well have gasped at the enormity and breadth of the role. The General Secretary is not a Pope nor even an Archbishop but it is a vital ministry amongst us and we need to pray earnestly that the Lord will lead us to the right person.

I acknowledge that the role of General Secretary – now and in the future – is impossible. It is beyond any human being to tick all the boxes. This is a vital observation and it applies to every single ministry. Everything that God calls us to do is impossible in our human strength. Teaching a Sunday school class is beyond us. Working as a church administrator is completely impossible if we are relying on our own resources. Ministering in a church, whatever its size, is beyond anyone's ability. None of us is able to do God's work on the basis of our own skills, strength and abilities.

Last summer I had the privilege of preaching at a church convention in the East End of London and I was given a red wrist band which I haven't taken off since then. It has five words taken from Luke 1: 37 'Nothing is impossible with God.' Serving God in any capacity is beyond our human ability. We are simply not up to it, whether we are called to be youth leader, Pope, church secretary, Archbishop, play group leader or General Secretary.

Whatever your calling remind yourself constantly of its sheer impossibility without the grace and strength of God.


Never forget – 'Nothing is impossible with God.'

Everyone's Welcome

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 21:24
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Jesus went to extraordinary lengths to show his love and care for every kind of person. He regularly shocked the respectable people around him by the way in which he gave time to prostitutes, tax-collectors, children and lepers. He wasn't merely friendly to them but actually spent time in their homes and chose to eat and drink with them. No wonder he got such a bad reputation with the respectable people!


The Church of Jesus Christ has the clear and straightforward responsibility of walking in Jesus' footsteps. Our task is to help people to meet Jesus and we will do that as we reflect his life and love. So the most crucial question of all is this – Are our churches truly welcoming every kind of person? This is so fundamental to our lives as followers of Jesus that we need to take the question with intense seriousness, and to spend time in our leaders' meeting and church meetings reflecting on it.


First of all we need to acknowledge that this is a hard path. It is in every respect easier to spend time with people who are like us, than to reach out to people who are completely different from us. It is a simple truth that birds of a feather flock together. But this is not the language of Jesus' Good News which seeks to embrace all, whatever their background or circumstances.


It is always healthy for a church to receive the honest reflections of visitors. And I do mean honest! We can easily be so polite to one another that we never hear the truth. But the fact is that many of our churches are very friendly communities for those who are a part of them ... but as cold as icebergs for those who haven't learnt the language or understood our ways. The smug satisfaction of some churches could be easily swept away by the loving (hopefully) comments of an outsider.


Steve Chalke's recent article "A Matter of Integrity" has highlighted the importance of churches welcoming homosexual people. This is a Gospel issue and it is important to have this conversation. However the range of views about homosexuality, even amongst Evangelicals, is so wide that this is not an easy conversation to have. However, my prime concern is that we make it consistently clear that as churches that follow in the path of Jesus we will always be extending love and care to everyone, whatever their sexual orientation.


It is undoubtedly the case that churches have generally been perceived to be homophobic. Homosexual people have not felt welcome. I am absolutely sure that that is not what Jesus would want, and it is our responsibility to do everything in our power to make sure that that is not the case. The Good News of Jesus is either Good News for everyone – or it is not Good News.


Jesus' welcome never implied that he was endorsing the views or life-style of those he met. Indeed everyone without exception was invited to go on a journey. For some it meant a clean break with their old life as in the case of Zacchaeus and Matthew. For others it meant facing up to searching questions about their life style as we see with the Rich Young Ruler. For everyone there was a journey of discipleship ahead.


Amidst the heat of debate about these issues I pray that we will not lose sight of our two crucial responsibilities – to welcome everyone, and to invite them all to journey with us in the footsteps of Jesus.

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Bible Gateway's Verse of the Day
  • Galatians 5:13
    “[Life by the Spirit] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”