Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:44

The coming month is a momentous one in the life of the Baptist Union.  After a year of continual conversation about our life together, crucial decisions will be taken by the Baptist Union Council.  About 160 people will gather in Swanwick, Derbyshire to make decisions that are bound to affect the Union for many years to come.  This comes at the end of a year that has seen more Baptists involved than in any previous period of consultation.  Nearly 1700 people responded to the online survey and thousands of others have participated in meetings at local and regional level as well as the Baptist Assembly in London.  I will be the first to recognize that consultations are always limited in their scope but I am delighted that there has been a continual concern to listen carefully to every part of our large community.

This past year has been important for us in all sorts of ways.  It has forced us to ask the fundamental questions about our life together.  We have needed to ask bold questions about the work that we do at every level, and as we have done so we have continually asked what will be in the best interests of the local church.  If we are not effective for God in our local churches then we are lost.  We have reflected at length on the importance of churches working together more effectively in their local area, but have also been struck by the importance of churches networking on a much wider basis with others who have a similar mission context.  All of these excellent conversations have been fired by our passionate commitment to the Good News of Jesus Christ.  As we have celebrated 400 years of Baptists in this country, we have been constantly reminded that the fundamental message of the life-giving Good News has not changed at all.

It is clear for all to see that we are living in a society that is in transition, so it shouldn’t really surprise us that we are passing through such a challenging time.  All the main institutions of our society from marriage and family life to the health services and parliament have gone through massive changes in the past ten years – and there is every prospect of vast changes to come.  But what has particularly struck me over the past year is how exhausting it is to live through such times of change.  All the debates are good and valuable but they have demanded everything of us and have stretched us to the limit.  

In such a situation of transition, both within the Baptist Union and well beyond, we clearly need to take a fresh look at our local church life.  We need to ask whether our worship and our fellowship life together are taking full account of this demanding time of transition for so many people.  Are we giving generous opportunities for people to share their life situations so that the fellowship can adequately support them in prayer?  This is probably best done in private conversation or small groups, but it is vital that our worship reflects the reality of the present context.  It will be vital and nourishing for there to be a continual celebration of God’s unchanging nature but in our prayers and preaching there needs to be a frank acknowledgement of the fast changing situation in which we find ourselves.

Amidst all the challenges of the past year I have been delighted that we have been celebrating our 400th Anniversary.  It has helped to put our present challenges in a healthy and larger context.  Our history has seen times of calm, but many times of war and tumultuous change.  The men and women of faith who have courageously gone before us have the authority to speak into our lives and they would tell us with one voice to put our whole trust in God.  And we need to listen to them.