The Meeting of the Assembly 

Messages from the General Secretary; finance updates; administrative resolutions - the Meeting of the Assembly took place on Friday afternoon  

'The Lord is at work in and through Baptists Together in so many amazing ways', General Secretary told Baptist Assembly delegates.

Sharing a brief address during the Meeting of the Assembly on Friday afternoon, Lynn highlighted several encouraging statistics from the 2025 Annual Returns. 

Firstly there were 825 more baptisms in 2025 than in 2024. That 2024 had been the highest number of baptisms for 10 years.

Furthermore, when the fall in number of churches is taken into account, the number of baptisms per church has risen from 1.3 in 2018 to 1.6 in 2024 to 2 in 2025, Lynn continued. 

‘This reflects what God is doing, a little snapshot. We’d love that go higher, but it’s amazing and we give thanks.’

Secondly, 2025 saw a 1,000 more 18-35s in our main worship services than the previous year.

This is 'absolutely brilliant', said Lynn. 'We praise the Lord and give Him thanks that by His grace we are seeing Kingdom fruit in our midst.' She spoke in more detail about the Annual Returns during her Friday evening address.

She had earlier acknowledged the 'deep sadness' of the closure of Spurgeon's College in July 2025. The college had to close after becoming insolvent. 

'I am aware that this was a huge shock to so many and that it was a tremendous loss to our Baptist family here in the UK and globally too,' said Lynn. 

She spoke of her gratitude for how our Ministries Team, Spurgeon’s staff, Colleges and Associations responded, as they created a student support team and 'worked tirelessly to ensure that all ministerial students could continue their formation.

‘It was a mammoth task and everyone collaborated brilliantly.’

This resulted in continuing provision for ministerial training in the South East, as Bristol Baptist College established a London hub for ministerial training last autumn. They along with all our colleges, would welcome enquiries from anyone wishing to start the journey towards becoming a Baptist minister.  
 

Finance update

Support Services Team Leader Chris Jones and Honorary Treasurer Mohan Pandian presented reports on our finances. The picture is complicated and challenging, but there are encouragements. 
 
Both highlighted the need for an increase in Home Mission giving. If giving had kept pace with inflation over the last 15 years, Home Mission would be more than £7 million a year. Last year it was £3.3 million. Because giving hasn’t kept up with inflation, BUGB and some Associations have reduced costs and may have to reduce what they offer going forward. 
 
Nevertheless, Chris was keen to express his gratitude for what had been given. ‘We often hear of churches giving extraordinarily generously, to support the family and see mission flourish. Thank you!’
 
Furthermore, last year was the first time Home Mission giving increased for eight years (from £3.23m to £3.32m). While this was a modest increase, it was very encouraging – and he asked churches to consider giving at least five per cent of their income, or one per cent more than what they area already giving. The estimated average Baptist church is currently giving 2.3 per cent.
 
‘We are so grateful for your giving to our Baptist family,’ Chris said. ‘But I am asking if we can give more, so we can see more people come to know Jesus, more churches planted, more people trained for ministry. So we can see the gospel fan into flame and reach people who know nothing about Jesus.’
 
In the light of the challenges of Home Mission funding, we have reviewed and reduced our expenditure. We have also reviewed our language: Home Mission grants are now called Strategic Mission Resourcing, ‘meaning money given through Home Mission that is used for grants is strategic and missional,’ said Chris, ‘helping those who don’t know Jesus come to know Him.’

Both Chris and Mohan highlighted an ongoing issue with the Family Solution, the response to our pension crisis.

The Baptist Union’s historical Defined Benefit pension debt was a shared multi-employer liability that threatened local church trustees with devastating financial burdens until the collaborative Family Solution was instigated in 2018. The Family Solution included a loan of £20 million from the Baptist Union Corporation made against some RBMHO (Retired Baptist Ministers Housing Organisation) property; and more than £14 million from BUGB, Association, and College reserves being invested in the DB scheme.

However, while the direct threat to individual churches was resolved, increased interest rates mean the £20 million BUC loan requires BUGB to now pay more than £1 million annually in interest costs. This ‘severely strains’ the funds available for active ministry and Association support. 

‘It’s our shared debt,’ explained Chris. ‘Though it’s a problem, it’s a much smaller problem than the church liabilities I mentioned. But we must address it.’

Parts of the Baptist family are working on solutions, including a recent agreement to utilise a portion of the RBMHO property portfolio's value to reduce the loan balance, without selling any properties. This arrangement allows RBMHO to continue to rent out the properties, receive the income and maintain them. 
 
‘It’s important we’re transparent with you, because it’s a family problem,’ said Chris. ‘We share problems together, and we find solutions together.’ 

Chris's presentation ended on an optimistic note. 'In Christ, there is hope. Home Mission is UP. Baptisms are UP. 18 to 35s attending worship is UP. Onsite church attendance is UP. And for the first time since 2006, Local Church Membership is UP.

'In closing, a huge thank you for your generosity to Home Mission. The Lord bless you, your churches and communities, and remember…God is still on the move and by His grace, we are going UP!'
 
 
Administrative resolutions

Two administrative resolutions were put before Assembly delegates. 

The first was to affirm the appointment of Mohan Pandian as Treasurer of BUGB for the year to Assembly 2027.
The second was to affirm the appointment of Peter King as Moderator of the BUGB Trustee Board for the year to Assembly 2027. 

Both were overwhelmingly carried.


Towards the end, the session was briefly interrupted by Andy Goodliff, a Baptist minister and a lecturer in Baptist History at Regent's Park College, Oxford. Andy asked why the Meeting of the Assembly was so short, and why there was no time for communal discernment. He said he believed Assembly should contribute to the discernment of our Union.

Andy has subsequently shared more about why he made the interruption on his blog here. 

The word is UP

In response to Chris's presentation, minister Ali Taylor wrote the following prayer:

The word is up: numbers up, money up, people up, baptisms up, 

Things are looking up, and it's exciting and encouraging, 
but my call to you is to look up, 
look up to me, 
lay down the busyness, 
set aside the rush.
Don't get caught up in the numbers game.

Still your hearts and minds, 
and look up, look up and see me, 
see my hope rise, my joy rise, my peace rise 
like light shards breaking the horizon as the sun that comes up.

Look up before you show up, 
before you stand up, 
before you speak up, 
before you take up, 
before you stir up, 
before you rise up, 

look up, so what you see in me 
is seen through you in all you do.

Look up and keep looking up, 
because things are looking up.


The prayer was prayed during the early Sunday morning prayer session, and then again during the Sunday morning service. Ali also recorded a reading of the prayer, which is now on YouTube.