Monday 30 October 2017

what happened to religious liberty?



I came across this story at the weekend. You can find some of the coverage from The Guardian and The Telegraph here:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/27/christian-felix-ngole-thrown-out-sheffield-university-anti-gay-remarks-loses-appeal

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12176380/Christian-student-expelled-for-opposing-gay-marriage.html

I hear a lot of murmurings about the erosion of religious liberty, as it applies to Christian's, but seldom read anyone in our national press being given much of a voice.

There is massive irony here, in that the Government's so-called 'triple-lock', both recognises the fact the Church is separate to the state and consequentially regards homosexuality as sin, which is not the same thing as being able to acknowledge someone's 'legal right'. 

NB - the 'triple lock' includes the following: 
  • No religious organisation or individual minister being compelled to marry same-sex couples or to permit this to happen on their premises
  • Making it unlawful for religious organisations or their ministers to marry same-sex couples unless their organisation's governing body has expressly opted in to provisions for doing so
  • Amending the 2010 Equality Act to ensure no discrimination claim can be brought against religious organisations or individual ministers for refusing to marry a same-sex couple

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Thursday 28 September 2017

Leadership means assuming responsibility.


Dianne Tidball, who is currently the Baptist Union President, visited us last week and spent some time with our 'cluster facilitators'. In the  West of England we use the 'cluster' word to describe gatherings of our Pastoral Leaders of churches, usually close geographically. Dianne was great and shared various facets of leadership, mainly from observing various people in recent months and then we considered some of the commonalities.



She also brought some copies of 'lead like Joshua', her husband Derek's latest book. The first chapter, rooted in the first six verses of the book of Joshua is entitled 'Assume Responsibility'.

Derek makes four points:

1. Responsibility means accepting the burden.
2. Responsibility means being accountable.
3. Responsibility means adopting today's agenda.
4. Responsibility means taking responsibility for yourself.

Rather than repeat any more of Derek's content, I'll encourage you to read the book.

The main point, which is speaking powerfully to me is the chapter heading: 'assume responsibility'. I spend every day with someone, at least, who has been given responsibility for leadership in one capacity, or another. My feeling is it is a minority, in actual fact, who are willingly accepting the responsibility, which comes along with their role title (either given to them, on appointment, or chosen by themselves). 

We all need to accept responsibility for the mission of God wherever God has placed us. If you want the rest of the sermon, read the book, as it'll provide me with the content for quite a few in the future. 

Friday 9 June 2017

What is the voice of the youth we need to hear through the General Election?


I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you pesky kids.

tweeted by @mikegalsworthy


My wife Maggie still refers to ‘young people’ when describing some of our friends who are now in their mid-thirties … I’m usually exasperated by her comments, which are never just ignored! I guess it’s a sign of growing older, but have we institutionalised this perspective? In Church and politics.

Everyone appears surprised at the results from this General Election. Many political commentators made massive assumptions when Teresa May called for the recent General Election and most of them have proved to be wrong. I’m hearing echoes of conversations with many church leaders and people belonging to our Baptist Churches. The particular assumptions I’m thinking about are around the ‘young’ … I hear similar huge assumptions made by people in our Baptist Churches.

"The ‘youth’ are getting older!"

I find it very interesting to dig down a little under statements about ‘youth’, because as the average age of the UK increases, it seems the youth are getting older. In Christian youth work circles we’ve long talked about ‘youth’ as up to 25, but that’s including teenagers. Of course, when it comes to voting in a General Election you need to be 18 and by definition an adult, so to talk about ‘youth’ is interesting to say the least.

Across church life, it appears as the ‘youth’ bracket gets wider, so the missing gap grows bigger. An increasing number of church congregations have no people under 40 among them.

"Those younger ‘are not interested these days’!"

Hopefully one result from this election will be to highlight we disregard those with the smallest voices at our peril. Politicians appear to have become accustomed to the idea younger voters were disenfranchised from the system and not voting, but on the day the general election was called, 57,987 people under 25 registered to vote - more than any other age group. The second largest group was people aged between 25 and 34, with a further 51,341 registering. Articles are already appearing, the morning after the long night before, asking 'was it the youth who caused the hung parliament?'

I’ve become tired of hearing a similar chorus within churches. However, wherever churches are directly engaging a younger population there are people becoming Christians. It is simply not true those younger are less likely to become Christians. Neither is it true the younger generations are so influenced by post-modernity they have no convictions, around right and wrong, light and darkness, values and integrity. Jeremy Corbyn’s appeal to the 18-24 age group would appear to have much to do with ideals and conviction and in my experience younger Christians have largely rejected the liberal theology experiments of the twentieth century. They want conviction, truth, integrity and action.

PS.
According to the Office for National Statistics we are still getting older in the UK:

In mid 2015 the adjusted estimates from the 2011 census suggest:

11.6 million, or 17.8% of the population are over 65, with 1.5 million, or 2.3% over 85.

The median age of the UK population (the age at which half the population is younger and half the population is older) is 40.0, which is an increase from 38.7 in mid-2005.

The future projections available look like:


Year
UK population
0 to 15 years (%)
16 to 64 years (%)
65 years & over  (%)
1975
56,226,000
24.9
61.0
14.1
1985
56,554,000
20.7
64.1
15.2
1995
58,025,000
20.7
63.4
15.8
2005
60,413,000
19.3
64.7
15.9
2015
65,110,000
18.8
63.3
17.8
2025
69,444,000
18.9
60.9
20.2
2035
73,044,000
18.1
58.3
23.6
2045
76,055,000
17.7
57.8
24.6

Monday 5 June 2017

'enough is enough' ... I thought Teresa May might quote from Ephesians chapter six!

When Teresa May said ‘enough is enough’ I thought she was going on to quote from Ephesians chapter six!



‘Enough is enough’ said Teresa May on Sunday morning. She didn't quite go on to say ‘for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’, but she came quite close:

… while the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism …

We were listening to the Prime Minister’s speech, whilst travelling back from a holiday in Wales, in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in London on Saturday night. I was also thinking about Paul’s concluding words in his letter to Ephesus and ‘enough is enough’ sounded like an appropriate introduction to chapter 6:10-20.

As followers of Jesus we have been equipped with a whole array of means with which to respond to hatred and violence … truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, the word of God, love, mercy, prayer …


Once home, on Sunday we settled down to watch (along with the rest of Britain it seems) One Love Manchester. In so many ways it was akin to large worship gathering. All the exhortations from practically everyone from the centre stage were to love not hate. Everyone was encouraged to recognise God was for them  (Justin Beiber). Fingers in the air pointing heavenwards, hands raised to bless those suffering, etc. I felt all it needed was someone to stand up on stage towards the end and share a paraphrase of Acts 17: 22-28 … you are worshipping ‘love’, but do you now see this God you speak of is love and has given his life so you might live …

Friday 26 May 2017

Thy Kingdom Come ...

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ …

Do you pray this one? Pete Greig (24-7 prayer) highlights Frederick Buecher’s words ‘go where your best prayers take you’.
Along with a few thousand other people, I thanked God for the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, speaking at Spring Harvest in Minehead this year. As Baptist Christians we are grateful for an unashamedly evangelical Archbishop who speaks our language, albeit with a posher accent than I hear in most Baptist Churches! I want to encourage everyone to engage with the Thy Kingdom Come initiative Justin Welby has spearheaded. Anything which begins with it’s pledge to pray #ToJesus is surely right in the ball park for everyone part of our seventy-two network.  For any Baptists with a sensitive disposition, can I remind you our own Lyn Green has also called us to prayer via her Beacons of Prayer initiative.


The sharp focus of Thy Kingdom Come is praying for those not yet Christians to come into a living relationship with Jesus.

Prayer changes things and when we gather in the name of Jesus we are together in the presence of the one true living God. I’m sure we all need regularly reminding of Jesus’ words: ‘all things are possible with God’ (Mark 10:27). Praying with others does that for me.

If there’s a Thy Kingdom Come prayer event near you, try and get along.

If the church you’re a part of is not planning a focused prayer event why not
ask people to join you?

If you’re church does call everyone to prayer, why not invite the other Baptist Churches nearby?

Do please join in praying the 11 Prayers of Thy Kingdom Come:

    25 May #ToJesus
    26 May #Praise
    27 May #Thanks
    28 May #Sorry
    29 May #Offer
    30 May #PrayFor
    31 May #Help
    1 June #Adore
    2 June #Celebrate
    3 June #Silence
    4 June #ThyKingdomCome

I realise it’s not down to us, but let’s ensure we’re not simply observer’s of God moving in the UK in spite of us.