Senior Minister of Central Baptist Church, Chelmsford<br>and Chair of Ministry Today
Weddings are becoming increasingly expensive. The other day I Googled and discovered that the cost of the average UK wedding is now over £20,000. · The most expensive item is the wedding reception - averages £7,724 · The honeymoon costs £3,220 · The engagement ring costs £1,400 - while the ...
Once a term I meet on a Sunday afternoon with the thirty or so people in our church responsible for pastoral care. We always focus on a relevant topic - sometimes I invite an outside speaker, but mostly I tend to lead the session myself. Last Sunday I took ‘ageing’ ...
Leadership at a time of uncertainty As I write, I find myself in a dilemma: should I be encouraging my people to get involved in another building project? Ten years ago I led my church through a massive redevelopment of our premises, which cost us just under £2 million. At ...
(From time to time couples getting married specify the passage of Scripture they would like me to preach on at their wedding. I am normally happy to oblige, because this enables the service to become more personal. However, I was not so happy about the last request I received, because ...
On 10 October 2010 I shall have been a Baptist minister for 40 years. 40 years in ministry these days is a long time. For unlike many ministers today, I have had no other ‘career’ - my life has been ministry. And unlike many of my peers of yesterday, I ...
Within a fortnight three key members of my church died. In the hope that readers of Ministry Today might find them helpful, I offer the following three outlines of the three addresses I prepared. Death is Nothing at All “I’ve packed my bags and am ready to go” said Pope ...
On 10 October 2010 I shall have been a Baptist minister for 40 years. Forty years in ministry these days is a long time, for, unlike many ministers today, I have had no other ‘career’ - my life has been ministry. And unlike many of my peers of yesterday, I ...
The time comes for all of us when we have to stand down from our post. What then happens to the church? Do we just ‘leave them to it’, or do we actively engage in planning the process of transition? The traditional position is the former. When I left my ...
Traditionally, in a Baptist context, the Lord’s Table is for the Lord’s people. The Table is ‘open’ to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ and are seeking to follow him, but the assumption is that those who come to the Table are in a committed ‘covenant relationship’ with his ...
The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, first published in 1964, is in the process of being totally rewritten, with 7,100 fresh, original articles in the five volumes. The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon, Nashville. Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh) is edited by Katharine Sakenfeld ...
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