Pastor’s Thoughts – Christmas 2024

Dear Friends,

As we enter the season of Advent, we come to the time of year for getting ready for Christmas. I thought that I should mention that just in case anyone was not sure what season we are in. If you have missed the endless television ads; if you did not receive catalogues in August inviting you to buy Christmas cards and gifts; or if your neighbour didn’t put up their Christmas lights on the 1st October; then you may not have realised!

Joy is found not in the season but in the story; not in the excuse for a party but in the events themselves.

I think that we understand why businesses work so hard to get our money at Christmas. People spend a lot, and if your company doesn’t get a reasonable share of that you may struggle through the rest of the year.

People often spend far more than they can afford because they want the ideal and perfect Christmas – I guess that’s not news to many of you – but why? Why does so much get spent on so small a period of time? Have you noticed, that this year, the decorations seem to have gone up even earlier than usual? Ours are usually the last to go up and the last to come down – almost no-one seems to keep them up for the traditional time, until Christmas ends on 5 January.

I can’t help thinking that these two things are related. It seems the less that Christmas means to people, the more they have to invest it with their own meaning, and the more weight they put on it. I think that there is an obvious reason for that – the word joy features more at Christmas than any other time of the year. It is joy that people seek and hope for. They want it to start as early as possible and they want to invest as much in it as they can because joy is in such short supply. There’s almost nothing in the news that inspires it and there’s very little in life that brings joy that lasts. I’m not being cynical when I say that; it’s just that joy is hard to find so it’s understandable that we should want to create some.

If only there were something that gave us a joy that is everlasting. Happiness comes and goes but joy is a deeper feeling; a deeper sense of something positive, good and victorious. Christmas is a time when most people do something to try and conjure it up. The irony of this is that joy is found not in the season but in the story; not in the excuse for a party but in the events themselves.

The Lord God has entered into His creation and offered us life for all eternity. What better news is there than that?

In Luke 2, it was to an ordinary group of people, living ordinary lives, watching over their flocks by night, that the angels appeared.

But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.’ (Luke 2:10)

Great joy for all the people. If only people looked at the story they would have every reason to celebrate; every hope of joy. Life has meaning, hope and deep, deep joy. The Lord God has entered into His creation and offered us life for all eternity. What better news is there than that? What better reason to celebrate? What deeper joy?

Why not give people the perfect gift this Christmas – tell them about Jesus. Invite the neighbours in for a festive evening; invite them to one of our events; for today we celebrate something so great:

‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’

(Luke 2:11)

John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Autumn 2024

Dear friends,

Holidays over, are you ready for the new season? Well, maybe you are and maybe you aren’t. I have to say that Cornwall seems a distant memory now, and perhaps you are feeling the same about your holiday. The problem with holidays is the frantic preparation getting ready to go, followed by frantically trying to catch up when you get back. It can make you wonder whether it is worth it!

Of course, travel today is so much easier than it was. I know airports, traffic jams and delays can be extremely frustrating; but it’s only in the last hundred years that people have really travelled anywhere at all. Before that few people ventured outside of the area in which they were born. Travel in those days was usually about moving to find work, unless you were in the armed forces or extremely rich. Back in biblical times, it was really only merchants, soldiers and administrators that went anywhere. Of course, Jewish people were more used to travelling than others because they had to visit the Temple in Jerusalem. Many of them started from places outside of Judea because the population had been dispersed by military conquest.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been following Paul’s journeys across the eastern Mediterranean to many of those dispersed communities, as he preached in the synagogues. Travel was pretty tough for him. When you look at the map of his journeys, remember that he probably did most of it on foot! And arriving was not any easier than travelling. We’ve seen him face opposition, rioting, false imprisonment, violence and shipwreck. We’ve seen how his journeys took him eventually to Rome, not as he had hoped, as a visitor, but as a prisoner.

When Paul looked back on his life, I wonder what he thought? Was it the satisfaction of knowing how many had come to know Christ through his ministry? Was it the frustration of knowing that he had not been able to visit every place that he had intended to visit? Actually, we can get an answer to those questions by looking at Philippians 4:12-13

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:12–13

Paul, had that unusual combination of soaring ambition and contentment with his situation. The reason for this is that he had a very powerful sense of dependence upon God. He didn’t wear his adventures as a badge of honour, nor did he see his failure to go to all the places he hoped as failure. He knew that wherever he was he was in God’s presence, and he was ready for whatever opportunity God brought his way.

I wonder if we are the same? Some of us are facing some profound changes and some tough situations in the future. They may not the kind of things that Paul had to face up to, but the typical things that life brings to us can be very challenging. Like Paul every day is an opportunity for us to meet people, share God’s love with them, speak to them about Jesus, even just to demonstrate what a Spirit-filled life looks like. We won’t be perfect, we won’t always make the most of every opportunity, but like Paul we can travel with the expectation that God is with us, and that we can face every situation through Him who gives us strength.

John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Summer 2024

Dear friends,

One of Raymond Chandler’s most famous novels was The Long Goodbye – I suppose that this is the start of that for me! What an immense privilege it has been to serve you as pastor for all these years, and how quickly our life passes.

Having celebrated another birthday recently, it caused me to reflect on the difference between birthdays when I was a child and now. When you are 6, a year is a long time, it’s a sixth of your life. When you are 66, it’s only a sixty-sixth of your life.

My conclusion for that is that we must follow Jesus’ advice about the priorities of our lives:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:33–34

This has been a difficult but inevitable decision that I have been praying about and considering ever since I turned 60. Several people have congratulated me on my retirement, which is very kind. I’m not sure exactly what you are congratulating me for though!

I am so grateful to God for all that He has done here at BSBC. Many people have said kind things about my tenure here, but the truth is that every bit of glory is owed to God, and most of the hard work has been done by you. No doubt we will have time for reflection on the past at some time in the next year, so I’m not going to get into that now. I would like to look ahead.

A large part of my prayer and thinking, when I began to consider what would happen when I retired, was about succession planning. This has never been a strong suit in Baptist thinking. We’ve tended to be reactive rather than proactive. Someone leaves and then the church gets together to think about what will happen next. Profiles are written and considered, Regional Ministers provide some names, meetings happen. Before you know it, three years have passed, and the church has lost most of its momentum. I never believed that was the Lord’s plan for BSBC. It seemed right to me that we should be looking for a successor before I left and finding some way to have an overlap between our appointments. As I shared that idea, others saw the rightness of it but six years ago we had no idea how things would be for us today, and so I had no idea how the Lord would make such a succession plan possible.

I could not be more delighted with the decision that the Church has reached in calling Gustavo to be my successor. As I reflect on that decision, I wonder again at the sovereignty of God. He knew what none of us did when we first met Gustavo and Marcela, that He had already chosen the one who would make this plan possible.

I have great faith in what the Lord will do through Gustavo. He has a brilliant mind, is incredibly hard-working, has a pastoral heart and a deep desire to see people grow as disciples of the Lord our God. Most of all he has a desire that he, himself, would grow as a disciple. He will have every bit of my support moving forward and my assurance of my prayers for him, his family, and for you all.

This next year will be a long goodbye, but it will not be a long, drawn-out valediction. Instead it will be transition in which I promise to continue giving everything I can to building the Kingdom here. I would very much value your prayers for where Steph and I will move to. The same sovereign God has a plan for us from 2025 onwards and we want to discern what that is.

Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. May the Lord bless you all richly as we move forward together into the future that He has for us.

John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Spring 2024

Dear friends,

I feel the days leading up to Holy Week are the kind of journey that we all need to travel. We don’t do a lot to celebrate Lent in our tradition, but we do all need to recognise what we are travelling towards. For Jesus this was a physical journey to Jerusalem. For us it is a spiritual journey towards the remembrance of the most important weekend in the history of the world.

Often the question that we get asked is: ‘Why do you call it Good Friday?’ From his time alone in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had been telling his disciples exactly what was going to happen to him:

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

— Mark 8:31–33

This was no accidental journey; this was no grand gesture that turned out badly on Mount Hermon, this was no failed attempt to overthrow the Romans. This was the plan all along. Jesus came to Jerusalem knowing it would be the last journey of his life on earth and knowing exactly where it would lead – to victory! This was Good Friday because Good triumphed over Evil. It was followed by Even Better Sunday (not sure why that name never caught on) when we saw what that victory meant. It meant, to use Paul’s words, that:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

— 1 Corinthians 15:55–57

Good had won over evil and life had won over death. So our journey towards Easter should be a reminder of victory, of what that victory means, what that victory cost and what we are to do as victors.

We did not earn this victory, it is the work of God’s grace towards us, it is due to his love for us. It means that many of the things that people fear, and many of the things that people build their lives upon need not trouble us. We have a certain future because Jesus overcame death and offers us forgiveness for our sins.

It also means that he must be Lord of our lives and as we consider what Jesus did for us, we must consider what his lordship over us means. His victory over evil may be final but it is not yet fully evident. There is much work for us to do as we seek to help others know the truth of what Jesus did, and as we work in the power of the Holy Spirit to see evil overcome.

There will be a day of rest for us but that time has not yet come. Now is the time to proclaim with our words, our deeds and the whole of our lives that Jesus is Lord!

Pastor’s Thoughts – Christmas 2023

Dear friends,

I wonder, if you were a visitor from a strange culture, and had no idea about our customs, what you would imagine Christmas was about?

Suppose that you were to listen to some Christmas songs. Well, you’d decide that Christmas had something to do with bells and possibly snow. You’d decide that it was definitely something to do with children but also about something that broke your heart last Christmas. Santa features somewhere – don’t know how or where, but he has a sleigh and some reindeer, one of which has severe rhinitis (look it up).

Suppose you were to watch some Christmas movies. They have been appearing for a few weeks now, there are even entire channels devoted to them. Well the first thing you would know is that at Christmas it always snows. Secondly that someone is going back to their home town probably forced by circumstances beyond their control and against their will. There will be various characters that result in them falling in love with the last person they ever intended to, and there will be a climax where they save some big event in the town. Also turning on the lights on the town Christmas tree will be a major event even though they will look less impressive than those outside your next-door neighbours’ house. A forlorn child will feature somewhere.

If you looked at advertising between the films you would guess that Christmas is about a lot of food, a lot of stuff you don’t need, and most peculiarly that people that make and sell perfume are on some sort of mind altering drug leading to adverts that have nothing to do with fragrances and probably driven by the futility of trying to sell a smell on something that has no smells available.

Some people think that Christmas is a lost cause, that it can never be anything other than a massive commercial excuse for overindulgence. That’s not true, and many people yearn for something deeper, something more meaningful, something that has lasting significance. Well, our message to them is:

Come and See

Like the shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem; like the wise men travelling from afar; like even Mary and Joseph themselves; come and see what the Lord has done.

After the angels appeared to the shepherds on that night Luke 2:15 tells us:

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

They were told to expect a baby that had been awaited for generations; a baby that would change everything; a baby that would bring hope and set his people free. The whole Old Testament pointed to this moment. The Messiah, the Christ had come. This was not something temporary, tacky or tawdry, this is transformation for eternity.

That’s our Christmas message. Come and see what He has done.

Pastor’s Thoughts – Autumn 2023

Dear friends,

Summer seems to have been pretty busy here, but I hope that you have had some time for a break over the last few weeks. The ‘Back to School’ banners appeared in shops before schools had even broken up, which must have been disconcerting for most of our children and young people. There is always a sense that we are rushing to the next thing. By now, I’m sure you are ready for whatever lies ahead, whether it’s new schools, new classes or life after school. September always feels like the start of a new term even if school days are a distant memory, so it’s appropriate for me to look ahead, and for us to think about what we will be doing over the next weeks.

Some years ago we looked at a teaching series by a Canadian author called Henry Blackaby. It was called Experiencing God: knowing and doing the will of God. He had a very simple idea behind what he wanted to get across: Watch to see where God is working and join him! It feels to me that a lot of what we try to achieve is to put ourselves into a position where we can see God at work and join in. You only have to look at some of the things in which we are involved currently to see that they start with a small idea, and then we see the Lord take them forward in a whole new way. This has been true of Exchange and our ministry to our friends at the Ibis Hotel. Once we understand what he wants us to do, we just have to keep up with him!

I want to suggest to you that being watchful goes along with being prayerful. Colossians 4:2 says: Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. How do we know where to watch if we don’t pray for God to show us? So the Elders have decided to keep 10–17 September as a Week of Prayer. We did this last year, and felt that it is the right way to begin this new season of activity. There is a full programme of events elsewhere but the pattern will include a daily morning prayer meeting on Zoom and an evening at the Church Centre, with various other activities along the way. I am really grateful to Martin Gill for organising this and bringing us our theme, which will be centred on Psalm 103.

September also sees the launch of Hope 23/24, a major initiative backed by Hope UK. I wrote in the last issue about the Talking Jesus research done last year. The most-asked question in that research was: ‘Will everything be okay?’ People need hope and Jesus is the only real source of that. So over the next 12 months we’ll have events, training and other opportunities to bring people that hope.

Harvest this year is on 1 October and we’ll be celebrating God’s goodness to us as we remember the work of Operation Agri, the Baptist development charity. We’ll be supporting their project Transforming Farms in Tanzania. We’ll be having a hot buffet and bring and share lunch on that day.

After that we will be repeating a series we did several years ago entitled The Big Picture. Over nine weeks we will go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to understand the big picture that the Bible is painting. This will be supported by small group studies for our Life Groups and give everyone an opportunity to see how the Bible fits together, how the Old Testament fits with the New Testament, and what the story of God’s love for us means.

One highlight is that in December Kang-San Tan, the General Director of the Baptist Missionary Society, will be coming to share more of what BMS World Mission is doing.

Wishing you every blessing,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Summer 2023

Hello everybody, it looks like we finally have some good weather on the way so I hope that this will be a good summer for everyone who wants to enjoy the beauties of our Father God’s creation. What a joy it has been to have two baptisms in the last few weeks; people with very different backgrounds and stories, whose lives have been touched by the love of God. Our God is an awesome God and moves in amazing ways in people’s hearts.

I have been re-reading a report that came out last year from a team called Talking Jesus. At the start of last year they conducted interviews with a large sample of people that attend Church regularly, and of people that do not. Their research makes interesting reading, and has been conducted by a market research company who understand how to interpret data in an unbiased way.

I wonder what you think is the percentage of the population that are practicing Christians?

Research suggests that it is about 6% of the UK population. That’s the same as it was when they last did this research in 2015. That’s good news, because it means that as our brothers and sisters are promoted to glory, others are coming to faith at the same rate.

48% of the population identify as being Christian.

45% believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Now there are two ways of interpreting those differences. You could say that people are very confused about what they believe – that would perhaps be true; but another way of looking at it is that 1 in every 3 people that you meet day by day who are not regular Church attenders, identifies as being a Christian and believes that Jesus died and rose again from the dead.

Now we have an idea in our mind of what someone that isn’t a committed follower of Jesus looks like. I want to suggest that we need to rethink that. It is easy for us to set up evangelism in our minds as a battle. Whilst there is a spiritual battle going on, we shouldn’t imagine that everyone we meet is going to be antagonistic to what we believe. All the research suggests that sharing our faith is about building relationships.

53% of the population know someone that is a Christian.

75% of those said they had had a conversation with them about Jesus, and that they felt comfortable doing so. (Maybe we’re more afraid of that conversation than they are!)

33% said that as a result of that conversation they wanted to know more about Jesus

36% said that they were open to an encounter or an experience with Jesus.

1 Peter 3:15 says:

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

One of the groups behind Talking Jesus is Hope Together. Along with hundreds of other churches in this country, we will be taking part in a year of mission - Hope 23-24. Building on our experience of mission from last year, we will be looking to help everyone think about how to have conversations with their friends and family.

Looking at the picture that emerges from the above research, we ought to approach this with a lot more confidence in what God can do, than we often have in the past. Don’t be afraid to get involved, and start by praying for people that you know.

In Christ,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Spring 2023

Dear friends,

Spring is here and with it the annual cycle of new life. Daffodils are up, the buds are on the trees and the daylight hours are growing. The drudgery of winter seems to be past and there is a greater sense of the joys of life. Of course all of this depends on our circumstances. We are very aware that for many people the joys of spring are dulled by their own situations. Life is not all fluffy chicks and Easter bunnies, but that does give us a clue to the enduring legacy of springtime. It’s not a natural phenomenon at all, but the extraordinary idea that the Son of God, through whom all things were created, died for us on the cross and rose again from the dead.

Perhaps you have visited Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. On the other side of the Mendips is a lesser-known gorge, Burrington Combe. It is less spectacular but very pretty, and as you climb up it, you come to this area of folded rock exposed to the elements and weathered in an interesting way.

Legend has it that the hymn writer A M Toplady sheltered in this cleft in the rocks to get out of a storm that was passing through. If you look closely you can see a grey plaque that marks the spot. As he sheltered there he was inspired to write the hymn Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.

Well this may, or may not, be the way his inspiration for the hymn happened, but Jesus’ death and resurrection are not the things of legend, they are historical facts. They are attested by eyewitnesses whose lives were transformed by the events. None of those who experienced what happened on that first Good Friday and Easter Sunday gained any power, wealth or status from their testimony. In fact, they were insulted, persecuted and in most cases put to death for what they declared to be true. Their testimony, written down in the New Testament, reveals to us the heart of God for us. Jesus Himself summed that up in John 3:14-18:

‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.’

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

This is exactly what Isaiah prophesied 600 years previously:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, He will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10 (NIVUK)

God’s heart of love for each one of us led to Jesus’ sacrifice for us. This was real suffering of mind, body and spirit, greater than anything that we have experienced. So we know that in the toughest situations that we face, God does not look at us with pity but with understanding.

The call that God makes to us at Easter is to trust Him, to have faith in Him. To choose not to do that has serious consequences, as Jesus tells us in that passage from John 3, but to trust Him promises us life and a place in His Kingdom.

Toplady goes on in his hymn to say this:

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;

The motto of Spurgeon’s College, at which Gustavo and I trained, is Et teneo et teneor; I hold and am held.

We cling to the cross as our only hope of life and the cross has the power to hold on to us, to deal with our sin and to give us life because Jesus is alive today and forevermore. Hallelujah!

God bless,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Winter 2022

Christmas greetings to you all!

After the year that we’ve had you can be forgiven for wondering what lies ahead. People are worried about the future, and we can understand why. But we have a simple message for people this Christmastime: Hope came down at Christmas!

After the celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee it seems to have been bad news ever since, including, of course, the death of Her Majesty. We know that everything has become more expensive, and that even the most basic things seem to have gone up. The war in Ukraine drags on and COP 27 barely achieved the things it needed to. Is there any room for optimism in the midst of this?

If I say: yes and no, I promise I’m not trying to be difficult. There’s room for hope but not optimism. Optimism is an attitude of mind that says: “Don’t worry, it will all be okay!” To me that sounds a lot like denial. This is a tough situation, and we cannot deny it. To pretend otherwise is an insult to people living in tough times. But there is hope, and this is at the heart of the Christmas message. Hope came down at Christmas.

The baby Jesus was God’s answer to the need of the world, the answer to our need. Paul writes: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). God had come to us in our need because we could not help ourselves. In that tiny baby lived the fullness of God and of humanity. God and man had come together in Him. Human beings were separated from God’s presence because we rebelled against Him. Our disobedience allowed evil to have control of much of the world and of human nature. That image of God in which we were created has been distorted in us and has led to so much of human behaviour being self-seeking. In Jesus there is hope because only He could bring us together with God.

Jesus’ perfect life not only demonstrated how we should live but meant that He lived in perfection on our behalf. When He died on the cross, He was a sacrifice for us – He took our place – and He wiped clean our account with God. Now we can know the Father as our Father because Jesus took away our imperfections and failures, our sinfulness. We can live with Him for ever.

So Christmas means hope for eternity, but this isn’t just escapism, or hope for the future; this is hope for today. We’re called into this family, the Church, and we’re here to live as the community of God’s people. That means that we will care for one another and that as a community we will extend that love and care to those around us who are not part of His Kingdom.

God’s love for us is practical, and we are His hands and feet, demonstrating that love in this broken and hurting world. Hope came down at Christmas.

I’m delighted to say that The Bridge is now ready, and we are in the process of equipping and furnishing it . Our grand opening will be on the 21st January 2023 and we’ll be celebrating with a short service and afternoon tea. Please come along and celebrate with us. The Bridge offers us a more tailor-made resource to enable us to care for others. Exchange is already well established there and being wonderfully used. We’re also seeing people asking exactly the kind of questions that we would like them to ask: “Why are you doing this?” We’re doing it because hope came down at Christmas. Someone asked me the other day: “Why are you bothering to take time to listen to me?” Because hope came down at Christmas. We’re joining with other churches in the town to offer a network of warm spaces this winter, where people can have company, warmth and snacks because hope came down at Christmas. I would like to get Celebrate Recovery started again in the New Year because it is a great way of helping people overcome issues that are causing them difficulty. Why go to the trouble of this long programme? Because hope came down at Christmas. If you can help please let me know.

Finally I want to ask you to invite someone to be part of what we are doing this year. Here is a list of events that are happening over the next weeks. Offer them the gift of hope this year.

Happy Christmas,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Autumn 2022

Dear friends,

Autumn always seems to mark the beginning of the church year. I guess that it is to do with the start of a new academic term. Hopefully you have had a good summer break and are ready for what lies ahead. But what does lie ahead?

As a Church we exist to put into practice God’s will as He has revealed it to us. He has made His will clear to us all and Jesus explains this in John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We seek to be wholehearted disciples that live out God’s plan to save the world. We do this in great humility. Whilst we want to show people Jesus’ life in us we don’t believe that we are anything like perfect. Rather we know that if Jesus can use us He can use anyone. If Jesus can give us life, He can give it to anyone. So we rejoice at the privilege of being God’s children but we don’t want people to think that we’ve deserved that. We know Jesus loves everyone the same.

Our plan had been to begin this session with the official opening of The Bridge on 17th September. Sadly due to technical issues we have still not had the building handed over to us. We have moved the opening to 26th November, which is the Church Anniversary weekend, and full details of that will follow.

As preparation for this session and as preparation for the opening, we had planned to hold a week of prayer leading up to the 17th September. I cannot emphasise enough how important prayer is for us. We need each of us to commit to prayer for all that we are doing. Without prayer, we can accomplish nothing of value. Jesus said:

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’

Matthew 18:18-20

Paul reminds us:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Ephesians 6:18

Prayer cannot be put off for another day so we will be going ahead with the Week of Prayer almost as planned, beginning on Sunday 11th September. We will be providing materials to help you as you bring to the Lord the life and service of the church.

Here is the timetable for the week:

Sunday 11th September — 18.30 Prayer Service

We will gather for a service of worship that will focus on prayer picking up the main themes that we want to explore

Monday 12th September — Day of Fasting

Fasting is not necessarily about going without food. It is setting aside some of the things we take for granted to focus more on listening to the Lord. You may want to fast from your phone or television, or anything else that has become your focus.

Tuesday 13th September — 19.30 Prayer Zoom

An opportunity to join together wherever you are with God’s people so that we can pray.

Wednesday 14th September — 09.00 – 21.00 Chapel Prayers

This is the bit that has changed. If we have been given control of The Bridge, then we will use the Chapel, but if not, we’ll use the Worship Area.

We want you to sign up in your groups to come and pray together. So, for example, if you are in the tech team on a Sunday, sign up for a time to pray for each other and your ministry. If you are in the stewarding team, or the café team, or Sunday Club, or the Toddlers and Co team – whatever team you are in – come together and pray.

There will be a sign-up sheet for this.

Thursday 15th September — 19.30 Prayer Zoom

As on Tuesday, an opportunity for us to come together.

Friday 16th September — 06.00 24 hours of prayer

We close the week by taking a whole day and dividing it up into timeslots. Sign up for 1 hour or for 30 minutes, or however long you would like. We want to see the 24-hour period covered in prayer.

Does this sound like a challenge? It is. I cannot emphasise enough how important this is for us though. We need to demonstrate to the Lord that we are serious about being here to serve Him. That we are serious about the task that he has entrusted to us. We want to see people’s lives changed. We want to see this part of Herts and Essex changed. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to enable that to happen. We do not have the power to do it but He does.

Please think about how you can be involved and put these dates in your diary.

Yours in Christ,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Summer 2022

Are you ready?

It’s been a long time coming but we are nearly there. Nearly where? Nearly at the start of some things that, we pray, will transform Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church.

The Bridge is nearly ready and waiting for us to take possession of it and complete its transformation from a dilapidated industrial building to a community hub. The Bridge will be the place where we are able to encounter people as never before. It will be a place of friendship; it will be a place of worship; it will be a place of prayer. The Bridge will be a place where we can show Jesus to the people that come through the doors by the way that we act, speak and care. We want people to experience Christ as they meet with us. Does that sound a bit pretentious? None of us can claim the perfection of Jesus but because the Holy Spirit lives in us He can shine through us, and all of our imperfections, to touch people’s lives. That’s what The Bridge is about.

Now, of course, The Bridge will provide a home for all of the activities that we have begun in anticipation of it being available. So Exchange, Breaking Bread Café and The Pantry will finally have a proper base from which to work, but this is just the beginning. The Prayer Room in the Church Centre has always had to be used as a room for our children’s work and as a resource centre. The new Chapel will replace this and provide a space where people can seek prayer and meet together in small groups to pray thus expanding our prayer ministry. Rooms that we have available will provide space for smaller meetings as we offer help and mentoring to others. We have volunteers who will offer advice in all kinds of areas.

The Bridge, like almost everything we have begun, will start small and grow. I believe that there are things that the Lord has for us that we have not even envisaged yet. The key is to be aware and available. The Elders have a vision for ministry to the people on the riverside but we don’t know how that will work out yet. We have resources available that they may find helpful such as a laundry, but it remains to be seen how it will develop.

Over the next weeks we will begin to bring The Bridge into operation.

The Grand Opening of The Bridge will be on Saturday 17th September.

Initially I expect the café to be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays to coincide with Exchange being open, but I would like to expand that gradually until we are open 6 days a week. Other events will fill the schedule as we go along. Celebrate Recovery will operate from there but at present I need to rebuild the team that leads that, following the loss of some key people.

In addition to this, Gustavo and myself will operate out of The Bridge 2 days a week enabling us to be available to people that want to talk, ask questions or have issues.

Speaking of Gustavo, that’s the second thing that we have almost arrived at, which I believe will be transformative: his ordination and induction as our second minister. The 26th June is the date when this will happen, and I’m sure that Gustavo will support the idea that its been a long time coming. Gustavo will commence his ministry and then we’ve given him some time off to prepare for all that lies ahead. Normally there’s some time when you finish college to get into a new frame of mind that is about ministry rather than study, so we decided it would be a good idea to give him a mini sabbatical to enable him to prepare. We have been blessed by Gustavo’s ministry among us already, but I know he is looking forward to being able to be much more engaged with everyone. So he will be around for the first couple of weeks of July and then off until September.

There are more things to look forward to over the next few weeks.

Love Stortford will be running from Carnival Saturday 18th June until 24th June and there are lots of ways to get involved. Pick up one of the leaflets or speak to Julia Horner to find out more.

Our June Church Meeting is nearly here too (23rd June at 8.00pm) and this will be an opportunity to refresh our vision for what we believe the Lord is doing and will be doing trough us in the future. We will also be refreshing the way that we present ourselves to the world with a new logo and a renewed website. Both of these are looking a little tired now and it is time to make some changes. Our new website will be much more useful and provide up to date information as well as resources to help you grow as you walk with the Lord.

After all this time of uncertainty, flux and change we stand ready to launch and I want you to be ready to be part of this. Please make the most of every opportunity. I cannot volunteer you to get involved only you can do that, but I believe that if we take the opportunities that lie ahead we will see this church making an even bigger impact in the future than we do now. We have three great resources:

The Holy Spirit who empowers us

Us – God’s people ready to follow where He leads

Our buildings that support us in our desire to see people come to know Christ.

The buildings are useless without the people, and we are useless without the Spirit’s presence and by God’s Spirit.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Yes even in Bishop’s Stortford, Stansted, Thorley and wherever you live.

May the Lord bless you,
John

Pastor’s Thoughts – Spring 2022

It is starting to feel like Spring is in the air, and by the time that you read this you may feel that it has arrived. Although our February break was a bit wet, everything in Devon was beginning to come back to life. Daffodils and primroses were out and now it’s the same here. Most people are glad to see the first signs that winter is drawing to a close (I say most people, I’m not sure how the Winter sports enthusiasts feel!). Of course it was a bit windy coming back, and we arrived home about 30 minutes after a 60 foot poplar had landed in our back garden! It’s a great way to bond with the neighbours though.

Spring is a season when we look forward to the warmer weather – to being able to spend time outdoors and to all the beauty that Summer promises. I had intended at this point to put in a nice poetic section about all that we have to look forward to in the months ahead, but I can’t go any further without addressing the thing that is on my heart, and the hearts of most of us as I write this. Spring doesn’t look so hopeful in Ukraine, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Ukrainians and Russians have died already. I pray that this war will be all over before we even publish this magazine, but conflicts are usually harder to finish than they are to start. We have church members connected with Ukraine and Russia of course, so our prayers are with them for the safety of their families and friends.

We live in a world that is constantly in conflict: nation versus nation, one group against another, family members against each other. The temptation is simply to throw up our hands in despair and helplessness. Yet there is another vision of what life will be like, and we find it in Isaiah 2:4:

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

It is this vision of the kingdom of God that we must fix in our minds now. It is a vision not just of a distant future where everything is reset and renewed in justice, righteousness, love and peace. It is a vision for today and tomorrow. It is a vision that should focus our thinking in the days and weeks ahead. In the famous passage in John 10, Jesus speaks of coming to call people to himself; of opening up the way to eternal life; of laying down His life for His sheep. He speaks of life in all its fulness. This is the life that we have entered into. As CS Lewis once remarked, we live in two worlds. We are intensely present in this world but also part of the kingdom of God.

We have long believed that our calling as a church is to show people Jesus; to show what it means to be part of his kingdom. Our biblical values often differ from those of the world. Whilst this can lead us to debate and discussion, our world needs to see what God is doing in their midst.

Demonstrating the presence of the kingdom in our generation is at the heart of our vision for The Bridge and soon we will have that facility available. The Bridge is a meeting place and, in many ways, our prayer is that we will meet people there and that they will meet Jesus. But The Bridge is not a miraculous place that will magically transport people to God’s presence. It is a place where we can live out our faith. All those ideas now need to be translated into actions; and everyone needs to know what they can give to this.

As a prelude to that, and leading up to Easter, we have Passion for Life. After two tough years this is a way of reminding ourselves just how we can connect with those that do not yet know Jesus. I commend the training to you as well as the activities that Jamie and his team have planned. The best way to access the training is to be part of a Life Group. Why not think of joining one if you are not already a member?

All this will lead us to Easter and the joy that we celebrate together that Jesus died for us so that we can be forgiven and have new life; and rose from the dead that we might follow him into eternal life.

There are exciting times ahead but you will only really know that excitement if you are part of it. Whether in prayer; as a volunteer; or in inviting your friends to be part of something that we are doing; please get involved.

May the Lord bless you,
John