Pastor’s Thoughts – Summer 2025

Dear Friends,

As not all of you were able to be at the Annual Church Meeting, I thought it would be helpful to bring you some of the thoughts that I shared in my annual report. We find ourselves in an unusual position – people are suddenly feeling hopeful about the state of the church in the UK! This brings the danger of complacency but should lead us to confidence in what the Holy Spirit is doing, and a desire to see Him transforming lives. Here’s part of what I said at the ACM:

Our verse of the year for 2024 reminded us of the need to be bold:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
- Joshua 1:9

The Lord commands us to go, and wherever we go, He will be with us. That is an important idea for us to hold on to because we know now that in 2025, we are in a different place to last year. The steady growth that we have seen in attendance since last year, and the dramatic rise in the number of baptisms that we have had this year (as many in 2025 as the previous 6 years combined), all point to what the Lord, by His Spirit, is doing among us.

How do we explain this? We have not come up with a dramatic new strategy that has led us to this place. We have not had a change in the way that we do things. What we have done is simply to continue to faithfully listen to God’s Word and seek to put it into practice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit moving amongst us.

Undoubtedly something dramatic is happening in the lives of Iranians here, and this is seen also in revival that is being seen in Iran. Even the Iranian government has had to acknowledge that that there is a growth of Christianity in their country.

We see signs that there is an upward trend in church attendance in this country. A recent report by the Bible Society entitled The Quiet Revival, shows a 13% increase in church attendance since the pandemic. The Baptist Union reports that there were 800 more baptisms in 2024 than the previous year. Sales of the Bible have increased 87% in the last 3 years. How do we respond to this? I was at a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance yesterday. Gavin Calver expressed their vision for the way ahead to be:

Braver - in sharing our faith

Kinder - in the way that we show the Jesus’ love to the people around us

Younger - by seeking to engage with young people

Wider - by being involved with people of all backgrounds

I thought that this was interesting because it echoes our own sense of how the church needs to grow. We have invested heavily in being Kinder, Younger and Wider. We must invest more in being Braver. We must have the confidence that the Good News of Jesus is life-changing, so that we are prepared to offer people the words of life. We have many contacts here, through The Bridge and other ministries, and the time has come to build on those; to be brave in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. As Gavin Calver said yesterday about Evangelicals: We are good news people in a bad news world.

What we have learned is that we are in the business of loving people. We don’t show them love if we are not engaged with them, and we don’t show them love if we don’t offer them truth. Well, we are engaged with them, and we must offer them the words of life.

Friends, for years we have been in the grip of a war between the culture of the world and the culture of the church. Many people want to view the Bible through the lens of our culture but what we need is to see our culture through the lens of scripture. In a new report coming out next month, the Evangelical Alliance surveyed people who had recently come to faith. Among the 18–25 -year-olds the question was asked: how would you describe the Gospel? Their answers were: True; Profound; Beautiful.

I wonder if this is our view too? We need to have confidence in the power of Jesus to set people free. It has been very encouraging to hear people’s testimonies as they have come to be baptised, and to hear them testifying to the transforming power of the Good News. Jesus is the only hope for the world.

We have now begun the process of seeking the next Senior Minister, so please pray for the Leadership as they seek to guide us through this. Please pray for the person that the Lord has in mind for us. We don’t yet know who they are but the Lord is preparing them for this role. In the meanwhile, the ministry of the Church does not stop so pray that we will have confidence in what God is doing and that we will be bolder in showing and telling people about His love. We have not finished with last year’s verse of the year:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9