May
17
2012
Leadership At Antioch
To my amazement, this year nobody in our church felt free to accept nomination as a deacon. As a result, there will be no deacons’ election, and instead of having twelve deacons, we are now down to seven. It was in that context that, in the course of following the daily lectionary, I read Acts 13.1-3 – the passage where Luke describes the setting apart of Paul and Barnabas for missionary service. It is a passage that I had read many times before, but as is so often the case, in a new setting Luke’s account took on fresh meaning.
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May
10
2012
Thank God for Deacons
Baptist deacons have sometimes had a bad press. Gerald Coates, the founder of the Pioneer group of churches, once caricatured the life of many a Baptist church when he wrote: ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you – resist the deacons and they will fly at you’. Or as one pastor remarked: ‘Deacons can make even Herod look compassionate’.
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May
03
2012
Electing Deacons
Here at Central Baptist Church, Chelmsford, we are in the process of a deacons’ election. Deacons in our context are the church’s lay leaders: together with the ministers they form the church’s leadership team.
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Apr
26
2012
The Stress of Returning to Work
As I write, I am preparing for a week’s holiday by organising my work-load on my return. Because I am returning late on a Thursday night, I’ve had to prepare my sermon for the following Sunday. I have already written the front cover for that Sunday’s Update. I’ve drafted the beginnings of an agenda for the Ministry Team meeting on the Monday. And here I am writing the next blog for my return. I find it quite stressful preparing to go on holiday – but I gather that I am not alone. According to one survey, 44% of the respondents said that they spend the week before going away on a two-week holiday preparing for their return; while another 18% said that they spend more than two weeks before their holiday preparing for their return.
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Apr
19
2012
Dedicating Children
This coming Sunday we shall be giving a special welcome to two families who will be bringing children for me to ‘dedicate’. Or at least that’s the term we Baptists traditionally have used. Ernest Payne and Stephen Winward in their classic Orders and Prayers for Church Worship (1960) listed ‘The Dedication of Children’ as one of the ‘Ordinances of the Church’. Similarly the next Baptist worship manual, Praise God (1980) complied by Alec Gilmore, Edward Smalley, and Michael Walker, called it ‘Infant Presentation’ – to my mind a much more old-fashioned term. Patterns and Prayers for Christian Worship (1991) compiled by Bernard Green and others used the term ‘Infant Presentation’, while the latest Baptist worship manual, Gathering for Worship: Patterns and Prayers for the Community of Disciples (2005) edited by Christopher Ellis and Myra Blyth, speaks of ‘Presenting, Blessing and Dedicating’. I sometimes speak of the service being one of ‘thanksgiving, promise-making and blessing’ – but that is a real mouthful. In my book, Faith and Festivity (1991), with tongue-in-cheek I used the term, ‘The dummy run’!
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Apr
12
2012
There is Evidence for the Resurrection
Over the years, when preaching on the resurrection, I have often quoted Lord Darling, a former Lord Chief Justice of England, who declared: “We, as Christians, are asked to take a very great deal on trust: the teachings, for example, and the miracles of Jesus. If we had to take all on trust, I, for one, should be skeptical. The crux of the problem of whether Jesus was or was not what he proclaimed himself to be, must surely depend on the truth or otherwise of the resurrection. On that greatest point we are not merely asked to have faith. In its favour as a living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in the verdict that the resurrection story is true”.
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Apr
05
2012
Why I am a Christian
I am a Christian because I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Over the years I have had many occasions to study the New Testament documents. As a PhD student I devoted three years of my life examining the implications of the resurrection of Jesus for the early church. Since then I have taught New Testament in an African university, I have been principal of a theological college, and I have pastored two churches. After using a sabbatical to further study of the resurrection, I went on to publish a book for preachers on The Message of the Resurrection. Today I am more convinced than ever I have been that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that in so doing Jesus broke down death’s defences for all who believe.
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Mar
29
2012
Jesus Suffered Unimaginable Pain - For Us!
It is all too easy to jump from Palm Sunday with its story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to Easter Day, with Jesus triumphant over the power of sin and death, without taking in the slow horror of Holy Week. Alas, most Baptist-Christians fail to observe Holy Week, and as a result are surely weaker in their devotion to the crucified Saviour. We need to spend time focussing on the pain Jesus endured: the pain of hate, the pain of misunderstanding, the pain of rejection, the pain isolation, let alone the pain of crucifixion. Jesus certainly ‘suffered’ for us (1 Peter 3.18).
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Mar
22
2012
Jesus in Pain
“Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God” – so reads the Good News Bible’s version of 1 Peter 3.18; and so too the New International Version. But is this a correct translation? According to the New Revised Standard Version and the Revised English Bible, Peter actually wrote: “Christ suffered for sins”. The fact is that the Greek manuscripts on which our English translations are based, themselves vary at this point: some read “he died” (apethanen) and others “he suffered” (epathen). At the end of the day, the difference in translation scarcely matters. One thing for certain, when Christ died, he suffered.
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Mar
15
2012
Mothering Sunday or Mother's Day?
In my diary the fourth Sunday of Lent (this year Sunday 18 March 2012) is marked as ‘Mothering Sunday’. On the church calendar that Sunday is marked as ‘Mother’s Day’. Are Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day simply synonyms for the same day? As far as the card shops are concerned, they are one and the same day; but in origin they are very different.
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Mar
08
2012
Encourage Your Minister
In Double Cream (Monarch 1988), an anthology of Christian witticism collected by Stephen Gaukroger and Nick Mercer, there is a wonderful piece on the results of encouraging one’s minister:- It may be that you don’t like your church’s minister. Well here is a tested prescription by which you can get rid of him (or her) Look at him straight in the eye when he’s preaching, and maybe say ‘Amen’ occasionally. He’ll preach himself to death in a short time Start paying him whatever he’s worth. Having been on starvation wages for years, he’ll promptly eat himself to death Shake hands with him and tell him he’s doing a good job. He’ll work himself to death Rededicate your own life to God and ask the minister to give you some church work to do. If all else fails, this one is certain to succeed: get your congregation to unite in prayer for him. Her’ll soon be so effective that some larger church will take him off your hands.
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Mar
01
2012
Hospitality versus Entertaining
In the Pastorals, ‘hospitality’ is a key qualification for pastoral office: Paul tells Timothy (1 Tim 3.2) that a ‘bishop’ (NRSV) or ‘church leader’ (GNB) must be ‘hospitable’ (NRSV); ‘he must welcome strangers to his home’ (GNB). Similarly Paul tells Titus (Titus 1.8) that an elder must be ‘hospitable’.
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Feb
21
2012
Let's Mark Lent
The English word ‘Lent’ means ‘Spring’. But Lent is not primarily a spring festival, but rather a pre-Easter period of spiritual discipline. The observance of Lent was first undertaken by candidates for baptism on Easter Day – the period of their instruction being spread over six weeks. Today, however, Lent has become the time when Christians in general are encouraged to prepare themselves to celebrate the events of Good Friday and Easter Day.
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Feb
16
2012
An Inviting Church
This week I came across two American studies on inviting people to church According to the first study: Three out of four people attend a church for the first time because they were invited. Yet less than half of church members say they have invited someone in the last year (Lewis Center for Church Leadership). According to the second: “If every member of the congregation invited three people to worship during the course of the year and only one of those people actually stayed, it would double the worship attendance. One of the reasons people do not visit our congregations more often is simply because no on ever invites them” (Tim Dolan, Congregations 2011).
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Feb
09
2012
A Welcoming Church
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matt 25.35). These words of Jesus found in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats should be imprinted on the hearts and minds of every Christian. If we claim to be followers of Jesus, then we must be people who welcome the stranger. But do we welcome the stranger? Every church likes to think of itself as friendly and welcoming to visitors – and yet the reality is often otherwise. We can be so busy greeting one another, that we fail to spot the newcomer.
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Feb
02
2012
Names Are Important
“There is no sound so sweet as the sound of one’s own name”, said William Shakespeare. And he’s right. People love to hear their name – it makes them feel wanted, needed, valued. I love the thought that Jesus knows me by name. For Jesus, likening himself to a shepherd, declared that the good shepherd, "calls his own sheep by name" (John 10.3). It doesn't matter how many billions of people there may be inhabiting this planet, Jesus knows me by name.
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Jan
26
2012
Taking Time Off
I hate being unwell – it is just such a waste of time! My last bout of wrestling with a cold, cough and throat infection has been so frustrating. There I was the other Sunday morning, coughing and spluttering my way through my sermon; and even then I failed to finish the course, because I had to ask one of my colleagues to preside at the Lord’s Supper while I went off home. The following week proved a ‘wash-out’; I tried to put in an hour or so each day, but exhausted myself in the process. Most of that week I rested and moped around as I tried to get better again.
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Jan
19
2012
Belief in God
Here in the UK fewer and fewer people seem to believe in God. According to the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey, only 54% of people believe in God. But how true are these statistics? For according to the 2010 Office for National Statistics 71% of people still called themselves Christian in 2010, which in turn was marginally down from the 72% in the 2001 Population Census. Surely one might argue anybody who claims to be a Christian must believe in God? But apparently not. It would appear that people can be ‘cultural’ Christians without a personal faith in God.
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Jan
12
2012
Winning the Lottery
According to an article in The Sunday Times, asked what they would do if they won £101 million on the lottery, 74% of Britons said they would give up their jobs, while 20% claimed that they would continue working. 2% would give none of their winnings to friends and family; 34% would give them up to £10 million; 19% between £10 million and £20 million, while 30% would give more than £20 million. The average amount people would immediately spend on themselves is £2.4 million; they would also give £11 million to charity and invest £37 million.
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Jan
05
2012
Impressive Churches
I was staggered. There in the ‘Situations Vacant’ column was an advertisement for an organist: ‘Organist required for an impressive Baptist church in South London’. ‘Wow!, I thought, ‘What a claim to make – an “impressive” church’. What is an impressive church?
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Dec
29
2011
Change is the Law of Life
Whatever else the New Year holds, it will mean change. “Change”, said John F. Kennedy, “is the law of life. And those who look to the past or present are certain to miss the future”. If the truth be told, Christians often find this business of change difficult. We would like the church to remain the same. Some years ago one of our older members said to me: I've sat in this same seat for a third of a century, so why should I change and sit elsewhere?
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Dec
22
2011
Christmas Fantasy
The dictionary defines fancy as "Delusion, unfounded belief; faculty of calling up things not present, of inventing imagery"; fantastic is defined as "extravagantly fanciful"; while fantasy is a "fantastical design; whimsical speculation". Is the Christmas story in the same category – is the Christmas story a fantasy?
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Dec
15
2011
Inviting Friends to Christmas Services
According to some research undertaken by the Campaign for Real Christmas almost ten years, many church members shy away from inviting friends to attend a carol service for fear of losing their friends.
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Dec
08
2011
Christmas Cards
I could not believe it! This morning I discovered that my wife had bought what are essentially secular Christmas cards. True, they are beautiful cards – bought from the Royal Academy no less. But they depict holly, and not Jesus. There is nothing about the Christmas story.
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Dec
01
2011
Preaching From a Full Text
This week I received an e-mail from my friend Chris Skilton: I have never preached from a full text nor write one. I’m a few pages of notes person and find it very hard indeed to speak from a full script”. By contrast, today I always preach from a full manuscript. I used to preach from notes – but no longer. Who is right?
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Nov
24
2011
Ministry Stages
When I was a young minister in my late 20s if a meeting at church finished by 9.30 pm, then I'd go out visiting. I reckoned that I could always knock on the door of most people up until 10 pm – with my leaders I believed that I would be welcomed up until 10.30 pm! Now 40 years later, if a meeting ends at 9.30 pm I am delighted to be able to go back home and read the paper!
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Nov
17
2011
I am Excited About
At our last leadership team weekend away our speaker was Terry Calkin, the pastor of a Green Lane Christian Centre, an independent mega-church in Auckland, New Zealand, which over the years has grown from a small group into a fellowship of over two thousand members. Terry told how he had build his church on ‘four principles of leadership’: viz. vision, passion, character, and gifting. In particular he focussed on vision: vision, he said, gives direction to passion, and passion stops gifting from day- dreaming. He went on: ‘Vision needs to be-stated every Sunday. Tell the church what God has been doing in the past week. Allow your church to be permeated by the contagion of excitement’.
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Nov
10
2011
Necessities for Ministry
The four irreducible necessities of life are water, shelter, oxygen and food. However, life would be pretty limited if that was all we had!
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Nov
05
2011
The Reverend
‘The Reverend’ is the style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian ministers. It is for instance to be found on my business card – ‘Rev Dr Paul Beasley-Murray’. I confess that it is not a prefix I happily use – for ‘the Reverend’ literally means ‘one to be respected’ or ‘one who must be respected’.
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Oct
27
2011
Should We Keep Services Shorter?
According to Jonathan Gledhill, the Anglican Bishop of Lichfield, church services have become too long; he recommends that clergy should aim to keep the time of worship to no more than 50 minutes. The bishop’s concern is to make the occasional worshipper feel more welcome. He said: You have got to be quite tough to come to some of our services if you are not a regular attender. We’re praying for longer and we’re singing for longer and the idea of spending two hours dedicated to worship is not very appealing in today’s society.
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Oct
20
2011
A Place to Belong
Over the years I have experimented with a variety of ‘strap lines’ for the church. At one stage, for instance, stated on church publicity, ‘Central Baptist Church – going Christ’s way and making disciples’. Perhaps for church people this constant reminder of our mission statement was helpful – but frankly it must have meant very little to people outside the church.
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Oct
13
2011
Experimenting With Church Matters
According to the Oxford Compact English Dictionary, an experiment is ‘a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the outcome’. This sums up my foray today into the world of blogging. I have no idea where this exercise in reflective writing will lead. But in the words of WG Gilbert, ‘faint heart never won fair lady’. We get nowhere in life without attempting to push out the boat.
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What’s this site for?
Are you looking for resources to transform the life of your Church? If so, this website could be what you are looking for.Who’s Paul Beasley-Murray?
Paul is the Senior Minister of Central Baptist Church, Chelmsford (1993-present) a strong, vibrant and growing fellowship in Chelmsford town centre.
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