Most popular reflections/blogs 2018

Whether churches should declare where they stand on the LGBT issue from the outset; Christian mindfulness in coping with anxiety; Brexit and reflections on that sermon were among the most read blogs/opinion pieces in The Baptist Times in 2018

1 Why churches should avoid 'agreeing to disagree'
It only leads to more pain in the long term - better to declare where you stand on the LGBT issue from the outset

2 Mindfulness, resilience and Gethsemane
A Baptist minister shares what it's like to feel anxious all the time - and what has been helpful in working through it

3 A prayer for Brexit
Baptist minister Jonathan Beer is urging congregations to pray for the Brexit separation negotiations, whatever our political views. He offers this short reflection and prayer

4 Reflections on 'that sermon'
Bishop Michael Curry's sermon at the royal wedding on Saturday had everyone talking. What can preachers learn?

5 'Not for me' - critiquing Michael Curry's sermon
Jesus was preached and the crowd responded; and the religious were too busy critiquing the doctrine

6 ‘Who do you think you are?’
Reflections on identity, and life as a Baptist minister in training.

7 Recapturing joy in evangelism
How a story-telling approach, aware of secular mindsets, is more in keeping with how Jesus communicated 2000 years ago

8 'Listen to our stories - then choose to change'
A reflection on the recent ‘Celebrating, Surviving and Thriving: Women in Baptist Ministry’ conference

9 How to thrive (not just survive) at university
Baptist minister Michael Shaw has this message for new students and their sending churches this summer

10 Mindful worship - wider than any style
What does mindful worship look like?

Image | Geralt | Pixabay

Baptist Times, 30/12/2018

Growing genuinely intercultural Baptist churches

Intercultural ministry at its best goes far beyond managing our differences, writes Henry C Ohakah. It is about showing a watching world the reconciling power of the gospel, which binds people from every background together as one family in Christ

Hospital chaplaincy - a reflection

The care offered by the NHS staff; how ministry is conducted privately at the bedside and in side rooms - and why sometimes even a rejection is an encouragement. By Amanda Pink

A reflection on Professor Jason Arday

Professor Arday’s death is not simply the passing of one man, it is a warning flare illuminating a deeper moral collapse: a society that has normalised racism; a press that understood that normalisation well enough to weaponise it. By Wale Hudson-Roberts

Words for the valley

A reflection on lament, the words we reach for when someone is hurting, and the importance of being willing to sit alongside people in their pain rather than feeling that we always need to find an answer. By Ali Taylor

Do you take sugar? A founder’s tale

British Baptist abolitionists have long been celebrated in our written histories. However, recent evidence shows the originator of the founding bequest for Bristol Baptist College, Edward Terrill, made a fortune trading on the profits of enslaved labour.