Colchester Baptist Church

new old vision

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Since September last year our church has affirmed a 2020 vision. I have mentioned it on this blog before. On Sunday morning we will start a new series looking at the 2020 vision and to help us I have written a guide to the 2020 vision that is intended to be a foundational document – a summary – for what we believe we are called to be and to do as a church.

Paper copies are available at the church, but if you are interested you can download a copy from our website here or the church office will gladly email you one.

In many ways it is nothing new. It is not a new earth-shattering strategy that is going to be responsible for spiritual revival in Colchester (no strategy could do that anyway – it’s God’s work). It is not a new vision that has come to us on a gold scroll delivered by angels.

It’s simply a new old vision.

It is a fresh way of looking at ancient truth. It is a reminder of what God wants us to be and do. The guide and the series are intended to help us to do that.

footballIn a football match (soccer if you are on the other side of the Atlantic from me) the aim of the game has always been to score more goals than the other team. There are different approaches that teams will take in order to achieve that. Some play attractive short-passing, quick moving football to wrong-foot opponents. Others hoof the ball down the pitch and hope that it lands near one of their players in a goal-scoring position. Some focus on defensively stifling the opposition and hitting them on the break. Others seek to overwhelm the other side with attacking flair.

Matches take place in all sorts of different contexts – from a massive purpose-built stadium, through to local pitches in parks, to small boys with jumpers for goalposts in any convenient space on the planet…

But ultimately in all of them one team is simply trying to score more goals than the other team to win the game.

The 2020 vision is a bit like that. The aim has not changed. Churches exist to help Christians follow Jesus and to help other people find faith in him. That’s still the purpose of our church, at least. But sometimes it is helpful to remind ourselves about how that can happen.

I hope and pray that you might find it helpful. I hope and pray that if you are in the area and are not currently part of a church you might like to join us on this journey – you would be very welcome.

Be blessed, be a blessing.

what’s the point of Church Anniversaries?

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Happy Birthday to us

Happy Birthday to us

It’s our Church Anniversary this weekend. We are celebrating the 324th Anniversary of the founding of Colchester Baptist Church. No founder members will be in attendance!

But as I prepare for Sunday I ask myself what the point is of having an Anniversary? Why celebrate 324 years of our church being in existence? Actually that’s one reason already – we celebrate God’s faithfulness and goodness to our predecessors and to us for 324 years, which encourages us to trust him now and in the future.

In 1689 the Act of Toleration was passed. Prior to this all churches other than state Church had been declared illegal and nonconformist Ministers were arrested, thrown into prison and worse (John Bunyan being one of the most well-known example of this). But the Act of Toleration said that if oaths of allegiance were sworn and church buildings registered the prohibitive laws would not be enforced against nonconformists, including Baptists. Very rapidly a church was formed in the same year.

This reminds me that we should not take for granted the freedom we have to be followers of Jesus. It reminds me that there are still many believers around the world who are oppressed, persecuted and martyred for their faith in Jesus. It drives me to my knees in prayer for them and encourages me to make the most of what God has given us as a church.

I am also reminded that we are the current trustees of the premises and mission of this church. We have several plaques on the wall of our church dedicated to the memory of some special people in the past. My favourite is of Mr Benjamin Nice who is described as ‘an ornamental member’ but who was active, generous and committed. In fact the central core of the premises we occupy today were built thanks Benjamin Nice’s generous donation. May God help us to be as faithful and as generous today so that generations to come may continue the task we have been given.

George Carey was quoted this week as saying that ‘the church is one generation from extinction’. Well, that’s always been the case. He was not saying anything new, even though he was portrayed as being a prophet of doom and gloom. So I am reminded at an Anniversary that the mission task to which we are called is vital – not so that Colchester Baptist Church will continue, but so that the story of Jesus can be passed on to as many people as possible and so that as many as possible may receive his good news for themselves. Back to being ‘free samples of Jesus’ I suppose!

It seems that there is something innate within us that likes to celebrate anniversaries. Some are ‘natural’ (birthdays, weddings…) and some seem to be more ‘forced’ (I am afraid I am struggling to generate enthusiasm to mark the anniversary of the start of WW1 next year when it was one of the most horrendous episodes in human history. Perhaps it should be marked by a collective shudder). And I wonder if that is part of being created by God. We live within time (unless we are a Time Lord (50th Anniversary of the first broadcast of Dr Who this weekend) and as such mark the passage of time as something significant and special. Anniversaries are a way of recognising that we live in a continuous present – moment after moment after moment. We cannot return to the past or move forward beyond the present. We only live in the present. And in itself it is a gift from God for which we can give thanks.

So, Happy 324th Anniversary CBC!

Be blessed, be a blessing (each moment God gives you)