| Vol. 1, No.5 |
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"We will pick up with the Baptist World Alliance meetings next week. I want to comment briefly about the opportunities I’ve had to observesome resources for ministry in Great Britain as I spent some timebefore the Baptist World Alliance Centenary Conference. I intentionallyset out to visit some churches that might model for us new lifetogether in the Union and also have sought to find resources that wemight apply to our larger work. I went first to the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s Resource Centre inDidcot, Oxfordshire. Residing in a massive building in this smallOxfordshire town, the Baptist Union of Great Britain represents over2000 churches and therefore has both the gift of great resources and adeep reservoir of diversity. The resource centre reflects thisbackground. I have found some excellent work in the area of baptism andethics and a new book on the subject of church and state which does notsimply deal with the contrast between the Christian church and secularauthority but also compares the Roman Catholic and Baptist approachesto this topic. Regent’s College, Oxford publishes a series of books onculture, common biblical commentaries & the arts and I was exposedto many other materials which we will inventory and add to our existingresources in the months ahead. Of particular value for us is a new bookon worship which takes into account the British and Canadian experiencethat many Christians use during the church year (i.e. advent &lent) as helpful patterns for personal & corporate worship. I’vealso had a couple of lengthy conversations with Lion’s Publishing inBritain who put me on to what they believe to be an excellentbookstore/resource centre called St. Andrews bookshop (located inGreater Missedon. You have no idea what a hassle it is to get to thislittle town). Many of you are familiar with Homestart in Vancouver which is funded byseed money from the Baptist Union Development Foundation. I have hadconversations with Homestart in Great Britain, which has a considerablydifferent emphasis and is based all over Britain, but in particular Ihave talked with those in Glasgow and Leicester. Homestart’s primaryemphasis in Great Britain is not furniture but is, in fact, trainedvolunteers supporting families with young children through thedifficult early years - but more of that later. I asked for recommendations to attend a couple of unusual and renewingchurches in Great Britain and received the names of two. I traveled toNorth London to visit Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship, an umbrella group offour related Baptist churches. I went to the mother church calledWillesden Green. It is in a neighborhood which started out Irish, thenembraced those from the Caribbean, Asia and finally from Africa. Thereare over 70 different nationalities worshipping in this church and itwas personally very helpful to hear the preacher who happened that dayto be from Ghana. His emphasis was on what he believes to be the lostdiscipline of Christians everywhere - waiting on God. His firstillustration was the impatience he felt watching the microwave heat hisfood and he spoke in a way that challenged and renewed me. For all youType A personalities out there (and there are many) he used the passagefrom Isaiah 40 that when we wait on God we renew our strength. SoI came away from Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship with the encouragement tobe more culturally diverse in the Baptist Union and to celebrate thediversity already found in the union. There are many stories that cameout of my experience that morning that will have to wait for thepersonal conversations I know will come in the fall. My Sunday evening church experience took me to North Watford (where Iwas born) to a place well known to many of you called ‘Soul Survivor’.If you’ve ever been to “The Place” at Lambrick Park Church in Victoria(former church of Tom Cowan, currently Sr. pastor at First, Vancouver)then you will have experienced much the same sort of thing Iexperienced that Sunday night. It is a church committed to contemporaryarts, music & culture. There must have been almost 700 young peoplein attendance and it was a boisterous worship, a reverent and edgytime. One of the most interesting things I was able to take away wasthat when this church contemplates doing justice and outreach overseas,it does it in a big way. It was announced that a year from now theywant the entire church (yes all 700 - 1000 of them) to go to SouthAfrica to work in a township rife with AIDS and unemployment. Well, that’s a sampling of a week of renewal, research, and personalchallenges for me and Britain. The Lord be with us all as we ask Him tospeak to us and make Himself known to us. Warmly in Christ Jeremy Bell " |
