Is Life Burdensome?

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]

In this world you will have trouble. [1]

These words come from the final discourse that Jesus had with his disciples shortly before his betrayal and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in John’s gospel.
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys

Inviting People, in the Era of “The Quiet Revival”

[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/Oct/2025]

Something exciting is happening in our culture — a quiet stirring of faith, a gentle return to questions of meaning, hope, and belonging. Some have begun to call this movement a “quiet revival”. Unlike past revivals marked by tents, crowds, and fiery preaching, this one unfolds in living rooms, coffee shops, online chats, and small acts of kindness. It’s quieter, but no less real.
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Contributor: Dazz Jones

Taxing Times

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]

“A tax is the best means of defence”. So said Frank Wiesel, the political adviser to the right honourable Jim Hacker, the Minister for Administrative Affairs in the TV series ‘Yes, Minister’.

We live at a time when taxes and tariffs figure as prominently in our daily news reports as they do in our everyday transactions. Indeed, the idiom that ‘the only two certainties in life are death and taxes’ is often quoted when the topic comes up in conversation. The phrase itself is usually attributed to US statesman Benjamin Franklin in 1789 but the sentiment had several earlier incarnations.
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys

The Energy of Synergy

[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/Oct/2025]

Dazz recently spoke to us about the Holy Habit of living the Christian life with others. On the screen we saw the words “Being Team Mates For Jesus”. What he said is very important! We weren’t designed for solitary living – God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone.
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Contributor: Dennis Ginter

In The Tenth Month

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during September 2025]

It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it.
Jeremiah 52 v4 [NIVUK]

Have you ever wondered why our tenth month is called October when ‘octo’ is a prefix that is usually associated with the number eight? A similar question could be asked about Septem(7)ber, Novem(9)ber and Decem(10)ber.
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys

How Can We Love Our Enemies?

[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 28/Sep/2025]

When studying the Sermon on the Mount, as we have been doing on ‘Connect in Faith’, it is all too easy to think: “These are lovely ideas but just won’t work in the real world”. Yet Jesus lived in a time much grimmer than our own but managed to put them into practice.
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Contributor: Helen Ruffhead