[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 23/Feb/2025]
Battleship Faith: Holding On When Prayers Go Unanswered
In the past week, the question of suffering and unanswered prayer has arisen a number of times. How do we feel and respond when God doesn’t seem to answer prayer? Why does the Bible encourage us to “present our requests to God”[1] only for us to sometimes feel as though our prayers are ignored or unanswered?
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[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 16/Feb/2025]
Martin’s teaching last Sunday was very challenging! Especially his closing remark that what the Father wants of us is to “follow Jesus”.
In our home group on Monday we explored that together. I drew our attention to 1 John 4 v7-8. The phrase that puzzled me was in verse 7: ‘… everyone who loves is born of God and knows God‘. Everyone? That brought us to Martin’s question about me being In or Out of God’s Kingdom.
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[This reflection by Chris Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 09/Feb/2025]
How blessed we are to be able to share our faith in Jesus with each other in our country.
There are many people we know who have come over to our area seeking asylum from other countries because if they had stayed in their own country would have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus, tortured or even killed. It’s not an easy task to come over here, penniless leaving all they had, wives, children and so much more.
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[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 02/Feb/2025]
One thing I have never been able to understand is why people tend to be rated according to their wealth. You see it in playgrounds where children with the latest phone or designer clothes are respected and those without these things are bullied. Adults want to be seen driving an expensive car, wearing the latest fashions or showing off their lovely homes. Those in poverty are made to feel ashamed if they have to ask for help and are too often blamed for their situation.
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[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/Jan/2025]
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on … ”
Philippians 3 v13-14
Next Sunday marks a significant step for our church family as we move to two morning services, at 9:30 and 11:15. This shift is aimed at addressing our overcrowding and creating space for more people to hear about Jesus. While I’m excited about the potential of this change, I’ll admit I feel a measure of trepidation. The dynamics of our services will shift—they won’t have the same bustling atmosphere we’ve grown accustomed to. Additionally, we may see a temporary drop in attendance as people navigate this change and choose whether to commit to a specific time. (more…)
[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 19/Jan/2025]
For where two or three are gathered in my name [meeting together as my followers], I am there among them.
Matthew 18 v20 [AMP]
Over many years we have attended a number of different types of churches which have been so helpful in the different stages of our Christian journey. When we first became Christians the earliest churches we attended were quite small, and so the above words of Jesus about two or three of His followers gathering together were very relevant. In these churches we were able to meet in small groups to read God’s Word and to try to understand that God was there and what it was He wanted to teach us.
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