[This reflection by Helen Ruffhead was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 11/May/2025]
For the past few months Connect in Faith have been studying the life of Daniel, who as a young teenager was taken from his home and family and deported to Babylon, where he and his 3 friends were forced to serve the enemy of their people, King Nebuchadnezzar. This king was not only extremely powerful, but cruel, childish in his rages and mentally unstable.
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[This reflection by Dazz Jones was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 04/May/2025]
Recently, I was talking with a friend who said, “I’ve ‘unfollowed’ [insert famous church leader here] because of what he said about …”
The leader in question had posted a written prayer on Instagram about a particularly emotive subject. I had a look myself and, interestingly, I thought it wasn’t clearly aligned with either side of the issue — but perhaps that was just my perception.
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[This reflection by Michael Goble was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 27/Apr/2025]
There are two accounts of the resurrection of Jesus that I find most moving. The first is when Mary thinks she sees a gardener at the tomb of Jesus. When Jesus says to her, “Mary”, she realises that He really was the risen Jesus who was speaking to her. Her sorrow was turned to joy (John 20:15-16). The other moving occasion is when two followers of Jesus, after His death, were walking from Jerusalem to their home in a village called Emmaus, and at that time Jesus came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognising Him (Luke 24:13-35).
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[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 20/Apr/2025]
Martin’s sermon last week reminded us about Jesus’ words on the cross – “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing”. I was talking to someone after the service, and we discussed whether it mattered that the person who has wronged you needs to repent before you forgive them.
When we try to forgive, we often feel it needs to be earned. You will have heard of people saying things like ‘I can’t forgive him, he’s shown no remorse for what he has done’. Or, ‘I think he’s really sorry for what he’s done, so I’ll let him off this time’.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during April 2025]
Easter is one of those events in the ecclesiastical calendar that present us with a challenge. Like Christmas and, to a lesser extent, Palm Sunday, the story has become so familiar that we feel that we need to find some way to ‘revitalise’ the story each year.
But should we think like that? Is there a risk that the quest for novelty or entertainment value may become a digression?
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[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 13/Apr/2025]
The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.
Matthew 9 v37-38 [NLT]
I was encouraged to read a recent study commissioned by the Bible Society showing that church attendance in England and Wales has increased by 50% over the past five years![1] One of the standout findings is a significant rise in the number of young adults – especially young men – attending church. While it’s true that the UK Church isn’t out of the woods just yet, and some mainstream denominations remain on life support, this is a powerful glimmer of hope for the Christian faith in our nation.
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