Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[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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[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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