[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during December 2025]
Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus’s birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, often referred to as Advent Sunday. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity.[1]
[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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[This reflection by The HBC Team was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 27/Jul/2025]
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2 v8–9 [NIVUK]
Have you ever felt like religion feels a bit empty?
Maybe you’ve seen too many people go through the motions on a Sunday but live unchanged lives the rest of the week. Maybe faith has felt more like a box-ticking exercise than something that actually brings life. Or maybe you’ve been wondering what Christianity really looks like when you strip away the ritual and get to the heart of it.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during January 2025]
As 2024 disappears into the dusty archives of time and last week’s resolutions are rapidly following the same fate, what can we do to usefully fill the next 11 months before Christmas comes around again? It is said that idle hands do the devil’s work so how can we work for God instead? The apostle Paul shared some ideas:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers
Ephesians 4 v11 [NKJV]
As a young Christian, I found these words written by the apostle Paul to be somewhat unsettling. I wanted to serve God but none of these callings matched my personal ambitions or what I considered to be my skill-set. (more…)
[A ‘Tuesday Challenge’ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during December 2024]
Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be
The sweet love story that is older than the sea?
These words, composed by lyricist Carl Sigman, were written to give a vocal counterpart to the theme from the 1970 film, ‘Love Story’. Various artists have made both the tune and the lyrics very popular. But can there really be a ‘love that is older than the sea’? (more…)