These were the encouraging and challenging words of Revd David Kerrigan, general director of BMS World Mission, as he addressed Assembly goers in the closing celebration of the 2013 Baptist Assembly.
 

‘Ending well’ was an overarching theme of the celebration, and the whole event was a moving affair.

During the session, the names of ministers and mission workers who have passed away this year were displayed and read – each a shining star on the screen.

The passage taken for the address, Philippians 4: 1-8, was powerfully read from braille by the Revd Glen Graham, who was born blind and is the minister of Salisbury Road Baptist Church in Plymouth.

Delegates were urged to listen to the important final message Paul was trying to impress on the church at Philippi, with 'the call to be strong, the call to be united, the call to be cheerful and the call to be holy.’

We must be strong and stand firm in Jesus, because strength comes by association. ‘When you stand close to someone who’s strong their strength rubs off,’ Mr Kerrigan said.

Glen Graham conducts the Bible readingAs Christians we must also be united, he continued – this does not mean we won’t disagree, but that even in disagreement we remain at peace and united with one another.

Mr Kerrigan also urged Assembly goers to cheer up: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ (4: 4). The world needs good news, ‘and if we’re not good news people then I don’t know who they’re going to find!’ he said, as well as adding a plea for grace as much as is possible. 'God is rarely on the side of the voices that lack grace, even if they are right.'
 

Finally, Paul calls us to be holy, and Mr Kerrigan concluded the 2013 Assembly by urging all to ‘resolve to get rid of the rubbish so that you can truly shine.’