The Baptist Steering Group

Relationships, mission and ministries were on the agenda at the December meeting of the Baptist Steering Group. General Secretary Lynn Green shares the following messages from the gathering:

 
In our worship and prayer we focused on the Hebrew word “Hesed” – the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our God!

We continued to give time to deepening our relationships and considering how we can develop our new ways of relating and working across the board

There was a real sense of anticipation as the plans for our 2015 Assembly gathering were shared and honed

£130,000 was invested with Associations and others to enable mission. This money comes from the income generated from the Newington Court Fund capital. We were able to fulfil the grant applications received and then BSG agreed that the remaining £80,000 should be divided between the Associations to enable mission on the ground. In the future the income and grants from this fund will be released through the new Baptists Together Mission Forum. We also gave thanks for the fact that we are able to plan for a balanced budget in 2015!

Interviews for the Interim Team Leader for Ministries are due to be held soon and more work was done together to develop our plan for the Ministries project, as highlighted in the recent Baptist Union Council report.

It was also a time for farewells, as Paul Hills, Phil Jump and Alex Afriyie came to their last meeting with the BSG. These brothers have been a really valuable part of the team and will be missed very much. We encouraged them and prayed for them as they each continue to serve the Lord in different ways. They will be succeeded by John Claydon (Northern Baptist Association), Geoff Andrews (London Baptist Association) and Richard Lewis (Eastern Baptist Association).  Current members of the BSG can be found here.
 

Prayer

The following prayer was used when the BSG was commissioned at Baptist Union Council. It was shared again at the December meeting:

Jesus, be our centre and our head;
Bind us as one, that we might reflect your glory
And serve your purposes together.
Inspire and equip us to be a people of mission.
Envision us and grant us courage to be faithful, generous and innovative;
Encouraging and releasing the gifts of all
Seeking every opportunity to make your love known
Help us listen to every voice through which you speak,
To stand against injustice in its every expression,
To fight prejudice and to place your Kingdom values at our heart.
Build your Church through us,
Help us together to support, serve and nurture its every expression.
Make us one we pray,
Working together,
Bearing each other’s burdens,
Speaking the truth in love,
That we might be a sign of your loving presence in our world.
We offer ourselves in those tasks to which Christ has appointed us,
Honouring those who are called to minister amongst us,
That through our giving and receiving,
The Gospel might be lived and proclaimed.
AMEN