It’s easy to be pessimistic about the state of the Christian faith in the UK. The latest Census results point to fewer people describing themselves as Christian. As Baptists Together overall, our numbers are lower, our financial resources squeezed and we are closing churches faster than we are planting them. Our situation is replicated in many denominations. It can seem many simply aren’t interested in or receptive to the life-changing message of Jesus.   

And yet... that’s not the whole story. As General Secretary Lynn Green writes, ‘Death, struggle and suffering are present, but the life of Jesus is present too.’ People are coming to faith in our churches, seeing their lives turned around when they encounter Jesus. God is shaping and inspiring us to do new and creative things, and we are seeing his kingdom come.

There is hope. God is at work!

The current edition of Baptists Together magazine seeks to capture this. We are featuring more church stories than normal to give a snapshot of the different ways Baptists are responding to God’s mission in their context (and there were so many more we could have highlighted). Many have lived through hard, barren times - and in some cases, closure was seriously considered. Many tried things that didn’t work. Many are small churches. And yet... here they are, sharing their stories because they want to encourage their wider Baptist family.

This doesn’t mean we are not facing some testing challenges, and some of the articles highlight those difficulties. It is, however, evidence of another narrative - one in which God is moving, just like he always has. The verse we’ve highlighted on our front cover was spoken by Jesus in response to the constraints of the day. “My father is always working,” he says in John 5:17, “and so am I”.
 
What was true then remains so now. We pray that you’ll be encouraged by the stories you read here and gain a fresh understanding of how God is at work where you are.

The main articles in the magazine are featured below: