Minister’s Message – October 26, 2025

Bible reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-18.

Message.

I’ve been a Minister for more than 38 years; that’s a long time. Before that I was a missionary in West Africa, for 2 years as a single man then 3 years with Moira. I can look back on many memories, both good and bad. For instance, there was the time in Africa when part of the roof blew off in a storm and water started dripping through the ceiling; there was the time when our baby son had a raging fever with malaria and we couldn’t get the medicine down him; there was the communion service in a country church where about 60 people had to be served from a single tiny cup, passed and repassed along the row; there was the baptismal service where the 30 or so candidates, all dressed on white, danced and sang their way to the river and back; there were hairy journeys on overcrowded bush taxis and boats.

Read more “Minister’s Message – October 26, 2025” →

Minister’s Message – October 12, 2025

Bible ready: 2 Timothy 2:8-14.

Message.

I wonder if you know what the institutions I’m about to name all have in common, apart from being ancient and situated in the southern half of England: Wimborne Minster in Dorset, St Wulfram’s church in Grantham, Merton College in Oxford and Wells Cathedral? It’s this: they all have chained libraries – that is, medieval libraries where some, at least, of the books are attached to their shelves by a ringlet and a chain. This is done is a way which allows the books to be consulted but not to be taken away. I deliberately didn’t mention the largest and most famous chained library as that would have given the game away – it’s the one at Hereford Cathedral. This apparently contains about 1,500 books, dating from around 800AD to the early nineteenth century, including 227 medieval manuscripts. They are still read by scholars who come from all over the world to study them.

Read more “Minister’s Message – October 12, 2025” →

Harvest Service – Minister’s Message

Bible readings: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. (Paul is writing about his work to the fractious church at Corinth.)

John 4:34-37.(Jesus is speaking to his disciples.)

Message.

I wonder if anyone else here listen to “Farming Today” on the radio? I don’t blame you if you don’t, as it’s on very early – presumably so that busy farmers can tune in before they begin their morning tasks.The programme is only about 15 minutes long, but it covers a lot of different subjects and I’ve learned a lot from it. Just last week there was a piece about the exceptional damson harvest they’ve had up in the Lake District – I don’t think that’s been reported anywhere else. Anyway, here’s a few of the topics that have been covered recently: the shortage of rural housing, dealing with droughts and downpours, the price that dairy farmers are paid for their milk, the constant battle against TB in cattle, the expansion of school meal provision and the opportunities this may give for British growers, concern about a shortage of fodder after our dry summer, the need for foreign sheep shearers to be given visas, the danger of bluetongue disease, the changes to subsidies for sustainable agriculture, the impact of border checks … and much, much more.

Read more “Harvest Service – Minister’s Message” →

Minister’s Message – September 28, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19.

Message.

William Thomas Berger was a Victorian businessman whose father had established a rice starch factory in east London. The factory was doing well and, when Berger senior died in around 1855, William inherited it and became a wealthy man. As a Christian, he decided that he didn’t want to hold on to his fortune. I don’t know Berger came to hear about an obscure missionary from Barnsley running a hospital in China; but he did, and decided to send him a gift of £50, worth about £8000 in today’s money. Obviously the money took time to reach its destination, but it finally arrived at a critical time, when the hospital was down to its last sack of rice and facing closure. Hudson Taylor, for that was the missionary’s name, had been praying for supplies and saw Berger’s gift as one that had been sent from God.

Read more “Minister’s Message – September 28, 2025” →