BQ Vol.56.2

My copy of Baptist Quarterly dropped through the letter box yesterday . This journal aims to engage with Baptist heritage and history, not only to encourage readers to recall the past but enable them to reflect on Baptist life today. With the big purpose of challenging and inspiring Baptists for tomorrow.  I have been a subscriber for over 50 years having been guilt-tripped (!) into commitment right at the beginning of my ministry.  I have always been interested in history and Earnest Payne, a noted Baptist historian, General Secretary of the Baptist Union (and someone with whom I had a personal relationship) pressed home the need for young ministers like myself to become regular readers.

Through the years there has been much to encourage and stimulate reflection. The articles are well researched, ranging far and wide. Sometimes I confess they are too niche to hold my attention. Only once have I been published with my long paper responding to the World Council of Churches' Baptism, Eucharist and Mission document (BEM) - or to be accurate to its Baptism section.

I never, ever thought that I would appear in its pages with my own story!  But the edition arriving yesterday begins with Ian Randall's paper: Cambridge, Baptists and the Formation of Minds and Hearts. He presented the paper last year at a 2024 conference on Baptists and Education.  Ian is a good friend and when I read his paper I couldn't believe that his focus on the 1980's brought together my ministry at St. Andrew's Street Baptist Church, Roy Clements at Eden Baptist Church, the Cambridge Papers - examining key issues of the time - and a number of other areas of Baptist involvement.  As he puts it: ' The Baptist initiatives outlined here, not previously analysed, show ways in which Baptists in Cambridge contributed to Christian thought and action through churches, publications, centres and groups.'

As I re-read it I felt honoured to have been included in such meticulous research (Janice, Ian's wife is co-researcher). Undeniably the 80's were glorious years to be alive in Cambridge with God's blessing and power at work in many ways.  Was I startled by some of the details unearthed? Most definitely. Was I dumbfounded to find them in the BQ jostling alongside much heavyweight material?  Too true!  It is a genuine privilege to have a section of your life charted in this way, put in the wider context where I have so many happy memories.  So, it was a good day to open the post and see my BQ. Thank you Ian and Janice.