The context was the public, formal welcome to the Pastorate at Lansdowne and the opportunity to explain how I had come to be standing before the congregation.

How did I self identify? In these terms.

I am a servant of the Church.

In my case of four previous churches, three of whom I served in Pastoral ministry (Above Bar Southampton, Romford Evangelical, Highfields, Cardiff), the other my home church (Malpas Road Newport) where I came to faith.

This means that I belong to the Church and believe it locally to be the hope of the world. An advocate of Mission agencies, theological training colleges, para-church ministries and denominational structures, I am first and foremost a local church man.

None of the former would exist without the latter.

So I go where the Church needs me, I live to build the Church, to serve its purpose in the plan of God as a blessing to the nations.

Secondly I am a servant of the gospel.

The Church came into being because of the gospel. This good news of a Saviour who died and rose again is the main agenda therefore of every self consciously biblical Church and Christian leader. There can be no other focus than a Christ centred, cross shaped, grace filled message within which all our energies are to be directed.

We die and live by a gallows and an empty tomb. No other truth rescues, no other emphasis has the power to forgive and change for ever our character and destiny. So baptism, the gifts of the Spirit, the return of the King, while important elements and convictions of Christian faith are not the main thing. The job of the Pastor is to keep the main thing, the main thing. He serves the gospel.

Thirdly, I am a servant of the Lord Jesus.

It is after all the Lord Jesus who is the good news and whose good news brought the gospel and therefore the Church into being. No Jesus, no gospel – No gospel, no church.

And if we seek to understand why this particular servant of the gospel has moved from one church to another four times in his 30 years of ministry, the answer is found there. I am ultimately a servant of Christ. When He calls, I listen. Where He sends, I go.

Therefore what to many may seem inexplicable, to the servant of Christ is a matter of simple, if painful obedience. The servant of Christ is not interested in a stellar CV so much as doing His master’s will, whatever that may mean and wherever He may take him.

This is not to minimize the cost of obedience. We have to let go of all our securities when we follow Christ and even those questions “Why now?” “Why here?” are not necessarily answered immediately. Like Abraham faith is spelt RISK – we move on without knowing where we are going.

I am grateful to Highfields Church for releasing a servant of the gospel at what may appear to be his optimal life context in terms of experience and energy. I am grateful to my family for following me . I am grateful to Lansdowne for calling me.

Actually they didn’t. God did. God called me to trust Christ many years ago. He called me into ministry first to England, then to Wales and now back to England. Who knows where God may call me next? For in the end I am answerable to Him. I live my life before an audience of one.

Here I stand… I can do no other.

Peter

Photos from the Welcome Weekend

Welcome Weekend begins

Bible presentation to Peter Baker

Peter Baker and Lindsay Brown

Afternoon tea

Sian says her goodbyes

Coach leaving for Wales

Sian and Peter Baker

“Faith is believing what you know isn’t true!” wrote the school boy in his essay.

Is he right? We’ll be exploring the nature and content of faith in my first Sunday morning sermon series of a new era in LBC.

I want to take nothing for granted from the pulpit as I begin. I need myself to understand and absorb, as if for the first time the basics, what the Bible teaches about God, the Church and life itself? I want to find out how our intellectual, moral and emotional faculties bring us to that place where we are prepared to stake everything upon these overarching convictions.

Centuries ago the Church organized such key beliefs into formulations called the Creeds. Our mission this summer is to unpack, understand and apply them to a world that is both similar to and different from those days.

The message of the early Church burst upon a world which had no room for exclusive truth claims, unless Caesar and the State was making them. Christian faith was consequently privatised and marginalized. Sounds familiar?

So how can Jesus Christ be Lord in such a hostile environment? How can we believe and then express faith with courage, imagination and passion?

I hope you’ll be able to join me live or live stream or listen again online to discover what it is we believe and the difference it can make today.

• I Believe in the Church – June 16, 10am
• I Believe in God the Father - June 23, 10am
• I Believe in God the Son - June 30, 10am
• I Believe in God the Spirit - July 7, 10am
• I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sin - July 14, 10am
• I Believe in the Life Everlasting - July 21, 10am
• I Believe in the Return of the King - July 28, 10am

 What do you believe?

Peter Baker
Senior Minister

10-11am, 12:30-1:30pm and 7:30-9pm.

Do join with us if you possibly can. The topics for prayer throughout the day are available for download as a PDF document.

If you use Twitter, you could tweet using the #LBCDOP hashtag when you’re praying or to send encouragement. If you don’t already follow us, our Twitter handle is: @lbconline

So we’re six months into READ260. How are you doing? We’ve explored the life of Jesus from the perspectives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and this month we’ll come to the end of Acts, the story of the church’s birth. If you’ve managed to stick with us (and even if you’ve missed a few chapters) you must’ve noticed something in Jesus; he’s profound, compassionate, bold, uncompromising, revolutionary, captivating; he’s not what you’d expect. You can’t miss it; he’s God’s plan for salvation.

As we move on from the Gospels and Acts don’t think that the focus is going to shift from Jesus. The next part of the Bible is made up of letters written to churches and individuals. As they engage with the pressures of family life, work and citizenship, leading churches and making sense of doctrine, the authors of these letters are constantly drawing their readers back to Jesus, the one who makes sense of it all.

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New to READ260? Find out what it’s all about. Now would be a great time to join with us as we complete Acts and start reading through Romans.

Also, you can tweet your own experiences, thoughts and encouragements – remember to include the #READ260 hashtag in your tweet.

For the non-tweeters among you, we also have a Read260 Facebook Group.

If you’re the techy type you can subscribe to the blog feed.

Not that I see myself episcopally. Independency and my Free Church traditions find the cassock, mitre and purple an uncomfortable fit. Although my experience in South Wales has taught me that there are often more “Popes” in the valleys than the Vatican! And I suspect that this is not only a Welsh phenomenon. That said, I am deeply aware of and grateful for my theological and cultural roots.

Therefore adjusting to life in a different country, while not quite a cross- cultural experience in this instance, is always a demanding challenge, especially in the sixth decade of life.

Of course I’m not entirely a foreigner to the South Coast or indeed England. Spells in Bristol, Oxford, Southampton and Romford have shaped my anglo-welsh mind set. But it’s unpacking 18 and a half years of ministry in one place which is the significant difference this time around.

Moving into a new house is relatively easy compared to moving into a new chapter of life. That requires a careful emotional debrief which simply pulling things out of boxes and finding a place for them, does not. Memories are not boxed away like cutlery and crockery. They are fragile and must be handled with care.

As we spend the next few weeks enjoying our lovely home, registering with the local GP Practice, discovering the recycling centres, navigating the Wessex Way (!) and assembling flat packs, we are thankful for the God who equips those He calls, who collects all our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8) and who has promised to be the one constant in times of change.

We are looking forward to all that lies ahead for us in these exciting times at LBC and ask you to join us in prayer that God may grant His Spirit of peace and power in great measure.

Peter

http://www.lansdownebaptistchurch.org.uk/invited/

Acts begins “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven” (Acts 1:1-2). This book is Luke’s sequel to his Gospel and his point is that, even though Jesus has ascended to the Father, he hasn’t finished building his kingdom; in fact he’s just getting started.

Acts 1:8 records a promise that unfolds throughout the rest of the book; Jesus will give his Spirit to his church and they will be his witnesses. With each successive chapter we see the church growing and the message spreading, beginning in Jerusalem and heading towards the furthest frontiers of the known world.

New to READ260? Find out what it’s all about. Now would be a great time to join with us as we start reading through the book of Acts.

Also, you can tweet your own experiences, thoughts and encouragements – remember to include the #READ260 hashtag in your tweet.

For the non-tweeters among you, we also have a Read260 Facebook Group.