Grace Baptist Church (Stockport) » Letter from the Manse

Obsessed with sport?

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:00:25 +0000

An estimated 30 million across the UK watched England play Germany. World Cup football, Wimbledon tennis... you can’t get away from sport at the moment. Sport is one of our national idols. As a Christian, how should I react to this idolatry?

Obeying God rather than men

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:00:48 +0000

It’s often hard to be sure when the commands of men do contradict the commands of God. Life isn’t simple.

I hope that we can agree at least on some big principles. Here are four.

Easter not Christmas

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:37:57 +0000

Most people in the UK don’t make a great deal of Easter these days. Christmas is a much bigger event: cards, presents, trees, decorations, special services, days of feasting. Compared with that, Easter is quite low profile. That’s true for us as a church too. Yes, we hold a service on Good Friday. Yes, we [...]

Happy mother’s day

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:28:34 +0000

Yes it’s coming up again. That Sunday – dreaded by fathers all over the UK – Mothering Sunday. The 14th of March this year. No doubt it will be no different from last year or the year before: countless panic-stricken men queuing down at the late-night Tesco on Saturday night to buy last moment flowers, chocolates, [...]

All dogs go to heaven?

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:24:37 +0000

Two weeks ago we made a sad decision. Griff must go. We acquired our shaggy-haired collie cross eight years ago. We had him before we had any of our children. We debated many times whether we ought to get rid of him. But now we knew the time had come. So the condemned dog ate [...]

Creation

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:37:52 +0000

It's 150 years since Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” - a book that changed the way countless people view the world. What's left of Christianity when you adopt Darwin's scheme?

Prayer Meetings

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:30:55 +0000

I returned recently from a 3 week family holiday. One of the great benefits of being away from home is the opportunity to meet with other churches. It’s good to hear other men preach, to share in the life of another congregation, to pray with another church. You can learn a lot by attending the prayer-meeting in another church.

Singing Psalms

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:56:25 +0000

On Sunday evenings we are studying the psalms together. I’m planning to cover the first twenty or so. The psalms were never intended just to be read, either silently or aloud. They’re not merely poems - they are songs. The book of psalms was the hymnbook of ancient Israel. So, if aiming to get the full impact of the psalms, emotionally as well as intellectually, it’s important that we sing them together.

Christian Doctrine

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:24:25 +0000

We’ve just reached the end of a long series of sermons on Christian doctrine. It was in January 2006 that we began the ‘Truths for Today’ series. For more than three years we’ve been working systematically through the great truths of the Christian faith. It’s done me good. I’ve had to grapple with issues I [...]

Happy Birthday!!

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:45:12 +0000

Tomorrow is David’s first birthday... We try to make birthdays special for each member of the family... Wise Christians have always tried to use their birthdays as a time for reflection on the past, and preparation for the future.