I recently stood in the chapel of the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield in West Yorkshire. The Community of the Resurrection is a high church Anglican community. It has produced fascinating theological writers such as Harry Williams and dynamic missionary bishops like Trevor Huddleston. The Community chapel has recently been re-ordered and as you enter the first thing you see is a beautiful circular marble baptistry. There is a metal trough in the top of the baptistry into which water is constantly running, with the powerful symbolism of the living water. However, more noticeable is the fact that the shallow metal tray lifts out to reveal a full scale…

Andy Goodliff and Steve Harmon, reflecting on the “Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary”  or, as the Orthodox remember, the Dormition of Mary (15 August), wondered about the world Baptist community developing a list of 365 people we might remember in our daily cycle of prayer, covering a calendar year.  That is a horrendous task and Baptists have always been very wary of recalling individuals in the household of faith, lest we attribute to them special honour. (On this see a response by Stephen Holmes .) At IBTS we have had a simple practice that on some occasions at the Eucharist we have gone round the circle, each of us naming someone…

I was walking on the snow-covered streets of Old Town Prague last week making my way to a meeting of the Conference of Czech Rectors of which I am a member. The streets are now alive with wooden huts full of speciality items for the Christmas markets – Glühwine, Old Prague Pork, various delicacies, bright glass baubles, silly knick-knack items for stocking fillers and of course, wreaths of greenery with four bright coloured candles – purple, red, blue or gold – for this Advent season. They sell well, but here is the irony of the Czech Advent ring: there is no central white candle. The four weeks of Advent are…

The Baptist Union of Great Britain has accredited women for ministry since 1918. This is not universally the case in Europe though Baptists in Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and in some other regions support this stand. In other European countries it is clear women exercise leadership and ministry even if Unions do not always acknowledge this fact publicly. The Baptist Union of Great Britain has recently reaffirmed its stance and this has provoked lively debate – at least on the sites of British Baptist bloggers! For example, here and here. At IBTS we have been privileged in that many EBF Unions have sent exceptionally gifted women to study with…