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THIS WEEK

School Prayer

How churches can help their communities p5

Adoption Kathryn Bracewell on her choices p13

THE BAPTIST TIMESThursday, October 18, 2007

Virtually the same as Church

TV & Radio Making a noise for God p18

Art Paint and the symbolism of baptism p20

News .............p3 Feature ............p5 Local news .........p6 Comment...........p8 Outside Edge........p9 Rackley’s reflections..p10 Resources .........p12

Feature ...........p13 Classifieds.........p16 TV & Radio ........p18 Hazel Southam .....p18 Books ............p19 Review............p20 Final Word.........p20

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Picture: St Pixels

Prayer – Members of online church St Pixels can join together to worship, listen to sermons and play games

MANY ‘web worshippers’ prefer internet church to more traditional services, a new poll has revealed. The survey suggests that a third of online church St Pixels’ 2000 members don’t have regular contact with conventional Christian worship. St Pixels invites worshippers

to join together for regular services, sermons and Bible studies as well as to talk about a number of different topics in discussion forums, pray for each other and play games together. Approximately 1500 people visit the website every day. ‘Jame’, a Florida student, is a worshipper at St Pixels

but doesn’t attend a ‘physical’ church. ‘I’ve no idea what I’d do without the friends I’ve made in St Pixels, even though I’ve never met them,’ he said. ‘No matter who you are, or where you’re from, you will always find someone here to talk to.’

‘People join for a variety of reasons,’ said St Pixels’ programmer Mark Howe. ‘We are accessible for those who can’t leave home due to infirmity or young children. It’s also convenient for people whose life does not fit with local church services – or who live far from a physical church.’

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Using popular games as a metaphor for our temporal lives, John Ortberg’s When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box neatly sorts out what’s fleeting and what’s permanent in God’s kingdom. Being Master of the Board is not the point; being rich toward God is. Winning the game of life on Earth is a temporary victory; loving God and other people with all our hearts is an eternal one. Using humour, terrific stories, Ortberg paints a vivid picture of the priorities that all Christians will want to embrace. Published by Zondervan books.

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October 18,2007
THE BAPTIST TIMES Thursday, October 18, 2007

HOME NEWS • 

Christian doctors defend right to debate abortion By DANIEL GROTE

House party for church planters

By TOM RICHES

THE Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) has hit back after a leading pro-choice MP accused them of undermining an inquiry into Britain’s abortion laws. Liberal Democrat science spokesman Dr Evan Harris MP claimed that the CMF was ‘getting people called as expert scientific witnesses when they are not’ as a parliamentary inquiry into abortion laws got under way on Monday. The CMF has claimed that it is being unfairly targeted, as the clerk of the committee examining the laws last week took the unusual step of writing to all those giving evidence asking them to disclose their links to any relevant organisations. Some on the committee were worried that unless witnesses disclose their links to antiabortion groups the inquiry will not be able to properly assess their evidence, The Guardian has reported. Six of the doctors who have submitted evidence are members of the CMF. Dr Harris, who sits on the Commons committee and is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society, said, ‘This inquiry is specifically about the scientific evidence not moral or religious arguments and our witnesses need to be evidence-led not ideologically or theologically driven.’ But CMF general secretary Dr Peter Saunders hit back, claiming that ‘the idea that people who have ideological convictions should be barred from giving evidence is ludicrous’. ‘The question is whether the fact you are coming from a Christian perspective means you cannot evaluate scientific evidence, and I think that’s tosh,’ he said. ‘It’s ridiculous to say that a group of 5,000 doctors from a particular faith group should not be allowed to contribute to a scientific debate – it’s an attack on freedom of speech.’ Dr Saunders, who gave evidence to the committee this week, went on to claim ‘the prochoice movement has shot itself in the foot’ over the accusations. CMF has pointed to ‘many people on the pro-choice side who have financial investments in the abortion industry’. ‘The deeper you go, it looks worse and worse for the other side – we don’t have a financial interest, just an ideological one,’ he said. The select committee on science and technology is considering whether any medical research suggests the current 24-week cut-off point for abortion should be changed. The committee has been criticised by Christian groups including the CMF and the Evangelical Alliance for limiting its terms of reference to exclude ‘ethical or moral issues associated with abortion time limits’.

Better late than never

Picture: B MS World Mission

Departing – BMS Action Team members flew off to India this week, thanks to the efforts of BMS staff (including Tom Howell, far left) who camped outside the Indian embassy to get their visas in time.

By DANIEL GROTE

BMS world mission workers went the extra mile last week in their bid to secure visas for eight Action Team members bound for India. BMS staff members Tom Howell and Roz White braved the chill of central London’s mean streets as they camped outside the Indian embassy in a desperate attempt to secure the paperwork the Action Teams needed. The pair were sparked into action as the postal strike caused massive delays

at the embassy, and after fellow staff member Becky Hembery had already run into trouble the previous day during her routine attempt to secure the visas. Despite arriving at 8.15 in the morning, Miss Hembery was denied the visas as the embassy announced it would only issue 300 that day. In a race against time to get the visas ready for the teams’ departure, Mr Howell and Miss White set up camp outside the building at one o’clock on Friday morning in order to be first in line when doors opened at 8.30am, and

pick up the visas. ‘There was no way of getting round it – we didn’t have much choice,’ said Mr Howell, adding that it had been ‘a massive team effort – we all pitched in and got the result we wanted.’ Mr Howell was able to wave off the two four-member teams as they set off for Delhi and Calcultta earlier this week. ‘If we have to do it again, we’ll do it, but I hope we’ll never have to,’ he said. ‘We’ll work hard not to find ourselves in the same position.’

MEMBERS of a groundbreaking Baptist churchplanting network are meeting this week to share stories of their progress a year after the group was first established. The Incarnate Network has gathered for the ‘houseparty’ in Derbyshire as its members look to encourage each other in their church planting activities and to further networking in the largely internet-based group. Approximately 35 church planters have convened for the meeting where they are looking at how to develop their approach to church planting. Sessions at the houseparty have looked at the pros and cons of using different locations for church and how churches can be better at discovering, supporting and releasing ‘pioneers’. The Revd Peter Dominey, a founder member of the group, said Baptists are ‘playing catchup’ with other denominations when it comes to church planting. Mr Dominey, minister of Westcliff-on-Sea Baptist Church, said that the network was in its early days but that it represented an ‘exciting adventure’. The group is focused on nontraditional forms of Church, and the Revd Juliet Kilpin, another founder member of the group, said the houseparty would be looking at how church plants could be more ‘incarnational’. The Revd Daniel Pulman planted Stour Valley Baptist Church, a traditional plant, from Chipping Camden Baptist Church eight years ago. He said that he valued the fact the Incarnate Network ‘recognises traditional church planting is still good - not everything has to be new and radical’.

Christians welcome Islam peace letter

By DANIEL GROTE

CHRISTIAN leaders have welcomed the call from more than 130 Muslim scholars for greater understanding between he two faiths. Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam last week issued a letter urging Christian leaders ‘to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions’. The letter, signed by 138 scholars was addressed to the global heads of all the major Christian denominations, including Baptist World Alliance president the Revd David Coffey. Speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Coffey welcomed the letter, saying it was ‘impossible not to respond positively to its key message that differences should not cause hatred and strife between

Christians and Muslims,’ he said. But he added that he remained concerned that ‘Christians or those of any faith are denied full religious liberty’ in parts of the world. ‘I know the BWA will be seeking to foster and develop the understanding of tolerance and respect expressed in the letter and that any future conversations will truly advance the cause of religious liberty and global peace.’ The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams welcomed the letter, claiming that ‘there is much here to study and build on, while World Council of Churches general secretary the Revd Dr Samuel Kobia called it ‘unprecedented’. ‘Such a rare unity of purpose gives great hope as to what people of faith can achieve together,’ he said.

Caution urged on incitement law

By DANIEL GROTE

CHRISTIAN groups have urged the Government to proceed with caution as it looks to introduce a new law which would make inciting hatred against gay people a crime. The changes will be made as amendments to the criminal justice and immigration bill, which on Tuesday reached committee stage.

The Evangelical Alliance urged the Government to ‘consult carefully’ on the measure in a bid to avoid impinging on freedom of speech. It urged ministers to draft the law along the lines of the racial and religious hatred act, which in its final form ‘struck the right balance between outlawing incitement of hatred and retaining freedom of speech’.

The Revd Graham Sparkes, head of the Faith and Unity department at the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said that he hoped Christians ‘would support attempts to prevent the stirring up of hatred’. ‘Of course freedom to express sincerely held beliefs must be protected and we will want to look carefully at the way the legislation is formulated,’ he added.

Pub hosts doubt-sharing evenings

By TOM RICHES

A COURSE seeking to get people’s doubts about Christianity out into the open has been dubbed by its leader an ‘antidote to Alpha’. The Revd Ian Gregory, minister of the Congregational Church in Newcastle under Lyme, is currently running the 10-week course called Agnostics OK for the second time at a local pub. The course discusses ‘who

Jesus was and what church is all about,’ according to Mr Gregory, who said he wanted it to enable people to air their doubts about Christianity. ‘It’s about people getting to know each other and being frank about their spiritual experiences,’ he said. ‘People are never able to speak freely about their doubts [normally],’ he added. ‘They don’t speak to their pastors or fellow worshippers about them, but people are

talking about things normally here.’ Approximately 25 people are taking part in the course, including church-goers of all denominations, atheists and even a Buddhist, as well as what Mr Gregory called ‘Alpha casualties,’ who had not He said that participants had responded enthusiastically to the courses, with many returning week after week and bringing friends.