revmusings

Yesterday I attended an excellent day finding our more about a Union resource called: Baptists exploring issues of Homosexuality. This is available to all churches but the take up has been woefully small. The day we had yesterday was designed to give ministers a taste of the material and instill confidence in the process and for me it did both those things. It seemed balanced and wiling to challenge people's views wherever one might stand on the continuum of opinion.

My frustration came when the trainer said that we as ministers need to be as open to the process as the church members - I quite agree.

BUT...there is one huge catch - under BU ministerial guidelines there is one place on the continuum, that was outlined as a possible place for particpants to get to, that accredited ministers may not go - it would be conduct unbecoming. So actually we may not be open to going where we may in the process - our voygage is restricted if we want to keep accreditation.

Which leads to another issue - if the church can go there but the minister can't where does that leave everyone - does the minister have to leave the church (or indeed leave any discussion if it begins to go that way?)

Given that both the guidelines and the training have come from the same source - BU - and been approved, I believe, by Council whose idea was it and why has the problems it creates not been resolved as I am sure I am not the first person to spot it! Maybe this is one reason why the take up is so low?

It is this church's custom here to give a bible to every teenager around their 15th birthday, Buying said bible is usually a a pleasure but this time is has taken weeks and still I don't have anything I want.

I know there are thousands of bibles but none suit this teenager

The problem?

The teenager concerned has special needs, a reading age of around 6 and needs large print (they use a large print hymnbook). There seems to be no such bible, or even Gospel. I have searched the internet and talked to the biggest bible seller in the country and there seems to be nothing that fits the bill. There is a large print bible in Good News version but it is £40 and is really a lecturn one - you cannot buy a single Gospel/s in large print. There are easy read bibles designed for people with learning difficulties but it is normal print. There are, of course, children's bibles which are simple to read but not suitable for a 15 year old in look or focus!

Someone, somewhere must have, or can think, of a solution to this problem!

A story that may have made God chuckle....

In putting together an advert about how appalling it is to inflict your faith on your children, the British Humanist Association managed to illustrate it with two pictures of happy kids, whose father happens to play in one of the more famous evangelical praise bands in Britain!

See report from Times On-line  here