Stoneygate
Baptist Church

Our minister will be on sabbatical from 22 June to 20 September. Here she explains what that means for her and for the church. From next Monday, I will be on sabbatical for three months. "What is a sabbatical?" you might ask. Well, it is the usual practice in Baptist churches that every seven years, ministers are eligible to take three months away from their usual ministry. It is in part an opportunity for an extended time of rest, because while ministry is a joy and a privil

Luke 4:16-21 [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed

Back in 2020, we took the decision as a congregation to register with Inclusive Church and write our own statement of inclusion. In doing so, we sought to make clear our commitment to welcoming those who have been marginalised by the church, including those in same sex relationships. Two years later, after a period of prayerful discernment, we voted to take the additional step of registering the building for same sex marriage. This is now our settled position, but we recognis

Philippians 2:1-11 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the other

Isaiah 58:6-12 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go bef