Jim Sayers writes: How do we equip Christians for works of service?
That is the core role of every local church, but an association of churches can also help to support those churches and give them the resources they need. The Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East), exists to do that for a group of 70 churches in and around London. We gathered for our annual day on 1 October, (hastily moved out of London to Guildford to escape a train strike!), focused on ‘Equipping the Saints’. Phil Heaps led a session on Christ in the Old Testament, and David Skull from Grace Church Brighton, a newly launched church plant, preached from Acts 3:19-20 on the need for a time of refreshing. Five churches joined the AGBC (SE), three of them newly constituted church plants, and plans were announced for a new church-based training initiative.
In the main morning session, Paul Harrison from Christian Safeguarding Services led a session exploring the Biblical basis for safeguarding, bringing Biblical principles to bear at a time when such issues have been making the headlines. Local churches should not be doing only their legal duty, or best practice, but striving to be above reproach.
