I can't believe its been two months since I put something on the blog. My apologies to those who were hoping for something more regularly. Since writing the last entry I have been on the go with some great experiences in great churches, attending the BUGB council, our own Assembly and just yesterday the Scottish Baptist Council meeting. But I want to reflect back on my weekend's visit to Abbeyhill Baptist Church, just off Easter Road in Edinburgh.
If you judge a book by it's cover then you might simply walk past this place and not even notice that it is a church. It's building appears to sit on the corner of a street as part of a tenement block.
But if you get inside, a whole new world opens up, a counter-cultural, unique world that is the local church. All that excites me about the local church as the hope of the world is on view in this eclectic group of Jesus followers.
The first thing that I saw on entering the building was the age range of the congregation. This was a congregation that welcomed all ages and the way the service was conducted proved that they were all welcome. Accessible worship for children without being childish. Kids were alert, involved, senior members of the congregation were fully supporting their involvement and engaging with them. The way worship was led and entered into allowed all people, without discrimination, to express their praise and thanksgiving.
Then there was the diversity in education. I spoke with adults with no qualifications, those who were hoping to achieve new academic targets of standard grades and at the same time to Phd students, all delighted to engage with the living word of God together.
Within this church family was a wide range of ethnic diversity. It looked just like the streets of Edinburgh. A variety of languages spoken, a variety accents, skin colours, and integrated into the worship a compassion for the peoples of this world.
As I left this church on Sunday evening I was rejoicing in what I had seen. There is no other place on earth where this diverese group of people would gather. There is a sense of love, welcome and belonging experienced and expressed by all, it is what the local church is all about.
In Christ, there is a place of welcome for everyone: when His body the church demonstrates it so clearly and it is experienced by so many it can only serve to strengthen the faithful witness of the Church to the transforming power of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
