P hot os: O ktay O rtakciog lu and Leonardo Patrizi/ istockphoto.com www.baptistbuildingfund.org.uk The Fund (established in London in 1824) provides loans to any Baptist Church for Capital Projects. The maximum loan is £150,000 per Church, interest free, repayable over ten years by half yearly instalments. At the end of the repayment period Churches are expected to make a thank-offering to the Fund - to enable us to cover administration costs and to increase the Fund so that more Churches can be helped with loans. Projects for which the Fund makes loans are usually one of three types: • Repairs and renovations to existing Church buildings including updating heating systems and conversion to 'Greener' energy New buildings or extensions • Purchase of a building for Church use Please visit our website at www.baptistbuildingfund.org.uk where you can view more pictures from some of the projects which the Fund has been able to assist. If you require further information or have any questions that you would like answered please feel free to contact our Secretary:- David Leverett FCA Crugybar 66 St Mary's Road Kettering Northamptonshire NN15 7BW Tel: 01536 522276 email: [email protected] Registered Charity No. 218823 Pursuing God’s Justice Motivated by faith, Baptists have long been involved This edition of Baptists Together is, in one sense, a in seeking to create a more just world. celebration/affirmation of that. In the following pages we catch a glimpse of how churches and From the very beginning more than 400 years individuals are using their gifts and determination to ago, our forebears were champions of religious build a fairer world. freedom. The impassioned speeches and compelling But there is more. Each story, evidence of Baptist missionary past and present, is united by William Knibb contributed to the a shared desire to understand ending of slavery. The movement God’s character and be in step spearheaded by Martin Luther with his purposes. So there are King, a Baptist minister, did much articles looking at why pursuing to bring about greater freedom God’s justice is important (p5), and equality for millions of black what is meant by God’s justice people in the United States. Faced (p12), and how we might discern with soaring unemployment and our own role in working towards extreme poverty in east London it (p14). in the early 20th century, Baptist Image: Lorelyn Medina / istockphoto.com minister Rowntree Clifford and Sister Hettie – later to Lynn Green (p16) shares thoughts on daily living be his wife – gathered a team to provide food, shelter, (and how she can no longer use a major online medical and social services under the guise of West retailer). There is a fresh look at what would make Ham Central Mission. Among his many achievements the world a fairer place from the eyes of children in India, William Carey, the BMS World Mission and young people in our Baptist churches (p26). And founder, played a significant role in the banning of talking of children, Linda Hopkins takes the horror of Sati, the Hindu custom which required widows to Rotherham, Manchester and other recent revelations burn themselves to death on their husband’s funeral of abuse to highlight the never-more-pressing need pyre. to place the well-being of children at the heart of our shared life (p24). This long tradition of sharing a hunger for God’s coming kingdom continues today: whether it is in Baptists have always had a heart for justice. As we hosting nightshelters for the homeless; setting up read and engage with the pages that follow, our foodbanks, jobs clubs or credit unions; welcoming hope is that everybody who is part of a local Baptist asylum seekers and economic migrants; championing church will be helped to better discern how we might fostering and adoption; providing great youth work; respond to God. petitioning the Government or involvement in bigger advocacy campaigns such as Make Poverty History… Baptist Christians are there. The Editorial Group PRODUCTION TEAM: Baptists Together Ian Bunce Producer is produced three times per year by: Paul Hobson Writer and Editor The Baptist Union of Great Britain Mary Parker Designer Baptist House, PO Box 44, 129 Broadway, Tracey Vallance Production Coordinator Didcot, OX11 8RT Tel: 01235 517700 EDITORIAL GROUP: Email: [email protected] Website: www.baptist.org.uk Geoffrey Colmer Sarah Fegredo Phil Jump Registered Charity Number: 1125912 Stephen Keyworth Michele Mahon Colin Norris Jonathan Somerville Ruth Whiter Further copies For additional copies and subscriptions, see Contact [email protected] for a plain text or braille version of any articles. www.baptist.org.uk/shop For an electronic copy, see LETTERS: www.baptist.org.uk/baptiststogether We welcome your views and ideas for future editions of Baptists Together. Write to To advertise in future editions the Editorial Group at [email protected] or using the Baptist House address. Please contact Fiona on 07724 721747 or email The views of individual writers expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect [email protected] Facebook “f” Logo the viewsCMYK / .ai Facebook “f” Logoof the EditorialCMYK / .ai Group or Baptists Together. Photo credits: Unless otherwise stated, photos are taken from Baptist Union archives www.facebook.com/baptistuniongb @baptistuniongb Baptists Together is printed on paper which is fully FSC Certified 3 Real Justice? FEATURES Stephen Holmes explores whether 12 CONTENTS God’s justice is different from ours Justice Matters 5 Krish Kandiah shares five reasons why justice matters Justice in Action 8 Examples from around our Union show what this might look like I am Just 14 So many causes - so little time - Sarah Fegredo on where to devote our energy The Justice Generation Justice and Dignity 21 24 19 A new initiative from BMS World Mission to fight Gender Based Violence at home and abroad Younger Eyes 26 How our younger people would make the world a fairer place Faith in a Confusing World Three young people, passionate about Linda Hopkins on having a Christ-like justice, serving on BMS Teams approach to children REGULARS Shaping Decisions News and Views Prayer and Worship 16 General Secretary: Lynn Green 28 News from around our Union 32 Responding to the call to ‘act justly, love mercy and walk 17 The Big Question 30 Events / Resources humbly with our God’ Two Baptists who have Special events and resources experienced injustice - and for your church 34 Baptist People what they did about it Interview with Stuart Blythe SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Order your own copy of this magazine via annual subscription - starting with the hat W S h a current or next edition. p e s U s What shapes our Union? Single copy subscription: £6.60 for three editions (Spring, Summer and Autumn) What’s our culture? Agreeing and disagreeing: in love? World War 1 Centenary: Remember, remember Pioneering: How do I join in? Multi copy subscription £58.00 for ten copies of each of the three editions Together_Autumn2014.indd 1 20/08/2014 14:54 for local churches: (Spring, Summer and Autumn) See www.baptist.org.uk/shop to order your subscription, or buy individual copies 4 JUSTICE MATTERS Photo: Wavebreakmediamicro | Dreamstime.com Wavebreakmediamicro Photo: Five reasons why justice matters Krish Kandiah shares biblical snapshots that show why pursuing justice, however hard, is crucial for the church This week I listened to a man tell me how he and his family were forcibly removed from their home and forced to settle in a ghetto on the opposite side of the city under the apartheid government in South Africa. I have met Kosovar refugees whose family members were rounded up and shot because they were from the wrong ethnic group. My wife and I have fostered children who have experienced domestic violence, yet they were the ones who had to leave their family home and live with strangers. Injustice is not far from any of us if we have eyes to see it and ears to hear people’s stories. It may be hard to believe, but there are still Christians / istockphotos.com Stock Ed Photo: who don’t think pursuing justice is worthwhile, and essential, for churches. Less hard may be that some churches which preach about the justice of God still 1 God is a just God do little to demonstrate it. Easiest of all is that those Christians who are spending themselves on behalf of the He is the Rock, his works are perfect, poor, quickly feel tired out and disillusioned. and all his ways are just. But there is hope: let us look at five biblical snapshots A faithful God who does no wrong, that show why pursuing justice, however hard, matters Upright and just is he. for the church. Deuteronomy 32:4 There is a clear expectation that There are numerous examples we could look at to demonstrate that the God of the Bible is the God’s people will be in contact with God of Justice. For example, in Deuteronomy the the poor and needy appropriateness of his actions are all related to God’s steadfast character as one who behaves and acts justly. For Christians our concept of right and wrong is not ultimately based on social norms, or even democratic decision. Our understanding of good and evil, justice and wickedness derives from the very character of God himself. God has made known his character to us through his words and actions in scripture and they reveal a God who is fundamentally concerned about a rightly ordered society, about laws that ensure peace and equity and protect the vulnerable. If we are to be a godly people, imaging his character to a watching world must Photo: Vernon Wiley Wiley / Vernon Photo: istockphoto.com demonstrate this same concern for justice.