From the Manse  January 2002

May 2002 be a good year for you, bringing with it personal Joy and family happiness, together with peace.  Our Advent and Christmas theme of ‘peace’ needs to be spread worldwide.

So my hope for you is God’s peace in your heart, alongside peace throughout the world. We know that the hope for lasting peace begins with each of us. This was the prayer with which we closed our International Candlelight Service in December.

Over the years I have met a number of people who were puzzled by the name of our church. Sadly some of these moved to other places of worship in the vicinity, to our loss.  "Baptist" they could understand, but what about the "Free"?  Without enquiring, they formed the erroneous opinion that we were not part of the wider Baptist family.  For the "Free Baptists" are a splinter group, with very narrow religious viewpoints.  For example, they would only offer communion to their own members; refusing it to visitors or strangers.  Other Free Baptist churches are entirely Independent, with no connections with other churches at all.

If our title is not attracting people or, more worryingly, putting would-be attenders - and members - off, then surely it is worth looking at?

I would appreciate comments on this.  However, our name does designate some specific ideas:

* Marshalswick: it defines where we are based, and the major area of our activity.

* Baptist: states our belief, along with our church order and organisation.

* Free: indicates that, although we proclaim believers baptism, we would welcome into membership a Christian from any other recognised Christian church.

May God guide us in our thinking through this year.

Robin Davies