We are talking primarily about the future of a Union of Baptist churches, not the future of churches themselves.

In other denominations, the national or regional body is the church; for us, the local congregation is the essential ecclesial reality, and regional and national organisations are derivative. Thus the question we face is different, and perhaps less urgent, than a similar problem faced by a different Christian community.

This is not to say that national and regional organisations are unimportant. Classically, we look to the statement of the Abingdon association in 1652, which asserts that ‘there is the same relation betwixt the perticular churches each towards other as there is betwixt perticular members of one church.’ This, in Baptist understanding, is an astonishingly strong claim: churches are called to share their lives to such an extent that they stand or fall together.

As our history developed we chose to exercise this corporate responsibility towards one another by delegating it to paid officers, both in local congregations and in regional/national organisations. In the local church, the work of ‘watching over’ each other - pastoral care, encouragement in ministry and discipleship, and church discipline - was placed largely in the hands of the pastor, and/or an elders’ court; locally and nationally we appointed superintendents, association officers, and regional ministers to offer the beneficial external support spoken of by the Abingdon churches.

The future has to be bi-vocational. The future will be a place where hardly any Baptist ministers are based in a church full time and paid entirely by a church. Instead most Baptist ministers will be bi-vocational, working in a church for part of their working week and working in another job the rest of the time.

For the last eleven years I have been a full-time Baptist minister, working for some of the week with a small Baptist Church in Liverpool and most of time as a broadcast journalist in the BBC, bringing an evangelical Baptist voice into BBC Local Radio. Being a journalist and broadcaster has made me a more incisive preacher and a more understanding pastor. Having work outside the local church has enabled a small church in an urban setting to have an accredited minister serving them. When I started working for the BBC the church had to decide how they wanted me to use my limited time. The parameters of my job were defined and have been accepted by the church without any great problem, and others have undertaken roles I haven’t been able to fill.

In the future more and more Baptist churches won’t be able to afford a whole-time minister. But a bi-vocational minister who spends perhaps half of her or his time serving the church then spends the rest of the working week in another job could serve Christ in the church and continue to serve Christ in their chosen occupation. Most people going to our colleges go there from another profession, and they have the skills and the experience to work outside the church. By assuming that our ministers will give up work entirely to work in a church, we are robbing the world of our best Christian workers and letting the church eat them up.

I’m not a Doctor Who geek! However a little while ago there was a particular evil monster who swallowed people. Their faces then appeared on the body of the monster. So when contemplating destroying it, you were confronted with friends and loved ones who now seemed to be a part of this evil manifestation.  

Well, it’s a bit strong to liken the present situation we face as Baptist followers of Jesus as seeking to destroy this ‘monster’, …or is it? Why is it that something that holds such a lot of good, with valued friends and much I believe in, can also feel like a massive boil that needs lancing! It sucks up our energy and resources keeping it going. It silences the voices of so many. At its worst, it hurts people and leaves them scarred by its rejection or closed doors. As if some aren’t even good enough for the monster to eat!

I was out preaching the other night, and after the service got into conversation with a guy called Dan. We are both the same age, born within a couple of weeks of each other, grew up in the same bit of Liverpool, but six months ago Dan lost his job when a well known Merseyside company went to the wall. Dan needed someone to talk to, and I was around; he is three months behind with his mortgage payments, already in arrears with other debts and desperate to find a job before he loses his home.

It's because of people like Dan that we partner with organisations like CAP, and churches run drop-ins and debt counselling centres. But good and commendable as they are, I wonder to what degree such projects are a symptom of the church's real struggle these days. When people need help, we're great at organising projects, but I can't get out of my head that when I read the pages of the New Testament, churches didn't have people like Dan. We are told that they had everything in common and no-one amongst them was in need. They didn't need debt counselling projects, because those who had, simply shared with those who had not.

This is a popular and attractive philosophy. It demands nothing, expects nothing and changes nothing. It is a sentiment detached from our involvement and influence. It is beyond us. I’m way too young to remember Doris Day, who first uttered these words in her song (I was born when Sly and the Family Stone did a cover version of it in 1973) but I am only too aware of how Que Sera, Sera is sung in the heart of every football fan who dreams of the journey towards Wembley (I’ve only followed the dream once with my team).

My main beef with this phrase is the hopelessness and resignation that the future is outside of our influence and the utter disregard for the resurrection. St Paul was frustrated by this kind of worldview too when he quoted those who did not believe in resurrection by saying “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” I wonder whether now, through this forum and discussion what we are all crying out for is a resurrected Baptist movement. I certainly am.