Today I have been reading through, and responding to, the consultation on the Baptist Ministers' Pension Fund.  This is not the right place to discuss any details of that document or what I said but I am struck by the human impossibility of the task they face...

A fund that began in 1875 as non-contributory honorarium has survived and adapted to a very different world where charitable and financial legal constraints massively impact its work.

Enshrined in the ethos of the fund are sound theological principles of justice and equality, and a thoroughly Baptist aim at 'fellowship' or 'connexionalism' (sadly lost on so many these days)

Most of the people involved are Baptist ministers so, yes, they have a vested interest but, yes, they know the reality for churches and ministers of any decision they are forced to take.

There are few - made no - employers who face the challenges the Baptist Pension Fund faces, as a multi-employer scheme where all the employers are independent churches.

Please pray for the team who carry out the review, that they will be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

If you are a minister try to step into the moccasins of the people you serve; if you are people, try on your minister's.

Between the rock and the hard place may we find glimmers of hope and buds of new life...