Reflections from Revd Paul Rochester, General Secretary of the Free Churches Group

We are grateful to God for bringing us to another Advent and Christmas season. As we approach the close of 2024, we find ourselves already looking ahead to 2025. Meetings are being scheduled, plans are taking shape, and we anticipate both the challenges and opportunities the new year will bring. There will undoubtedly be difficult moments, but also exciting events we eagerly await.

This year has brought significant changes to the world. Political and social shifts have occurred on a scale not seen in recent decades. At the same time, we have witnessed remarkable advances in technology, including the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI). These developments prompt us to consider their implications for society. AI has the potential to transform the way we live and work, raising concerns about job displacement across many industries. I recently came across a church encouraging career development in trades; assuming that these areas of work are less likely to be automated by AI. Only time will tell how these changes unfold.

Churches, too, will be impacted by technological advancements, including how ministry is organised and conducted. In the New Year, we will host a seminar in London exploring AI and ethics within the context of local churches. Please stay tuned for more information and save the date—it promises to be an important discussion.

Christmas is a time to reflect on how the world was forever changed by the birth of Jesus Christ. He entered a world in darkness, alienated from God, to bring light and restore the relationship broken by sin. Today, disruptive politics and technology are reshaping our world, revealing both great opportunities and significant pitfalls. While we cannot halt change, we can strive to influence it for good. Regardless of our political beliefs, we should aim for peace, justice, and the flourishing of all humanity; not one group thriving at the expense of others, but a coming together, even amidst deeply held differences. Kindness and love must guide our actions, with faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to proclaim and establish the kingdom of God, and He remains with His people, through the Holy Spirit, to see that mission fulfilled. As His followers, we are called to continue preaching the kingdom and living by its principles in a world that often cannot grasp the truth of Christ. Christmas reminds us of His birth, yet it is sorrowful that so many still do not understand the profound significance of His coming and how it can transform lives and society for good. The mystery of Christ remains hidden to many. I am praying that God will open the eyes of people across the world to see the truth of Jesus, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.

The world will continue to change, as it always has. However, amid these changes, may we remain steadfast in keeping Jesus at the centre of all we do. He has come to bridge the gap between humanity and the Father and to bring us back into a restored relationship with God.

Stephen Seamands, in his book Ministry in the Image of God, asserts that it is not more therapists and moralists we need. He speaks of our greatest need being authentic Christian communities - communities where the “heart of God is home, where the humble and wise learn to shepherd those on the path behind them, where trusting strugglers lock arms with others as together they journey on.”

There is something profound about connecting people to God and aligning our hearts with His. This authentic experience of God is what we all need, and Christmas reminds us this was made possible through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God bless always,

Paul Rochester

Reflections from Revd Bob Wilson, Secretary for the Prison Chaplaincy & Free Churches Faith Advisor

Christmas is …

What words come to mind to you when someone says this? “For the children”, “Too expensive”, “So commercialised”? Or maybe some more positive remarks, “a time for family”, “a time of peace”, or “a time of giving”. I would say that the most common one I hear in prison is “hard”!

Christmas, the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus as a baby, to Mary and Joseph, in temporary accommodation, in an occupied country, is a wonderful time, but it can be a hard time. It is hard to remember what we don’t have, what we have lost, where we would rather be. All true for Mary and Joseph, and maybe true for us too. Many of us will have lost friends, family, maybe our liberty this year.

But “To us a child is born, to us a son is given” and that birth was unlike any other birth in the history. The child born is the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Saviour of the world. A birth that will change time itself. Not a birth that turns back time, but a birth that gives us hope that time is no longer our enemy; neither hard times, nor good times. We no longer need to see the hands of time as a countdown to be feared, but we see that today, this is the time for life.

Christmas, above everything, is a time for change. A change that God can bring, a change that will bring a whole new order in our lives, a change to how we see everything.

Our Prison Chaplains this year will see many who are struggling in their lives to see beyond the gloom and darkness that is real and everywhere. They will be encouraging thousands of men, women and children to take a little time to pray, a little time to look for and at the Christ child. Maybe we all need to do this anew. Pray as I alone know how to pray, in my own words. Pray that the God who gave us the gift of a saviour at Christmas will step into my life again to lighten the darkness, to scatter the gloom. Maybe we can pray, along with our chaplains, our prisoners, our brothers and sisters that, just as a child was born to Mary, something new and life-changing might be born in our lives this year.

Or maybe just pray that, while Christmas will be hard, you will be able to see a way through to the other side!

And maybe then, rethink the ending to the sentence …

Christmas is …

A happy and peaceful Christmas to everyone

Revd Bob Wilson

Free Churches Faith Advisor to HMPPS

Reflections from Revd Sarah Crane, Healthcare Chaplaincy Steering Committee

Like many of us I am a bit surprised to find myself in December. This year has gone so quickly!

The Healthcare Chaplaincy Steering Committee (HCSC) sits under the Free Churches Group (FCG) Board and is responsible for supporting and shaping the work of Revd Dr Mark Newitt, Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy at FCG.

For the Healthcare Chaplaincy Steering Committee it has been a really full and positive year. We have welcomed a number of new members to the group, Linford Davis and Terry Bentley, both bringing a wealth of experience within healthcare and social care chaplaincy as well, as a broader perspective from other denominations within FCG. Our goal is to as representative as possible of the breadth of our member denominations so we are delighted to have made these appointments. This year we also said a big thank you to Mark Burleigh and Kate Le Sueur, who stood down at the end of their respective terms.

As always in 2024 we have been grateful to Mark for his passion and enthusiasm for the support and development of healthcare chaplains within the FCG and beyond. Through the year, either individual or in partnership with others the FCG has offered:

• Our Annual Study Day in June exploring being on the margins through art, research and story.

• Three Nourishing Roots days shared with chaplains from other contexts providing space to meet and reflect together on our spiritual wellbeing.

• Monthly Pop-Up Reflective Practice providing hour-long sessions for chaplains to come together and reflect on their practice.

• A monthly Research First Journal Club building research literacy through critiquing a recent journal article.

• the Narrative newsletter, and information digest which goes out monthly to more than 600 chaplains within the FCG and beyond.

We are also very pleased to see more members of the committee representing healthcare chaplaincy in other places. Janelle Kingham, Mark Newitt and I have all become directors of the UKBHC in the past six months. (Janelle has also become Vice Chair of the Network for Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care in Health.) It is good to know that Free Church healthcare chaplaincy is part of the broader work and conversations which take place across the four nations of the UK and within the representative bodies and other stakeholders.

We look forward to the year ahead in confidence of being able to continue to support chaplains and to influence practice in ways which promote public safety, professionalism, and person-centred care within all healthcare chaplaincy contexts.

Just as chaplaincy requires us to sit with faltering and stilted humanity in moments of raw struggle and real human experience, may we this Advent and Christmas know that the child in the manger comes to do the same for us. As we prepare for Jesus’ coming, we can hold fast to the promises of the Kingdom of God, both now and in all its fullness.

Sarah Crane

Chair, Healthcare Chaplaincy Steering Committee

Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson elected as Moderator-elect to serve from April 2025

We are delighted to welcome Reverend Dr. Tessa Henry-Robinson as the new Moderator-elect of the Free Churches Group. Tessa will support the current Moderator, Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, in her first year before assuming the Moderator’s role in April 2025. The Free Churches look forward to working with Tessa over the coming months.

Tessa said, “I welcome this opportunity to work collaboratively in an ecumenical capacity. My background and work within the United Reformed Church (URC), which is itself an ecumenical union of churches, have uniquely prepared me for this role, emphasising my leadership capabilities as well as my commitment to ecumenism, inclusivity, and justice.”

Tessa has just completed her year as Moderator of the URC General Assembly and continues to have pastorate responsibility for four URC congregations in east London. Her work as the Moderator of the URC General Assembly involved engagements both in the UK and internationally. She has significant experience in church operations, making her well-placed to navigate and lead complex discussions and initiatives across Free Church denominations. Her ministerial and professional journey includes significant milestones that align closely with the values and objectives of the Free Churches Group. As the first Black and/or ethnically minoritized woman to serve in her current roles, she is committed to diversity, empowerment, and racial justice.

A message from the FCG Moderator-elect, Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

I am deeply honoured to become the Moderator-Elect of the Free Churches Group. I look forward to supporting the current Moderator, Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, during the first year of a four-year term and to learning more about the work of the Free Churches. As a committed ecumenist, I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with the 27 Free Churches denominations/groups who are currently members of the Free Churches Group. I understand that the FCG is growing, and it will be a pleasure to be part of the leadership team welcoming new members. I see this role as a calling and feel deeply connected to our diverse and vibrant Free Churches community. My extensive experience within the United Reformed Church (URC) has shaped my commitment to ecumenism. I believe that by working together, we can more significantly contribute to the common mission of sharing the love of Jesus Christ and the hope that His love brings to our world.

I have just completed my year as Moderator of the URC General Assembly and currently serve as the immediate past Moderator. This role provided me with broad leadership and representational experience both within the three-nation context of the United Kingdom and internationally. My contributions to the URC, including roles on the Mission Committee, the Church Life Review Group, the Business Committee, and the Faith and Order Committee, have deepened my understanding of church operations and honed my ability to lead complex discussions and initiatives.

As a Black woman - the first women of an ethnically minoritised background to become General Assembly Moderator in the URC, I bring a strong commitment to diversity and empowerment. My advocacy for racial justice within the URC and my role in Cascades of Grace, an initiative empowering minoritised women, underscore this commitment.

My curiosity about the triune nature of God, coupled with my background in community education and development, ministry formation, and anti-racism training, highlights my dedication to theological ecumenism and fostering an intercultural church environment. My academic work, including a thesis on intercultural inclusion, remains central to my ethos.

As an Associate Tutor in Womanist Practical Theology at Westminster College and a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Practical Theology and the International Journal of Black Theology, I engage in scholarly discussions that bridge theory and practice. My pastoral service and community engagement further exemplify this commitment.

My upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago, which included attending Roman Catholic and Methodist churches and participating in Anglican and Pentecostal denominational activities, has shaped my approach to faith and diversity. This background, combined with proven presentation skills and the ability to engage and inspire diverse audiences, equips me to represent and collaborate within the Free Churches Group leadership.

I am confident that my vision, experience, and commitment to ecumenical networking, justice, and empowerment have prepared me well for this role. I look forward to contributing to the Free Churches Group and furthering our impact on communities and society.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Free Churches in England and Wales.  

Tessa