Neil Brighton's Profile | Typepad

This is Neil Brighton's Typepad Profile.

Join Typepad and start following Neil Brighton's activity

Join Now!

Already a member? Sign In

Neil Brighton

Poynton, Cheshire, UK

Baptist Minister - blogging about things beyond the local church

Interests: Theology, current affairs, church life, caravans

Recent Activity

This blog has moved

Please visit my new blog. https://distinctreflections.net/ Continue reading

Posted Sep 1, 2017 at Distinct Reflections

0

New blog for new adventure

It’s all change in the Brighton household this year. Not least because, after 11 years as Senior Minister of Poynton Baptist Church, Neil is stepping down. By September both our children will (we hope) be studying at University and we... Continue reading

Posted Mar 27, 2017 at Distinct Reflections

0

:)

Commented Dec 15, 2016 on Annual holiday blog at Distinct Reflections

Checked in online- hold luggage still overweight; yes, I’m off to Iquitos again. However, this time I’m bringing a small team from the church in Poynton. Whilst most of my time will be spend preaching and teaching they are going... Continue reading

Posted Sep 29, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission agencies: do we need them?

Rattling around in my mind for the last few months have been the questions, “what are mission agencies for” and “do we really need them”? I have some nagging worries. The first is theological. Mission is about us (the church)... Continue reading

Posted Sep 19, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Valuing short term mission

A small team is accompanying me to Iquitos later in the year so I’ve been doing some thinking and preparation. One recurring question concerns the value of short term mission trips. Not just my Peru trips but more generally; as... Continue reading

Posted Aug 18, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission life and practice

Our spending on ice cream is enough to give everyone in the world a basic education. Just one of the random facts I’ve learned from reading Interserve’s Mission life and practice series. Continue reading

Posted Aug 8, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission service

Life is like sitting on a chair, you don’t get to choose the chair but you can decide how to sit on it. The last day of mission training had more of a focus on helping us to thrive rather... Continue reading

Posted Jul 29, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission training: shame and honour

“Mission is something we do with God, we can be the catalyst God uses” is my quote of the day from day 3 of mission training. However, the effectiveness of a catalyst in a reaction can depend on several factors... Continue reading

Posted Jul 27, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission: context is everything

How fast can you stuff a tiger? Each session of the short term volunteer training comes up fast on the last. From 8:30 am to 8pm at night, with little time between the sessions, in the last 24 hours we’ve... Continue reading

Posted Jul 26, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Speed Missioning

Mission is an extreme sport. And to help me get in shape I'm spending this week at the BMS World Mission training centre in Birmingham (UK) doing the course they run to prepare people for going overseas as short /... Continue reading

Posted Jul 25, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Thinking aloud about referendum, brexit and the future

So the votes are counted. The result was close but is for ‘Leave’ which has created a sense of shock and disbelief with whiff of crisis. What follows is my own reaction to events rather than a thought through roadmap... Continue reading

Posted Jun 24, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Baptist Assembly 2016

The 06:30 train from Macclesfield on a cold Saturday morning is not normally something to celebrate but it was the first leg of a great day attending the Baptist Assembly. This year held in Oxford. The day packed a lot... Continue reading

Posted May 16, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Finding your way back to God preaching series

Following on from my previous posts about mission we used the Sundays leading up to Easter to run a short series called ‘Finding your way back to God’. This was based on the book by Jon and Dave Ferguson. However,... Continue reading

Posted May 13, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission as blessing

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right” is attributed to Henry Ford. But whatever its origins it captures something of the challenge of sharing our faith and engaging in mission; too often we think we... Continue reading

Posted Mar 8, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

1

culture and mission

When preparing people for overseas mission reputable agencies train folk in cross cultural mission. To understand the language and culture of the place they are going to – and to understand their own cultural biases and background and the way... Continue reading

Posted Mar 6, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Mission: seeking a person of peace

In Luke 10 Jesus doesn’t just send the 72 out – he gives them a strategy to follow. It’s the same strategy he gave the apostles when he sent them in chapter 9; it’s a strategy Jesus uses in his... Continue reading

Posted Mar 1, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Motivation for mission

Motivation is important. It is what makes you do things and is made up from a variety of sources. Some of our motivation comes from things outside us, for example seeing the horror of the migrant ‘Jungle’ in Calais, motivates... Continue reading

Posted Feb 28, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Foundations for mission

It risks stating the obvious but engagement in mission is part of discipleship. That’s to say that because we are followers of Jesus we will participate actively in his ministry; not least because he calls us to. Preaching from Luke... Continue reading

Posted Feb 26, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Culture of Mission

January has seen me preaching a short series about mission or more accurately about being missional and I want to share some of the ideas that lay behind the series to help resource others who want to do something similar.... Continue reading

Posted Feb 7, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

It occurs to me that someday someone will find this page after searching 'flashbacks'. If that's you I suggest visiting http://www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk/ideas-coping-flashbacks for some tips.

Commented Jan 26, 2016 on The power of flashbacks at Distinct Reflections

The power of flashbacks

I generally appear (I think) to have things together. But even though I know that’s not really true I’ve been completely taken aback this week at the power of certain memories. It comes about because our eldest, Matt, was off... Continue reading

Posted Jan 26, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

1

Living Well: preaching on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Last term I did a preaching series based on Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. I read the book whilst on sabbatical and found it personally useful; it gave framework for thinking about and processing some stuff in my own... Continue reading

Posted Jan 12, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

New Year resolve

Happy New year everyone As we roll up the decorations and trim back the calorie consumption it is the moment to think about plans for the year ahead. If the last few years have taught me anything it is that... Continue reading

Posted Jan 3, 2016 at Distinct Reflections

0

Preparing Christmas Services

It’s that time of year when preparing Christmas services comes to an end. Or, if you’re not into planning, starts with increasing levels of panic as the deadlines loom. Finding fresh ways of working familiar themes is always a challenge... Continue reading

Posted Dec 11, 2015 at Distinct Reflections

0

More...

Subscribe to Neil Brighton’s Recent Activity