Southern Baptist minister and educator Edgar Young Mullins. By Rod Benson Historically, Baptists have often been described as a radical and dissenting people. Not primarily conservative or fundamentalist, but radical and dissenting. That is the historic Baptist DNA. The earliest Baptists emerged from the contested religious world of post-Reformation Europe, questioning inherited ecclesiastical arrangements, rejecting …
Choosing a congregation: Service not strategy
A community meeting at Thornleigh Hillcrest Uniting Church, Sydney, in July 2023. A guide for Baptist ministers transitioning to the UCA (Part 7 of 12) Rod Benson, 18 July 2026 In the Uniting Church, candidature for ordained ministry ordinarily arises from within the worshipping and discerning life of a local congregation. A person does not …
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Understanding the ministry transition process
Congregational worship at Leichhardt Uniting Church, in Sydney's inner west. A guide for Baptist ministers transitioning to the UCA (Part 6 of 12) Rod Benson, 17 July 2026 For Baptist ministers, moving into the Uniting Church is not simply a matter of applying for a vacant position. It is a process of vocational discernment undertaken …
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Man on the run
A sermon by Rod Benson When we face a course of action that is possible, or even compelling, but at the same time unpalatable or undesirable for personal reasons – cost, taste, reputation, or such like – we tend to react and step back, and hope the moment will pass. Or we reinterpret the situation, trying …
God’s call and my perceived needs
For those of you who are engaged in church or parachurch ministry, here's an important excerpt from the October 2011 issue of the "Pastors E-newsletter" published by Ken Clendinning, director of Ministry Support and Development for the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT: How do you understand God’s call in your life to ministry? For many of us responding …
All Told 