Our minister is available to help with a wedding, a child dedication service or to discuss

Believers Baptism with you.

Bereavement is a difficult time and Ken is available to help you through this process

We are a small Community Church serving the people of Hockley Heath in Solihull.

Our services are less formal than larger churches and provide an alternative way to worship God.

We are ecumenical in nature sharing  resources and community projects with St. Thomas Anglican Church. You will be most welcome at Sunday worship normally at 4.00pm

To find us: Turn into Spring Lane at the ‘Lighting Shop’ go round the right angle bend and the Church Centre is about 100 metres on the left.

‘Many hands make light work’ and ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ are sayings which seem contrary.  Both are true, it all depends on the context.  Another contrasting pair is, ‘It’s the little things that matter’ and ‘The devil is in the detail’.  If we take Jesus seriously, then these last couple of sayings have relevance to how we conduct ourselves before God.

‘The devil is in the detail’ might have been applied by Jesus to the religious leaders of that day.  They were meticulous in their tithing of everything, right down to the smallest herb in their kitchen garden.  A tithe meant giving up a tenth of their income or harvest to God.  Jesus pointed out to them that this was all very well, but they were blind to the bigger things which concerned God, things like showing mercy and administering justice.  He summed them up as those who strained out gnats from their food but swallowed camels!

At the same time ‘little things do matter’.  Jesus taught that those who are trustworthy and faithful in the small things, are likely to be those people who will prove to be worthy of being trusted with bigger things.  Someone who is untrustworthy at one level will, when push comes to shove, be untrustworthy at another level.  We should consider this when it is argued that what an individual does in his private life, has no bearing on how he conducts his public life.  If someone lies, cheats, or is unfaithful behind closed doors, why should we expect them to be different in other places?

This is not said in order to encourage our own self-righteousness, nor to be judgemental.  Rather, it is said to expose us as God sees us, so that we may see just why we need to look to God for the mercy he wants to bestow upon us.   God knows that we ourselves can best show mercy, act justly and be faithful, once we have experienced these same things from God himself.

Stephan Richards

Shirley Baptist Church