An Honourable Tradition
Working from home, and without much amiable meeting space (without incurring room hiring costs) in the LBA offices, I have sometimes felt guilty of spending too much time in cafes and coffee shops.
So I was pleased to see that I'm part of an honourable tradition, as Roger Hayden notes:
"The joint meetings of London and provincial Baptists in the early 1690's soon ceased, as London Baptist ministers preferred to meet in London Coffee Houses...".
I'm sure it wasn't Costa or Starbucks, but I'm pleased to be following such a great heritage!

Church History
Spent a while this afternoon and some time last week with a friend who's a Baptist minister working on a one session whistle stop tour of church history, with a Baptist slant. The plan is they will run it at their church, but maybe it'll become something more...
It's been interesting to revise some of this stuff, and see how we ended up where we are.
Particularly interesting was to see some of the stuff the early Baptists went through - such as a £20 fine for holding a religious meeting not according to the Book of Common Prayer (£40 if you did it again). One bloke, a gardener, lost his house over a £3 fine for standing up for free worship and not attending his local Anglican Church!
Makes you think if we would be so committed. But also a reminder that our Baptist roots have much to teach us as we work out how to do church in post-Christendom.