Bøker av Ken Baker

The new dragon on Old MacDonald's farm puts all the other animals, and the farmer, in peril.

In this lecture, we will consider the work of the Quakers in relation to the Potato Famine during the years 1845-1848 with particular reference to County Cork.There are a few preliminary notes to make. First, just who were the Quakers? In answer to this question, we'll investigate their origin and development in Bandon (as an important West Cork market town) during the last years of the seventeenth century and into the next century.Second, we must sketch a picture of what this area of Ireland "looked like" during the years just before the Famine and attempt answers to the question: "Why was the Famine of 1846 so catastrophic?" The historical and geographical context has been described as "An explosion ready to happen." So we ask, briefly: why was this the case?Third: a mention must be made of the social positioning of the Quakers around 1845. The intriguing question must be asked: "How did this [relatively small] group create such an impact?"

This book started life as a series of talks on Hebrews 11 on the nature and practice of faith. It was a time of change in our local church: a change in leadership, a change in building and -even more significantly-a shift in what may be called an "ideology of purpose." By this phrase, I refer to a corporate sense of journeying, a fluid spirituality of mobility. We began increasingly to define ourselves as the People of God on the Move, not bound or defined by buildings or structures. And in this new context, we began to appreciate the words of Hebrews 11 spoken over Abraham: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." This profound sense of "living in tents" as a corporate expression of the life of faith is the subject of this book.

This book is a cave of old echoes, a journal of quotes and thoughts from many years of reading, praying and considering. It comes down to forty short reflections on what is important in this business of being alive. The reflections emerge from what -in the old-fashioned term to which I am still addicted- I call "Morning Quiet Times."I was asked to provide a series of three-minute reflective clips for radio and so have been glad to extract them from their mothballs and see how they stand in the light of day.

"God must build our anointing strong, so He can lay His glory thick." (Alisa Hope Wagner)But what is the Anointing? In this little book, the author examines Isaiah's prophecy (in chapter 61) and makes the challenge that the anointing that Jesus claimed for Himself at the beginning of His ministry is ours too, if we are in Christ.In Christ, we come into a wonderful new liberty of joy and praise. It's the anointing, that breaks every last vestige of our old slave-chains As Steve Brown put it, so boisterously, "You ought to live your life with such freedom and joy that uptight Christians will doubt your salvation."As we consider the aspects of this empowerment, my God indeed "lay His glory thick"!

Taking one Psalm for a whole month requires calm development of the skill of listening. But Ken's conviction is that God loves to speak to us. It requires a conscious recognition of one's prejudices and preconceived ideas, and then a dropping of one's guard. God, you will find, is happy to work with us where we are. Hebrews begins with an acknowledgment that "In many and various ways" he spoke in times past. He speaks the same Word, but there are still many and various ways in the speaking. But the more I listen, the more He can say. The more He says, the more I am changed. Jim George once said: "If you need a guide for your ongoing relationship with God, read Psalms."

Through Fire and Water is the first of four novels based upon the life of Kathleen Bewley (née Kelly), charting her story from 1915 to 1923. This forms the context for giving an account of the beginnings of the Elim movement and the wider story of Pentecostalism in Britain and Ireland. 2015 is the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Elim Movement, whose beginnings can be fairly traced to a single tent crusade in a field outside Monaghan town. Dr Baker tells the story from the context of twentieth century Irish history, amidst the pain of the First World War, the Partition of Ireland and the Belfast riots of the early 1920s.

I guess every believer is conscious of wanting to go further with God, to dig deeper, and to climb higher. Paul himself said, "Not that I have already arrived, but I press on..." But the New Testament, whilst stating that qualification, also provides an astonishing optimism of grace - a marvellous confidence that God can do "all things" in and through us. The little book of Colossians expresses that confidence to a high degree. The writer is not daunted by the poor quality of the believers, neither by the sins of their past nor the distractions of their present. In simple, powerful prose, he outlines a challenge which is worth taking up. It is the challenge of Christian holiness. Jesus Christ has done a work - the past tense is exhilarating- so that he might offer us to God "holy and blameless and irreproachable."It is God's design, that is, that we are "presented holy." It is the purpose of this book to explore how Colossians enables that undertaking.

This little book is a series of discussion starters designed to accompany the Theology Lectures of Elim Academy, Dublin.It is written from the conviction that theology should be "hands-on" and accessible, street-level, and centered in Grace, rather than "laying down the law." As Pope Francis put it: "Grace is not part of consciousness; it is the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason."

"A rabbi once told me that the right place to start reading the Bible was in the book of Psalms. It's an interesting thought isn't it? You might think to begin at the beginning, or to first learn the historical story, or attempt to understand its high theology. So, why the Psalms? Because the Psalms operate out of relationship, and that's where your walk with God begins. And continues. It's also wonderful to us to consider that the Psalms were the prayer-book of Jesus. He knew its songs intimately, and in fact he quotes the book of Psalms more than any other book. The reason is that Jesus lived in a warm and constant relationship with Father God, such as I can barely imagine. But we want to imagine it! More- we desire to live it. It's a life of happy trust; of constant awareness; and confident expectation. This little book is split into thirty short chapters with the idea of spending a month reading some of the Psalms, and seeking that relationship with the Father that Jesus enjoyed."

A "grace note" is a music notation that the individual performer has to interpret for himself. Isn't that amazing? Here's the main melody (the composer seemed to say), and sort the rest of it out for yourself! It's like a parable for how to do life. There are general broad principles to follow, like the Ten Commandments, but the real fun comes in the grace notes, the extra bits that you learn to play by feel. The New Testament word is Charis. In modern Greek it's the word for birthday present! Imagine that. Something you just don't deserve at all, but which is rather nice and makes you smile inside. This is a prayer journal: that is to say, it's a daily-collected random assortment of prayers, notes from books that I'm reading and reflections on my daily reading of the Bible. Some of these pieces made it into sermons, or even into magazine articles. Most languished in online blogs, until summoned into service into this little book of grace-notes. Hope you hear the song.

During the 18th Century, or rather overlapping it somewhat, four radical voices spoke out in Bandon, County Cork, creating a strong impression that has continued to this day. Though each voice came from a (broadly) Christian context, they were sternly critical of the established Church, totally committed to social activism, and energetically engaged in bringing about change. In different ways they each paid dearly for their faith-stance. In this little book we examine the contribution of John WESLEY, William HAZLITT, Dean SWIFT and George FOX.

Taking us on a journey through workplaces large and small, traditional and contemporary, this book explores the relationships between people and the buildings in which they work. Showcasing dozens of examples, it highlights practices that utilise space to promote creativity and collaboration, improve morale, and ensure employee health and safety.