Month: June 2013

Sanctus1 and Nexus Art Café – update Jun13

Al Lowe gives the latest news on what's happening with Sanctus1 and Nexus in the heart of city centre Manchester.

There have been quite a few changes in recent times. Nexus Art Café is an independent charity so we experienced quite a shift in emphasis when the charity manager, as the person who also ran the café, decided not to return from maternity leave. We then recruited a new person but altered the focus of the role so that it now concentrates on Nexus as an arts venue and the official job title is that of art and venue coordinator.

That change has allowed us to refocus on where we are in terms of Christian spirituality: it has released us from any inhibitions in assessing the stage we have reached in our journey and what we are doing as part of that journey. It has given us a good nudge in the right direction.

Nexus Art CaféAnother outcome has been for Sanctus1 to think of Nexus as a 'legitimate' place to be linked with. The café is now more financially viable than it has been previously, so again, Sanctus1 feel happier merging with something of worth – rather than thinking they have taken on a liability.

This is all part of Sanctus1 making the gradual move towards being missional. We have seen some of the fruit of that when Sanctus1 recently contributed to an art exhibition at Nexus.

As well as our weekly service on Sundays and Wednesdays, Sanctus1 is also involved in:

  • Spirituality Film Nights

    These are run every month by Nexus Art Café (supported by Sanctus1) on their big screen in response to a survey about spirituality.

  • Halfway

    This is a joint venture between Nexus Art Cafe and Sanctus 1 and takes the form of a short weekly mediation, lasting about half an hour and designed to bring some spiritual relief and relaxation in the middle of the busy week.

  • Going Deeper

    A small group offers deeper discussion about what is happening in our lives and try to find God in what is happening. It meets twice a month at Nexus.

  • Sub

    Sanctus1 provides spiritual covering for a small group of Christians exploring their faith through the lens of alternative sub-cultures. Meeting every few months they spend time with a subject, often in a location that compliments the subject matter. Sub has also run services at Greenbelt over the last few years and will be doing so again this year.

Nexus events boardSanctus1 had struggled a little bit with a mission identity but things are moving on and we have now employed a children's worker for four hours a week to be with the children on a Sunday morning during the Sanctus1 gathering. That's great but when you start employing people you have to be aware that it is something which can challenge your constitutional status. That was certainly the case for us and, as a result, we needed to address the constitutional relationship with Nexus. Both constitutions highlight the promotion of the Christian religion so what we do has to be seen as mutually beneficial.

We are in the throes of getting to grips with the terms of the new constitutions; that's complex because we have a number of interested parties in that, including the Nexus trustees, the Manchester Methodist Circuit, the Diocese of Manchester, Sanctus1 and of course the people involved with Nexus.

Identity has turned out to be a major issue at Nexus as well during this time. The way it had been set up meant that there was some confusion about what it was, along the lines of 'it can be whatever you want it to be' but if you don't have a clear agenda, people will create their own agenda. But you can't be all things to all people so a lot of what we've been going through recently is reclaiming that sense of Nexus identity.

Nexus - donations boxPreviously we were giving out quite mixed messages and there was a sense that we were hoodwinking people who wanted to volunteer as to what we are all about. It became increasingly important for us to make clear that we are not just an arts café and we're not simply a community centre.

It means saying that this is what we are about but doing it in such a way that it creates a lot of scope for creative lateral thinking. As long as what we do doesn't interfere with the 'promotion of the Christian religion' within our constitution, then why not do it?  We are just creating more opportunities to engage with a view to some people then wanting to open up faith discussions. I would say it's important to let people have free rein to develop these creative ideas and from that we can hone the sense of community and be stepping stones into commitment.

The results of all of this in terms of relationship between Sanctus1 and Nexus are:

  • less suspicion between the two organisations;

  • some joint ideas associated with prayer groups and events;

  • letting Sanctus1 have a little more ownership of the Nexus space.

Sanctus1 - chaplainsAnother major development is our involvement in the Methodist Church's Chaplaincy Everywhere course. We have taken the opportunity of engaging with Jonathan Green, Chaplaincy Development Project Officer on the Methodist Connexional team. We ran some teaching on the subject for interested community members and we now have six lay chaplains – and me – in Afflecks Palace, a Manchester landmark and an 'eclectic emporium of indie commerce'. This Manchester landmark includes tattoo parlours, a 'pagancraft' centre, and vintage clothing outlets.

There are another three or four people who want to get on board and we'll be running further training in July with the aim of expanding the chaplaincy work across the city's Northern Quarter. There's no doubt that chaplaincy is offering very special opportunities for engagement with the local community and the great thing is that if people want to take the next step and meet somewhere we can point them in the direction of Nexus and Sanctus1 as a place to be.

Nexus Art Café SignI have been here nearly four years and I would say it is only in the past twelve months that we have seen Sanctus1 and Nexus working so closely together. Finance is always an issue and the café doesn't pay my stipend but it is now generating an income. As an independent charity, this means we are in a better position to apply for external grants. We had agreed funding from the Diocese and the Circuit for five years – the Diocese has now agreed to a further two and the Circuit is looking to do the same, though that decision still has to be ratified. Personally I am going through reinvitation stationing this year so we'll have to see what happens in 2014.

Scotland: a new spiritual vision (John Drane)

John Drane explores a new spiritual vision for Scotland.

The first thing to say is that Scotland is not the same as England! We have different legal, educational, and healthcare systems from our nearest neighbours, and soon we might even be a foreign country. Our churches are also different.

Anglicans are Scottish Episcopalians. The national church, the Church of Scotland, is Presbyterian. And whatever you do, don't confuse the Free Church of Scotland with the Free Churches in England! But the challenges and opportunities with which our churches are wrestling are the same as everywhere else in the developed countries of the western world.

The difficulties facing our churches are by no means unique, though we do have some distinctive historical baggage: in common with other European countries where the Reformation had a more stridently puritanical flavour than in England, Scotland is arguably a more secular country than other parts of the UK and many people are openly cynical about the role of religious institutions. Rapid and discontinuous cultural change has also taken its toll on traditional church life and though there are pockets of new life, in many places the story is one of declining numbers and aging congregations.

More than a decade ago, the Church of Scotland's Church without Walls report (2001) gave a focus for new thinking about the nature of a missional church. In 2011 another report (Reformed, Reforming, Emerging and Experimenting), which I jointly authored with Olive Fleming Drane, documented the emergence of new forms of Christian faith community and highlighted the need for fresh thinking that would recognise these ventures within the structures of the church.

As the Joint Emerging Church Group of the Ministries Council and the Mission and Discipleship Council reflected on all this, the obvious conclusion was that the Church of Scotland should become a partner in Fresh Expressions. One church leader recently suggested that this is the first time since the Reformation that the Church of Scotland and the Church of England have collaborated on specifically missional issues (as distinct from social and political matters). I have no idea whether that is entirely true, but it is undoubtedly a momentous opportunity for churches on both sides of the border.

Of course, Fresh Expressions has been represented right from the start in Scotland through those congregations that belong to the Methodist Church and more recently the URC and Salvation Army. They will welcome the Church of Scotland's partnership, not least because the Kirk is numerically dominant over all other Protestant denominations (seven or eight times bigger than all the rest put together) and when it embraces something, that often creates an environment in which others can flourish more easily.

Unlike other denominations though, the Church of Scotland has a presence throughout the country. So this is a significant moment for those who are concerned with the re-evangelisation of Scotland. Central to this vision is an invitation to every parish to explore the possibilities of establishing an appropriately contextualised fresh expression of church by the year 2020 – something that will hopefully be pursued in an ecumenical context.

This will be a major challenge to many congregations, where change of any sort can seem alien and threatening. But a growing number of people have already glimpsed new possibilities and are eager to push forward with a new vision.

Since 2010, more than 200 individuals of all denominations have completed the mission shaped ministry course in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, whilst vision days have taken place in other locations. The new partnerships will hopefully create spaces in which these people will be released to be in the vanguard of the development of fresh expressions in both urban and rural locations.

For there is no doubt that – especially at this time of national uncertainty, as we consider our relationship with the rest of the UK – our people need a new spiritual vision that will take us forward into what by any definition is an unknown future, to hear the gospel afresh in ways that will be comprehensible within today's culture while also remaining true to the call of Jesus.

Car Boot Fair Church

Nick Warren, of St Helen's Church, Hastings, tells of a new initiative that he hopes will develop into a fresh expression of church.

Every Sunday, my wife and I travel in to church from a village just outside Hastings. On our way there, we'd see streams of people going the other way and discovered they were going to car boot fairs in the area. At first, we started praying about how we could get these people to come to church but then, all of a sudden, God put it on our hearts that we should be doing what Jesus would do and go to them – instead of trying to get them to come to us.

We spoke to some people at church about it, including our curate Annette Hawkins, and the idea for a Car Boot Fair Church was born. A group of us ran a pilot project last year to see if there was any interest in it; there certainly was! We provided a covered seating area where people could come and rest, whatever the weather, and we gave out free bottles of water. People were really keen to talk about faith issues with many asking for prayer and Bibles. The Boot Fair organisers even waived their pitch fee.

Boot fair churchWe were so encouraged that a bigger team has now got together to provide Boot Fair Church during the summer. In 2013, the group from St Helen's has been joined by others from Rye Baptist Church and we have the blessing of Icklesham Church; we really hope more fellowships will take on the idea for other car boot fairs in the area.

Boot Fair Church is open from 9am to 12noon fortnightly on Sundays at the very busy Elm Tree Boot Fair in Icklesham and will keep running until the end of the season in September. There's no doubt that we felt we were being called to do it but much of my thinking about how things might develop has come through the Fresh Expressions mission shaped ministry course. 

Watch Nick's msm video diary.

I wanted to be part of msm in Sussex and Surrey and was encouraged to do so by my Rector so that I could look at how we take forward the idea of Boot Fair Church, develop it and use it in order to introduce people to Jesus Christ. Very helpfully, four fifths of the course was paid for by a grant from the Diocese of Chichester and they've been very supportive.

The msm course has given me the chance to stop, think and pray about a wide range of issues. It's all very well going along to the Boot Fairs and showing love to people but what we really want to do is help them get to know the living God. In saying that, you need to understand why you're doing it and how it's being done in order to ensure that what you're offering has integrity and is attractional to those people you're looking to serve. We may think we know what's best for other people but, more often than not, we haven't looked deeply enough into it.

Boot fair church - bannerPart of creating community is being somewhere regularly, building up trust so that people will see you as part of the whole event and expect you to be there. We pray that more and more people will see it as somewhere where they will then feel comfortable to come along and spend time, opening up their hearts and finding out more about God.

I don't know where we're going with Boot Fair Church and it's a mystery as to what type of small group church it will go into; it may go into a traditional church home group, a cell group type structure or a fresh expression of church which reflects the fact that we've gone out into a community and stayed out in that community to see church grow there – rather than trying to haul people back into a more traditional church setting.  I think the most important thing is that we remain open to where God's leading the group and that we serve the needs of those in the group in terms of learning about Jesus Christ and becoming Christians.

We may not know what shape this church will become but to help us find out more about the people we're serving, we're looking to do some sort of survey that we can use to identify what their needs are, why they're there and where they are in their own faith life. It will help us understand the people that we're dealing with and, through that, respond to their needs in a better and more holistic way. It also gives us a further opportunity to have one-to-one conversations with the Boot Fair regulars.

Obviously there are all sorts of challenges associated with this. Boot Fair Church happens on a Sunday morning so that pulls team members away from their own church commitments. We need to understand the concerns within the existing church about that and to keep those involved firmly rooted in the church structure and fed by that structure. Getting that balance right is a potential conflict that can be dealt with but we just need to be honest and aware of it.

We also need to be true to God's call and not be put off when these challenges arise but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's vital to have a good network of people around you, a support team of people you know very well and can trust. 

It's really important to have that support when the going gets tough and there's no doubt that it will get tough, we will get challenged. To be honest I think if we're not being challenged we're probably not doing God's work.

Another point from the msm course that really came over loud and clear to me surrounded the issue of worship in a fresh expression. Initially I had been thinking, 'Yes, we very much must build worship into Boot Fair Church'. Now there has been a real turnaround; I now think, 'Should we be doing that at all to begin with?' We need to be moving people forward gently. If you're dealing with people who have a very basic knowledge of God, the idea of having a time of worship may not be one they have come across before.

Boot Fair Church is a means of discipleship for all of us involved in it, both those on the team and those we're meeting at the Boot Fair. For those we encounter, we need to see it as a 'whole life' matter and the start of a journey of discipleship for them if Boot Fair Church is going to do what God wants to do for them through this ministry.

Uncovering what is hidden (Kim Hartshorne)

Kim Hartshorne uncovers what is hidden.

I recently went to a 'ReSource' weekend away for people interested in finding out more about mission in very different contexts. It involved going to a location with other practitioners and discovering what is happening on the ground. Based around a project or charity rooted in a local community, it was an experiential time offering opportunity for input, reflection and questions.

It was also a very sociable time with lots of eating and drinking, joking and messing about, confession and truth telling.

Weekends are run by a partnership of ACPI (Anglican Church Planting Initiatives), the CMS Pioneer Leadership training course and the Fresh Expressions team. This particular getaway was hosted by Streetspace and the Frontier Youth Trust.

The theme behind them seems to be incarnational, indigenous mission that bubbles up in a local area out of the soil of genuine relationships – rather than something imposed from outside by people who are not locals. It really helped me to get under the skin, understand and experience what these 'new forms of church' really look and feel like – a much better use of time than reading 1,000 books!

The experience energised me and I came home with a head full of thoughts, challenges and inspirations – and a new self-awareness about where I'm struggling and why. Here are a few of the things I learned, re-learned, remembered or caught a glimpse of:

  • The real scope of the church is much larger, more varied and complex than the part we see that self identifies as the church (or the Church). Wherever relationships, mutuality, people becoming more fully human, expressing creativity, working for justice are seen; these are included in the scope/footprint/body of the church. The medium of human relationships is the fertile soil that the hidden church expands and grows in.

  • Many more people are priestly than those who are ordained and recognised as such by the church. They manifest that via relationships; affirming and enabling the expansion of humanity in another – or the working of reconciliation or justice, or the creation of beauty and creativity. They uncover an enlarged reality and often name or map it for the first time. In these cases, the development of new language and means of expression is often a part of the work they offer.

  • The parts of the body that are identified and uncovered are often unaware that they are not the whole church, and so at times they may behave like the hand that says to the body part that is unseen or unglamorous 'we do not have need of you'. Grace is needed, if you are the pancreas! By the same token, the newly minted parts may say to the old wrinkly parts, we are embarrassed by you. This isn't helpful either; each has different experience of parts of this sacramental road we all travel, and travelling together as guides and companions walking at different paces exposes the beauty we all share.

  • At one point, we saw a plaque by a river that said, 'Uncovering what is hidden'. This sums up the work of pioneers for me but it's also the remit of all humans made in God's image. It includes the church as a part of what is hidden and needs to be seen in a new way, re-imagined for a new destiny.

  • I remembered again that I am energised – as an extrovert and pioneer – by being in the thick of a crowd of similarly energised people. I need the banter, the pacey exchange of ideas and challenges, lots of jokes and messing about with those engaged in challenging situations on the edges of the map. I love being out and about, involved in direct work with people but am somewhat deadened by accounts, admin, management, insurance, form filling and box ticking. Sadly, part of being a grown up and running a safe project has to include some of this, but perhaps praying for others to share the tedious stuff would be wise.

  • I learn most from experience, from being out in the context that is being explained and taught. I smell it, taste it, imbibe it and assimilate it, and then apply what I experience to other scenarios. I learned more than I have done in the entire academic year – as well as being more challenged and excited too. It reminded me of who I am in a way that the classroom never can.

  • The real frontier of mission pushes us along the jagged edge of powerlessness, being a guest in another space, building relationships that grow into the creation of another, new space. Other names for this are a thin place, a third space, a liminal space, or the Kingdom of Heaven. We don't turn up with a solution that we invite others into, we open up spaces together that we build and create in together.

  • When I submit to this powerlessness, I am the beneficiary of the mutual discovery in powerful ways that change and transform me. Perhaps more than those I am seeking to journey with, I need this exchange of life to revive and resurrect me! It’s like a blood transfusion.

  • God is in the business of uncovering the hidden; discovering buried treasure. Often what is most precious is buried in us most deeply – we have protected it as a survival strategy when facing risk, danger or pain. This has been true for me. Encounter with others, sharing their pain, gives breakthroughs to the treasure seeker in each of us. Take the risk!

Thirst Too

Thirst meets in St Philip's School, Romsey Town, Cambridge. Sue Butler tells how members of Thirst helped to form a second community in the area, Thirst Too.

As new members of our Thirst community became bolder in sharing their often new-found faith they began reaching out to others they know in the local community of Romsey Town, which is generally the 'town' rather than 'gown' part of Cambridge.

About a year ago, the women at Thirst were discussing how they would like their families and friends to experience what they do – through their relationship with God and each other. We still meet every Friday at school, as well as Tuesdays for prayer and Bible studies, but many of those they were trying to reach wouldn't have been able to make it to St Philip's for Thirst. As a result, we decided to find a suitable time and convenient setting for Thirst Too – a setting where these families and friends would feel comfortable.

For various reasons, the school was not an option as a venue so we approached Romsey Mill, a Christian charity sympathetic to our vision which had sufficient space.

Thirst Too - hatThirst Too now meets there once a month on Saturdays from 5pm to 7pm and whole families are invited. These still tend to be drawn from St Philip's School, and they often bring friends with them as well. So far, we average about 55 people attending.

We have a great team of people who lead with us – although, slowly, those who come along are voluntarily beginning to take ownership of some areas. This is really encouraging. We are also fortunate to have Ridley Hall college close by, and two ordinands and their spouses currently help lead us in this new venture. All leaders from Thirst are involved in setting up and leading along with a couple of other local friends who wanted to be involved in pioneering.

Everyone is expected to bring enough cooked pizza for themselves and any others in their party while we supply drinks. More recently, we have also developed a 'tradition' of buying in chips from the local chippy!

We eat from about 5.15pm in the café area and this is followed by a very short interactive programme which could include film clips, dramas, songs, prayers, talk and a memory Bible verse. That all sounds very organized but there is lots of noise and it is extremely informal; most of what we do is done on a big screen. Some of our videos are from YouTube clips and some are created by a teenager but they always have to be interactive and fun.

Our prayers range from 'shouty out' prayers or 'paper aeroplane prayers' to quieter prayers using stones and written notes to God. The talks are often interactive and are rarely more than three to five minutes in length.

Thirst Too - chipsAfter our prayer time, we announce what's happening next and where it's taking place:

  • the gym usually hosts the football which dads, sons and friends usually run to immediately – others go and watch;

  • there is an art/creative area where we've done seed planting, glass painting and friendship bracelets among many other things;

  • the Veggie Room is the café area which is home to those who like to watch 'VeggieTales' movies, play with toys, colour and glue. There are also newspapers available and a constant supply of hot and cold drinks;

  • upstairs, there's a quiet space with icons, interactive prayer stations and candles where a eucharist is offered for which we follow the Anglican liturgy.

Those who come to Thirst Too say that they love it because it's a place where the whole family is welcome. It's at a convenient time – before X-Factor and after the football results, shopping and housecleaning – and the evening is free if people want to go out afterwards. The older generation is not currently represented there but, otherwise, it attracts all ages.

People also say they like it as it's somewhere to be quiet; in the prayer room for example, whilst the family are all safe elsewhere enjoying their own activities. The dads and boys love to play football and usually we have different games for different ages going on. The young ones like the interaction of being together with their families.

How much 'goes in'? It's often hard to tell: sometimes people are texting, talking and walking around whilst things are going on. It's usually very loud! However, a friend who came along with her young child suggested that a lot more than we realise might be being taken on board. She said it often seems as if her toddler is not listening or engaged with what's going on around him but he then makes comments about things that she and her husband have been talking about. This usually happens when they thought he wasn't paying attention to them. 

My 14-year old can watch a film on TV, listen to music through headphones and do his homework at the same time. How? I think it's the response of a different generation; many are used to screens being on constantly – whether at work or in the home. Some of our families have the TV on from early morning to bedtime and it remains on, even when people visit.

The fact remains that people who have often not had an opportunity in their lives to engage with God have found ways of doing so through our prayer room and all age worship. They definitely see Thirst Too as church, but maybe not as many would know it.

Geochurche

Mark Broomhead, leader of The Order of the Black Sheep in Chesterfield, tells of a new initiative called Geochurche.

The idea first emerged after I had been talking to the leadership of The Order of the Black Sheep about our pattern of meetings. We thought it right to continue to meet every fortnight because that seems to be very much of The Order's success but it meant that we started to think and pray about how we might develop further opportunities to reach those we weren't reaching through the Order.

So we looked again at the place in which we find ourselves, at the edge of the Peak District, and started to find out more about the people who regularly visit here for all sorts of outdoor pursuits.

There is a considerable, weekend population taking part in everything from mountain-biking and rock climbing to rambling, canoeing and… geocaching. This involves people searching for hidden things, or 'caches', by using Ordnance Survey grid coordinates. It's like treasure hunting, with participants using their smartphones, GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking devices or traditional maps to find a series of caches as part of a wilderness 'adventure'.

Geochurche - MarkWhat we plan to do with Geochurche is to hide elements of a service – including prayers and meditations – in pods/caches around the Peak District on routes that can be used by walkers and mountain bikers. The grid coordinates for the 'hidden treasure' will then be shared on our website – along with a final reference point and time for a 'meet'.

This gathering in the wilderness will include opportunity to think about what it has been like to share in such an experience. This will not be the same for everyone as we will set it up in such a way so that different people will access different pods, depending on the time and mode of transport they use – and not everyone will be able to find them. This will hopefully lead to time for reflection on our spiritual journey, some songs around the fire and a sharing of bread and wine.

Geochurche will be a combination of very hi-tech in the way people find the components of the service but very low tech and quite informal in how we all meet up together at the end. It's almost the complete opposite of what we usually do here on a Sunday but we are quite excited about it.

Geochurche - searchingIn a strange sort of way, I think it's very similar to a traditional church model in that some people will want to come to all types of service, from Family Service to Sung Eucharist and everything else in between – but others don't want to do that at all. There will be people in our Order of the Black Sheep community who will want to do this and others who just want to interact with one aspect of it. We have people who love the outdoors and they'll be really interested in finding places to hide the caches while there are others who are interested in doing new forms of liturgy, meditations and reflections so they'll be able to help put the material together. Our hope is that the community will be in the preparation as well as in the finding and the using.

This is about enabling other people to get involved because it's something that isn't highly dependent on me, it's something you can hang things on and other people can use quite easily 

Geochurche - findingMaybe new communities will grow out of Geochurche as people come together and find similar interests, share things and find support and love. It is obviously very different to the current format of The Order of the Black Sheep but we pray it will be used by many to start, and continue, their journeys of faith. We are hoping to create resources so that other groups around the country can do the same, set up their own Geochurches and register the co-ordinates on our website as a central resource. The pods, or caches, can then remain hidden and – over time – become a resource that can be accessed for years to come.

All the information is on our new website (geochurche.com) so that people can join in – initially just in Derbyshire but in time, as more groups form, further and further afield.