Phil Wood discusses church with boots on.
I've always been a keen walker, enjoying hiking, rambling, birdwatching and prayer-walking. I'm sure I never thought when I was a child growing up in Bury as I made my way over Turton, Holcombe Hill and Knowle Moor (now home to a forest of wind turbines) that it might be possible to enjoy a pastime I love – and do church at the same time.
There already are organisations for Christian walkers, but here's an idea with a difference – not an ecumenical 'fellowship' made up of Christians who walk in their spare time but a church that walks! Imagine a congregation where the essential elements of church take place on the move.
Maybe this is a 'fresh expression' but that's not to say it hasn't been done before. As I began to talk to a few people about my crazy idea I found others on the same wavelength. Rebecca Seaton's work on a Cumbrian 'walking church' especially caught my eye.
From the beginning of the biblical story, an often highly creative tension has existed between nomads and settlers. Equally, in the New Testament there is a thrilling picture of disciples at home and on the road linked together by the practice of hospitality. Methodists have always been associated with the image of a rider and not a walker, but there are plenty of relevant examples.
Anyone who knows something of the history of Cliff College will hear clear echoes of Samuel Chadwick's trekking Methodist friars in the present proposal. Within my own Anabaptist setting, a 'walking church' has particular resonance. Five hundred years of martyrdom, migration and marginality have blasted the experience of the open road into the consciousness of the tradition.
Around 20% of the UK population is involved in walking as a leisure activity. In large areas of Britain there are more people out walking on a Sunday than going to worship. 'Walking church' offers a way to establish church within walking networks without surgically removing people from their culture.
These are early days for 'walking church' and there are all kinds of practicalities to be considered, not least what to do about the weather, but I'm itching to get my boots on the path in 2011. Right now I'm gathering responses and preparing to relocate to London in January. The aim is to launch 'walking church' next year, but before then there's lots of work to be done and shoe leather to burn.