New course urges Christians to ‘re-imagine’ the church
-18/09/06
Churches at the cut
New course urges Christians to ‘re-imagine’ the church
-18/09/06
Churches at the cutting edge of creating new church communities and engaging the church in the urban environment have announced the next phase of a pioneering new training course.
The aim is to equip participants to develop creative forms of church life such as ëcafÈ churchesí, peace churches, virtual churches, new monastic communities and churches for the socially excluded.
The ëCrucibleí course, which looks at the principles and practicalities of starting new churches in contemporary cultures, begins in October 2006.
It comes at a time when many local churches and denominations are waking up to their long-term decline, and re-imagining themselves in some surprising new ways.
The latest survey from the organization Christian Research, published today, indicates significant growth in some areas, within an overall pattern of decline among the historic institutions.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is amongst many who have recently talked of the need to allow structures to be “more permissive than prescriptive” in order to inform the delivery of ëfresh expressionsí of church.
ëCrucibleí was piloted last year with 45 people participating. It launches its second year in October 2006, and will run for three weekends.
The venture has emerged from a partnership between several organisations in the Root and Branch network, which includes the UK Christian think-tank Ekklesia.
It describes itself as a training programme for ìChristians with courage and imaginationî and assumes that Christians live in a mission context, termed by some post-Christendom í, and need to think creatively about church in diverse and changing cultures.
ìThe course is based on the conviction that Christians in Britain (and across western culture) are facing profound challenges as well as fresh opportunities. The long era of Christendom is coming to an end. We now live in a plural society, with multiple religious options alongside secular assumptions, in which Christianity has largely lost its position of dominance and privilegeî says Stuart Murray Williams, an experienced church innovator in East London who is also one of the trainers on the course.
He adds: ìAlthough Christians seem to be declining in numbers, the post-Christendom environment offers many new possibilities ñ if Christians have the courage and imagination to grasp them.î
Another of Crucibleís basic principles is that God is to be found on the margins of society among the socially excluded, poor and disenfranchised, and at the margins of culture, where creative thinking explores new possibilities.
The new course is co-sponsored by theological training programme Workshop, Urban Expression – an urban church planting initiative – and the Salvation Armyís Alove project. It is accredited through the Baptist theological college, Spurgeon’s.
Three weekends cover ‘church planting’, ‘urban mission’ and ’emerging church’. The course is flexible so participants can book in for one or two weekends or for the whole course.
Participants also get the opportunity to take part in a practical placement to work alongside church planters or others involved in urban mission. The Crucible course begins its second year in Birmingham on 28-29 October.
More information about Crucible can be found at: http://www.cruciblecourse.net.
New course urges Christians to ‘re-imagine’ the church
-18/09/06
Churches at the cutting edge of creating new church communities and engaging the church in the urban environment have announced the next phase of a pioneering new training course.
The aim is to equip participants to develop creative forms of church life such as ëcafÈ churchesí, peace churches, virtual churches, new monastic communities and churches for the socially excluded.
The ëCrucibleí course, which looks at the principles and practicalities of starting new churches in contemporary cultures, begins in October 2006.
It comes at a time when many local churches and denominations are waking up to their long-term decline, and re-imagining themselves in some surprising new ways.
The latest survey from the organization Christian Research, published today, indicates significant growth in some areas, within an overall pattern of decline among the historic institutions.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is amongst many who have recently talked of the need to allow structures to be “more permissive than prescriptive” in order to inform the delivery of ëfresh expressionsí of church.
ëCrucibleí was piloted last year with 45 people participating. It launches its second year in October 2006, and will run for three weekends.
The venture has emerged from a partnership between several organisations in the Root and Branch network, which includes the UK Christian think-tank Ekklesia.
It describes itself as a training programme for ìChristians with courage and imaginationî and assumes that Christians live in a mission context, termed by some post-Christendom í, and need to think creatively about church in diverse and changing cultures.
ìThe course is based on the conviction that Christians in Britain (and across western culture) are facing profound challenges as well as fresh opportunities. The long era of Christendom is coming to an end. We now live in a plural society, with multiple religious options alongside secular assumptions, in which Christianity has largely lost its position of dominance and privilegeî says Stuart Murray Williams, an experienced church innovator in East London who is also one of the trainers on the course.
He adds: ìAlthough Christians seem to be declining in numbers, the post-Christendom environment offers many new possibilities ñ if Christians have the courage and imagination to grasp them.î
Another of Crucibleís basic principles is that God is to be found on the margins of society among the socially excluded, poor and disenfranchised, and at the margins of culture, where creative thinking explores new possibilities.
The new course is co-sponsored by theological training programme Workshop, Urban Expression – an urban church planting initiative – and the Salvation Armyís Alove project. It is accredited through the Baptist theological college, Spurgeon’s.
Three weekends cover ‘church planting’, ‘urban mission’ and ’emerging church’. The course is flexible so participants can book in for one or two weekends or for the whole course.
Participants also get the opportunity to take part in a practical placement to work alongside church planters or others involved in urban mission. The Crucible course begins its second year in Birmingham on 28-29 October.
More information about Crucible can be found at: http://www.cruciblecourse.net.