Future Shape of Church is a weblog exploring the future of The Church in western society and culture.
(more)But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
(more)'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’
(more)During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
(more)Jesus said to Mary, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,* ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).
The time between Christmas and Lent in the Church calendar is known as Epiphany. It is a time between times, bridging the gap between the festival of Christmas where we celebrate God Incarnate, becoming flesh and blood in Jesus Christ made of the dust of the World, and the festival of Easter where we celebrate God Transcendent, moving beyond the limitations of this world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(more)One feature of certain strands of Postmodern theology is a rejection of the idea that Christianity requires the factuality of God. God is then a story, a narrative constructed by human beings, and religion is a thing of value that can exist independent of the actuality of a divine being.
(more)A friend and I went to the a town pub last Christmas Eve; we had two encounters, quite different.
The first encounter was with a young female – we didn’t get her name. As we sat and mulled over the past year we heard her speak about her faith, she attended an Evangelical Charismatic Church on the outskirts of the city. However she had a more liberal approach to her faith, both theologically and socially. She was clearly aware of the tensions between her worship environment and chosen faith community and her inner awareness.
(more)The church is in total darkness apart from one side chapel, which is softly lit. Ambient music plays quietly in the background. One by one people arrive, they are young - mainly teenagers and twenty something's. There is a table in chapel with a range of sweets, drinks and snacks, people serve one another and themselves and relax. After a while Peter welcomes everyone to the gathering, he is the guide for the evening, although many people have contributed to its preparation. He introduces the first part of the gathering; there are a number of worship items to explore. People make there way to the various tables and chairs in the chapel.
(more)This article documents four experiences of church, four shapes of church that both represent what is 'emergent' and inform us of what forms future church may take. They are based on my personal experience over 12 years, they are therefore suspect as historical data; what is important is the shape, not the final details.
(more)The Church's response to sex is a thorny issue. I don't think we can pretend that our present culture is any more or less obsessed with sex than any other or previous culture, but the issue is evolving constantly. The consequences of sex particularly have changed in the last 30 years, pregnancy and social stigma may be out, but Aids and Chlamydia are certainly in.
(more)European western society has a tradition of links between the secular and the religious. In the UK this link is expressed through the established churches in England and Scotland that aim to offer pastoral care to all in the community. However it is increasingly obvious that those in the community do not always share the same religion as the established religious bodies, and if they do the individual beliefs that those established churches represent.
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