Jeff's Journal

The Next Phase

The sabbatical this summer has been organized around the exploration of the missional church. I was at CBF’s General Assembly earlier in the summer to network with other US churches on the missional journey. (I have discovered that the term “missional” has no concrete meaning.) Then it was to study the founding of the Modern Mission Movement through the letters of William Carey and Andrew Fuller at the Angus Library. And now, the next phase, is to visit with UK missional leaders. The venue is the Greenbelt Festival.

Part of the global discussion (or at least in the US and the UK) has been centered on the engagement of young adults in the Christian journey. There are incredible facilities in the UK, but you open the doors and wonder where are the people? The old nursery song has a different ending these days. This has caused the Church of England to invest in new forms and fresh expressions. Most of these leaders refer to their work as building a missional community.

Last night I was invited to a gathering called Feig. Feig is a missional community out of Gloucester Cathedral led by Michael Volland and his wife Rachel. Michael is finishing his vicar training at Gloucester Cathedral and hosted the gathering. It was good to see some of my UK friends and make new acquaintances.

The evening was very “organic”. Dinner was in the Lady Chapel with only candles to illuminate the room – very medieval and appropriate since this section of the cathedral was built in the 13th Century. Afterwards, the group moved to the nave to walk the labyrinth as a prayer for preparation for Greenbelt. The church building is very beautiful and incredible. I don’t know many churches in the states that have a master mason on their staff, but one is needed for this church. (But then again, I noticed their coffee shop did not have chicken fried steak on the menu. Such is our heritage.)

I left with a couple of impressions. One was that the Cathedral of such influence has recognized the need for “fresh forms” to allow Michael to lead this new work is remarkable. As mentioned above, this is an incredible facility (and was used in one of the Harry Potter movies) and using the venue, there are many possibilities for utilizing the forms of the past to reach the population of the present. I admit, I was a bit envious of the atmosphere created for the dinner and then the expanse of the nave with a solitary light on the west window and candles around the labyrinth.

The other impression I had was that this type of work has moved beyond demographics to psychographics. There were many people younger than me in the room and that has been a common experience for the last decade of this journey. But, last night I noticed there were many people my age and older in the room and some had been commissioned by the Anglican Church to begin new forms work. I sought out these folks to hear their stories. I heard a different verse, but the same chorus of those who had felt far from “the church”. I think this is something new to consider. Rather than thinking demographic, there is something broader to consider.

The other impression came from being lost trying to get to the cathedral last night. (I am nothing but consistent with my driving.) Again, as I have seen in every city in Europe, there were many women wearing chadris walking the streets of Gloucester from the markets. Again, I cannot help but believe the discussion is moving broader and deeper.

posted by Jeff Waldo @ 3:03 AM