the 'big idea' is of a church metamorphosing from being comfortable in its own building to starting again with no building and meeting in the high street of walthamstow. bishop david hawkins gave it the official 'kick-off' today, so that next week the core congregation will meet in the high street and begin the double-listening process: to god, and to the local community. no-body knows what form this new community of faith will take as it will be shaped in and by the local community in relationship with the people of faith.
and that's the thing that people find hard to understand - what will this thing look like? how much will it cost? what will you do? they sound like realistic questions, but they're really only realistic from a certain 'church' paradigm, which is not the paradigm that the new expression of faith is working from.
bishop david said, 'for 2000 years we've made the mistake of putting the church before mission. church is meant to grow from mission, not the other way around. so, from next week, the emphasis will change as mission will come first.' the paradigm will change from 'church' to 'mission'.
that mission will be undergirded by the agreed 4 core values of the new congregation: new, generous, embracing, transforming. what those core values look like in practical action will depend on what happens through the double-listening process.
this will be very interesting to see how a (largely) traditional anglican church reinvents itself as it seeks to follow in jesus' footsteps down the high street in walthamstow. i'll keep posting on this as and when....
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