Monthly Archives: January 2018
A Neglected British Estate and An Iranian Refugee
At the conclusion of his editorial ‘Place, Time and Identity’ in this issue of the journal, Alan Roxburgh states ‘The gift of the Spirit… is these amazingly patient, faith filled “others” from Africa, Latin America, First Nations, from beyond the West”. Farhad Chermahini was not ‘faith-filled’ when he first came to the UK. He was a nominal Moslem at that time. From a political family and oppressed...
A Church in Englewood and Place in our Culture
Chris Smith is co-author of Slow Church[1] and editor of the Englewood Review of Books. Here in conversation with Alan Roxburgh he describes how his own church transitioned from its life as a large city church into a vibrant neighbourhood church deeply embedded within its community. That church was able to make this transition because of its long history...
Looking for Hope … all over the place
Anniversaries are moments of pause looking back at the expectations with which one began a journey and checking out the realities of the present. This month is the anniversary of the 1968 May workers and student uprisings in Paris that spread across Europe and the Atlantic, creating for some governments the fear of revolution. These events were driven by a faith that...
Building Trust: How Come You Guys Don’t Give Up On Us?
The redeveloped building centred around a coffee bar, a worship area and a series of rooms that could be used by the community for activities as diverse as a food bank, a ladies pamper night and, under TLG, a school for excluded children. Much of this activity has produced good relationships with many in the community that have struggled with life and finding their place in the broader society. Some of these folk...
Book review: Faithful Presence by David Fitch
This conversation between David Fitch and Alan Roxburgh revolves around David’s recent book Faithful Presence[1] and his life in a church plant near Chicago. David describes his book under three headings: The Presence of God at work in localities, discerned through Practices such as Eucharist, shared meals and reconciliation. We are located in Places where sometimes we will be gathered with other Christians and sometimes...
Following the Spirit, Finding Life, Sharing Bread
In this video interview with Alan Roxburgh, Fred Liggin recalls when his church took up listening practices among the elders and then the congregation and at the same time, began walking with a homeless family who went on to flourish within their community. Eighteen other faith groups in the city became interested in this way of working and across the city...
A Latino experience of place in the USA: the difference race makes.
As the child of Guatemalan missionaries Jennifer Guerra Aldana has had to negotiate issues of race and displacement. She now serves as pastor in a bilingual congregation. In a video interview with Alan Roxburgh she describes how in her ministry they seek to hold the tension of an inter-cultural approach which values insights from the juxtaposition of cultures. In the light of this, Alan Roxburgh introduces the conversation about a theology of place and his growing awareness that this conversation sometimes makes assumptions based on white privilege...
The End of Liberalism? What the Euro-tribal churches are missing.
The books mentioned propose that the modern, liberal Western imagination is at the root of our current crises and malaise. Liberalism isn’t something that needs to be fixed or adjusted; it is the problem. The challenge isn’t fixing but the construction of a fundamentally different imagination rooted in the Christian and Classic understandings of virtue and the Good. Liberalism is an ideology...
Webinar: Why Stories Matter
It is stories that transform our lives. But we have largely given over the awareness of our lives to experts and so-called professionals who, so the reasoning goes, because of their training, expertise and degrees, know our minds. We have to discover, again, how to share and listen to the stories buried, and often lost, within us. As God’s people we believe it is within such stories that the Spirit is fermenting imagination and life.
Re-imagining church and mission in the Scottish borders
The first year was to be a year of listening to the community. What was God up to in this neighbourhood? That was not an easy discipline for Alistair who was something of an activist and could easily frame what he might do in this situation. The point of the year of listening was to ask questions and particularly to gain a sense of the spiritual journeys that people were engaged in. Year two saw Alistair and Ruth initiating a gathering – the Gateways Gathering. This gathering responded ...