The Revd Clive Hicks, Healthy Churches Development Enabler, writes about being a healthy church outside the church building and on the streets - Healthy Streetlife.
Scotland, last October:
I joined a learning community of people with a special interest in practicing their faith in the great outdoors (Forest Church, working with charities like The Woodland Trust, outward bound centres), I was challenged by a young woman who said church was ‘only outdoors’ for her, these days. It seemed a bit extreme to disregard ‘indoors’, but I was listening!
Healthy Streetlife:
A month later, bible scholar John Drane, proudly posted from his son’s PhD graduation day – Mark, an architect, has delivered a piece of work on the interface between the built environment and public health, arguing that designers and health professionals are obliged to attend to each other’s concerns for public good. Some ministries in our diocese are intentionally focused in this space (Street Pastors, Embrace, to name but two).
Gospel Readings, February:
This month (February) three of the lectionary Gospel readings see Jesus not only outdoors, but in more remote mountain and lakeside settings (Luke 5.1-11; 6.17-26; 8.22-25). The so-called Ministry of Jesus in Galilee (Luke 4.14-9.50) – based on an analysis of verses – shows that recorded passages outside towns accounted for 51%, including clues like ‘when they were outside the town’; a further 41% are set in towns and private houses there; just 8% in my reading were set explicitly in religious buildings – synagogues.
Our Galilee:
One of my favourite points in the Leading Your Church Into Growth (LyCiG) resources is the appropriately named ‘Mapping Our Galilee’ exercise. It causes your church team to think together about points of contact with people (often outside and away from church buildings) within a parish. I recall a lady telling us about the relationships she made walking the local golf course. The Diocese of Peterborough (Step 2: Begin where you are) shows this within a wider set of ideas for parish mission.
Street Encounters:
Larger than life Christian ministers like Francis of Assisi, John Wesley, Trevor Huddleston and Mark Marx (Healing on the Streets, HOTS), have all manifested their faith in the great outdoors, with very significant outcomes. Famously, it was the 9 year old Desmond Tutu who was greatly influenced by Huddleston’s respect for his mother outside a hostel for blind women.
For some time I have been reflecting that our churches (building-focused ministries) need to adapt to the very different needs of people who are ‘missing from church’. Efforts to welcome these missing groups mean adapting our culture and spaces to and for them. To complement this, I wonder now if we – as individuals, small groups and churches - don’t also need to reschedule away from our comfortable spaces to meet people where they are, and there is a myriad of places and times where this might be possible.