Lev's Blog

 The enforced closing of Sunday and other "in-person" gathering led to many churches experimenting with online and alternative methods of working. But I wonder if enough reflection has been done theologically, and ecclesiologically around this. I wonder what moving forward post-covid will look like, or will the moment be lost in the haste of re-opening, of going back to our old ways? Frost & Hirsch in their influential book from a few years ago now, "The Shaping of Things to Come". raise some questions worth reflecting on Do you need to meet in a church building? Not necessarily. Do you need to meet weekly? Not necessarily. The first Christians met every day. A church can meet as often as it needs in order to fulfill the above commitments.  Do you need a minister? Not necessarily. The New Testament is clear on the need for accountability, admonishment, and learning. It does speak about leaders (elders) exercising humble and loving care for a community. But you d...

There's a lot of nonsense being written, spoken and spread during this season. Of course it has always been this way, but social media and many of us spending time and getting information online seems to have amplified this. What is needed, especially but not exclusively, for Christians is discernment, balance and wisdom. There is politicized  nonsense: both left and right using the pandemic, economic issues, Brexit etc for point scoring. For example: is being asked to wear a mask really about creeping government control over our lives, or a sensible act of love for neighbours? Added to this is spiritualized  rehtoric. I heard an online sermon recently from a pastor I have some real-world acquaintance with. It was on being ready for Jesus' return (nothing wrong with that!). But she just about stopped short of making anti-vaccine comments, and then trotted out stuff about new world orders, and all kinds of things that I'm personally not sure were helpful (and not just becaus...

Breaking out of our "forms" One of the things that 2020 and the Covid-19 crisis has exposed, is that Churches are set on their "forms": their ways of working and doing things, and that breaking out of those is tricky! My experience is with those churches who are "free churches": we are not bound by Bishops or canon law, yet we find it hard to think beyond our inherited ways. This has meant that over the years there have been battles about the "forms": the way we organised services and set things up. We had struggles over the music, the so called "worship-wars", the issues around charismatic renewal and the place of the gifts of the Spirit in our gatherings. In the 2000's along came the "emerging church" movement, which tried to approach things in new ways, leading to "fresh expressions". And things have changed. But in many ways we are still struggling to break free from a Christendom mindset (see Stuart Murray...