The HeartEdge panels at Greenbelt were very well attended, with more coming than could be accommodated within the tent. HeartEdge was in Exchange, Greenbelt’s venue for thinking about business, and how we can make enterprise work better for the common good. Exchange was supported by Midcounties Co-op, Co-op Energy, Phone Co-op, Anthony Collins Solicitors, Co-operatives UK and by New Internationalist magazine. Our thanks to all of them for their organisation and welcome.
Each session provided plenty of ideas, stories and challenges for those attending from the material our stellar selection of panellists prepared and the responses they gave on the day. We had lots of useful conversations with people afterwards interested in HeartEdge and the mission models and theological ideas we are sharing. A good number of HeartEdge members were also present renewing their inspiration and appreciating the experiences and ideas you shared. In the sessions themselves people commented positively on the energy of our panellists, as well as the energy of the dialogue within the panels and with the audience.
In the first panel on re-imagining church and culture, artist Jonathan Kearney argued that art markets and education have been hijacked by capitalism and managerialism squashing imagination. He suggested that gift, generosity and care for culture were all necessary for a cultural renaissance. Giles Goddard of St John's Waterloo spoke about the Waterloo Festival which is part of that church's engagement with their wider community and which speaks of love, hope and transformation. He argued that capitalism has appropriated culture, so it is important for the church to be engaged with delight and light.
Andrew Earis spoke about preparing a BBC service on the Manchester bombing including the importance of using a diversity of local people as well as diverse music. He aims to open hearts and minds to a broad range of music and says that music in concerts and services are all church. Yoghurt, salt and ointment were all used by Anna Sikorska as visual aids to talk about art and culture. Church can be a part of a cultural renaissance, she said, but needs partners as involvement can't be done alone. The church may sometimes be on the edge of the cultural renaissance, but conversations of re-imaging culture may best happen with other partners on the edge. She showed a Stations of the Cross tea towel designed with homeless people at St James Piccadilly as an example of engaging broadly.
Cliff Mills of Anthony Collins Solicitors began the second panel session on re-imagining church and commerce by stating that commerce is not secondary to Church, but is a valid expression of mission. In this session we heard from Ruth Amos who spoke about faith in the business world from an entrepreneur’s point of view. Faith is sustaining in challenging times. Faith within the work-place in a manufacturing sector is expressed in dealing with colleagues, dealers, suppliers, and other third parties. David Alcock of Anthony Collins Solicitors shared the journey of that law firm which is committed to values and has a social purpose. He spoke about faith in the context of: interacting with colleagues and clients; areas of work to focus on or get out of; and strategic direction and planning. Rob Wardle of Cre8 spoke from his own experience, at a micro level, about how ‘work’ within and for church or charity seems like a natural thing for him to do. He spoke about drawing inspiration from the old monastic tradition where the work of our hands is understood to be sacred and described why Cre8’s principles seem to appeal to entrepreneurs.
Mark Kinder shared experience from 11 years of running a church (St Paul's Walsall) which has within it shops, coffee shops, charity offices etc. in a context of significant deprivation (within 3% most deprived parishes). His key points: included addressing misunderstanding/suspicion of commerce as somehow dirty which reflects a Gnosticism within modern Christian thinking; re-imagining commerce as part of Kingdom of God - human flourishing, work as creation gift, etc. to give examples of how jobs and training have been created; re-imagining sustainability for a church in an Urban Priority Area - developing property income to diversify and addressing the shortage of housing in Walsall; re-imagining commerce itself in a way that recreates the relationship between customer and provider which modern commerce has removed.
Sam Wells offered three models of church and commerce and reflected on how to work out which is the best fit for what your congregation is and needs:
- Instrumental. Undertake a legitimate trading activity that has no direct social impact, make a profit, and then transfer that profit to other activities that do have direct social impact, whether simply the sustainability of the congregation and its building, or such mission projects as it pursues.
- Exemplary. Undertake a trading activity that has no direct social impact, but seek to do so in an exemplary way, paying good wages, having a minimal environmental footprint, using locally generated resources, promoting fair trade practices, and so on, while still transferring profit to the activities mentioned under (1) above.
- Social. Undertake a trading activity whose profit return is evidently secondary to the indirect social impact sought.
In the third panel session on re-imagining church and congregation Wale Hudson-Roberts began by suggesting that understanding inclusivity presents those that currently have power and prestige within churches with the challenge of relinquishing that power, in order to give place to those who are less powerful or on the edge. Simon Woodman said that his church, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church had come to an understanding that to realise that it mattered deeply that ‘everyone’ belongs because everyone absolutely belongs with God, was an old insight newly found. This commitment to inclusion is the beginning and not the end of a journey of belonging.
Philippa Boardman argued that ‘Buildings building community’ and ‘Being a parish for the whole parish’ are keynotes in renewal. Church becomes a place in which bridges are built within the community as people are brought together for the common good. Rosemarie Mallett said that church is not just for those in the pews, but for all those around. Her church, St John’s Angell Town, is a black congregation in a Victorian church building in the middle of four brutalist-style estates. The major asset for churches and communities are their young people.
Philippa Boardman argued that ‘Buildings building community’ and ‘Being a parish for the whole parish’ are keynotes in renewal. Church becomes a place in which bridges are built within the community as people are brought together for the common good. Rosemarie Mallett said that church is not just for those in the pews, but for all those around. Her church, St John’s Angell Town, is a black congregation in a Victorian church building in the middle of four brutalist-style estates. The major asset for churches and communities are their young people.
In the final panel session on re-imaging church and compassion there was critique of housing policies including the lack of genuinely affordable house, the rhetoric of the 'undeserving poor' and of Brexit. Al Barrett said that he is interested in forming a neighbourhood where generosity is practised. Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk spoke of the need to protect those on the fringe of church from those at the centre.
Pam Orchard of The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields shared her thoughts in a letter to a 'stranger' on how we can work together to provide compassion. It gives me a real sense of achievement to see you helping other clients with art projects, she wrote, noting that no one has a monopoly on experience and saying that together we make a great team. Anthony Reddie spoke about the dangers of contractual compassion and the respectability politics that often seem embedded into Mission Christianity.
Sam Wells also spoke on the theme of 'Who is my Neighbour?', saying that we become human beings by encountering those who are other and that this is an adventure for us.
The beautiful setting of the Colonnades at Boughton Hall provided a perfect setting for the choral music of St Martin's Voices in Great Sacred Music sessions on prayer and love led by Sam Wells and Andrew Earis. St Martin's Voices also sang at a service in Shelter that I led with Andrew Earis entitled 'Tell out my Soul!' exploring the inspiration of hymnwriters and the theology of some of the most popular hymns as included in the Songs of Praise Top 100 Hymns.
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St Martin's Voices - I Stood On The River Of Jordan.
