humbler church Bigger God - w/c 6 February 2022

Welcome to our exciting HeartEdge programme for 2022. We hope you will be able to join us, whether at online events or at our in-person events around the world. You can find all our events on our website — and if you're a HeartEdge partner, you can upload your own events through the members' area.

Last year, we launched Living God's Future Now, an online festival of theology and practice. We hosted workshops, webinars, spaces to gather and share ideas, lecture series, and more. This year, we're continuing our programming with a new theme — humbler church, Bigger God.

HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored.

We hope this reflects the lessons we've learnt from the past year: still trying to live God's future now, re-imagining our faith and our calling as a Church in a changing world. Thank you for joining us for the journey — we can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Monday

Contemplation as a Gift to the Church: Humbler Church, Bigger God

Monday 7 February, 14:00 – 15:30 GMT. Register here.

A four-week series exploring different examples of how contemplation is a gift to the church. Week One will look at the Nazareth Community and the Companions of Nazareth. This workshop will be led by Revd Richard Carter and Revd Catherine Duce, and is an opportunity to learn about the life of the community, and to consider how it could be applied in your own contexts.

Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells

Join us for our weekly discussion of the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

4.30 - 5.30pm BST live-streamed here.

Church History course

Monday 7 February, 19:45-21:00 GMT. Register here.

This course provides an introduction to and an overview of church history. If we are to see a humbler Church and a bigger God, we need to deal with the history of the Church to understand where we are now, and why? With Ruth Gouldbourne, who has been a Baptist minister for more than 30 years. Week 2; The Fathers – who they?

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners workshop

Wednesday 19 January, 16:00-17.00 (GMT), Zoom. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register.
This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a theology book. This week we will be using 'Wonderings' to reflect on the past week.

Advance Notice

Faith in the time of the ‘new normal’

3, 17 & 31 March, 7 April, 7:15pm. Register here.

A series of Lenten conversations hosted by The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. This series aims to help congregations and house groups reflect on how Christians may understand the changes we’ve been through as a society, and the new ‘place’ we may be entering.

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Dissident Prophet - Unconditional Love.