At the heart. On the edge.

Following the recent HeartEdge conference, our next HeartEdge events are two Introductory Days in Manchester and Inverness:

• at the heart. on the edge. Wednesday 31 October 2018 at St Peter's House, Oxford Road, Manchester. Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support. A day with Revd Dr Sam Wells and guests. Panel discussion, theology, practical ‘how to’ focus. Networking. Connecting. Lunch & refreshments. Refreshments 10am. Programme 10.30am. Finish 3.30pm. Book in here - http://bit.ly/2LDT7Es.
• ‘At the heart. On the edge.' Tuesday 13 November, 10.00am - 3.30pm. A day hosted by Rev Fiona Smith, Minister of Ness Bank Parish Church, and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the- Fields, which includes theology, ideas, solutions and support for re-imagining Church. A programme has been developed jointly by Ness Bank Church and St Martin’s. The day, to be held at Ness Bank Church on Tuesday 13 November 10 am to 3.30 pm, will explore, with contributions from local churches, mission and ministry in relation to the four pillars of HeartEdge: Congregation; Commerce; Compassion; and Culture. Among those contributing are: Rev Sarah Murray (Provost St Andrew’s Cathedral Inverness), Allan Dunbar (Christians Against Poverty debt programme), Isobel Grigor (Chief Executive of Calman Trust), Rev Fiona Smith (Inverness Foodstuff). St Martin’s Fellows directed by Andrew Earis with perform Great Sacred Music, a 35-minute sequence of choral music speaking to heart, head and soul which explores through song and readings the great classical music of our religious heritage. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/at-the-heart-on-the-edge-tickets-48122091471. 

Other HeartEdge speaking engagements include:

• How can church survive and thrive in the context of world and kingdom? Sam Wells at Bell Vue Baptist Southend on Wednesday 3 October, 6.30-9.30pm (Bell Vue Baptist Church, Southend on Sea, SS1 2QA). Doors open 6pm. Talk 1: 6.30pm Break: 7.45pm Talk 2: 8.20pm. Details here and here.
• Salt Conference 2018: #StandTogether, Friday, 5 October 2018 – 9.30am to 4.30pm at Central Hall Westminster, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH. Organised by Christian Aid's SALT Business Network to learn how to support and equip changemakers in whichever business God has called you to. With business leaders from a range of sectors on how they’re transforming business, communities and lives. HeartEdge will run a workshop on Start:Stop. Conference guests include: Michael Hastings – Global Head of Citizenships for KPMG International; David Connor – founder of the 2030hub and Coethica; Sophi Tranchell MBE – Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, the innovative international Fairtrade cocoa cooperative in Ghana; and Martin Rich – cofounder and Executive Director of Future Fit Foundation. Tickets cost £55. Details here.

HeartEdge is an emerging network initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields - more here http://bit.ly/2mRUzWX.

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Bruce Cockburn - Strong Hand of Love. 

HeartEdge out & about in the Autumn

Members of the HeartEdge team will be out and about in the autumn contributing to events organised by local churches and business networks.

The first event is 'Today's Church: A Call to Social Action' at St Martin's Church, Burton Agnes on Saturday 22 September.

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:35-36

If you feel called to respond in any way to these words of Jesus then come and join us! We shall have with us the Revd Jonathan Evens, Associate Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields London & Project Coordinator for HeartEdge and the Rt. Revd Alison White, Bishop of Hull. Please bring any food you may need. To book your place email hoppertiffy@hotmail.com or call 01262 490019 by 15th September 2018. Only £5.00 and refreshments included.'

In my talk I’ll be exploring how we might find our way to becoming abundant communities that open space for generosity and cooperation in models that serve local need and address social justice. I’ll also be talking about the five ‘goods’ of flourishing, fulfillment, inspiration, blessing, and hope and will be suggesting that care comes not out of self-important altruism but out of recognition of our own need, and desire to be transformed by the strangers God sends us.

I will then be speaking on 'Visual Art: re-imaging the Christian story' at St Luke's Maidenhead at 7.45pm on Thursday 27th September -see http://www.stlukeschurchmaidenhead.org.uk/Pages/CalendarF.html.

Bell Vue Baptist Southend will be hosting 'An Evening with Sam Wells' on Wednesday 3rd October, 6.30-9.30pm (Bell Vue Baptist Church, Southend on Sea, SS1 2QA). Doors open 6pm. Talk 1: 6.30pm Break: 7.45pm Talk 2: 8.20pm.

'Sam Wells is one of the best thinkers and practitioners we have today in the area of ministry and mission.

Last year with St Martin-in-the-Fields, his church, he launched HeartEdge a new network that wants to help churches find a future bigger than their past. At the centre of this vision is the importance of congregation, culture, commerce and compassion.

This will be an opportunity to hear him inspire and challenge us on what it mean for us to be the kind of church that survives and thrives in the context of world and kingdom.

www.bvbc.org.uk | @bvbc_southend | facebook.com/bellevuebaptist

Finally, we will be contributing to the Salt Conference 2018: #StandTogether, Friday, 05 October 2018 – 9.30am to 4.30pm at Central Hall Westminster, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH.

This is a conference organised by Christian Aid's SALT Business Network to explore faith, business and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The conference provides a unique opportunity to learn how you can be supported and equipped to be a changemaker in whichever business God has called you to.

Listen to business leaders from a range of sectors and hear how they’re transforming business, communities and lives.

Find out how you can join with other Christian business leaders to be a real force for good in the world.

Guest speakers include:

• Paul Gerrad – Director, Group Policy and Campaigns, at The Co-operative Group
• Lord Dr (Michael) Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE – Global Head of Citizenships for KPMG International
• David Connor – founder of the 2030hub and Coethica
• Sophi Tranchell MBE – Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, the innovative international Fairtrade cocoa cooperative in Ghana
• Martin Rich – cofounder and Executive Director of Future Fit Foundation

As well as high profile speakers from across the faith and business spheres, there will be opportunities to take part in workshops on a wide range of topics such as:

• Culture making at work
• B Corps: using business as a force for good
• Modern slavery in supply chains
• Future Fit Business Benchmark
• Finding your rhythm of grace
• Stop:Start – 10 minute reflections for people on their way to work (led by HeartEdge)
• The Bible and Business
• Putting purpose into practice – some challenges and opportunities 

The conference is a day to inspire, support and equip Kingdom business leaders. Tickets cost £55 each.
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Innocence Mission - Look Out From Your Window.

HeartEdge update - events & articles

HeartEdge, the growing ecumenical network of churches initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields, is attracting increasing interest as we take our introductory event around Great Britain.

Our West Midlands regional event was held at St Martin in the Bullring on 11 October with 60+ participants. Feedback included: ‘Each element gave me food for thought and made me reflect and inspired.’ ‘A thought provoking, inspiring day.’ ‘Very well paced, well structured.’

Our South West Regional event was held at St Michael’s Church Centre Stoke Gifford on 8 November with 70+ participants. Feedback included: ‘This day was a great investment and blessing.’ ‘My mind is spinning with challenge, brilliant!’ ‘Firestarter.’ ‘A wonderful day and thought-provoking, poignant, going back to my church to see if it’s possible to join HeartEdge.’

Here is some of the twitter comment on our South West event:

• IC and @NewRootsOnline in Bristol for @HeartEdge_ started with great cakes so looks promising
• The singular benefactor model can “shrink the imagination of the congregation...” We’re doing #heartedge in #Bristol #WestCountry
• “The Benefactor model and the Stewardship model have things going for them - but neither are working...”
• Commercial and cultural activity as alternative to benefactor and stewardship. The story of Vivaldi - composer, violinist, priest and entrepreneur... “Use the weight of the world to grow our mission, not shrink!”
• Every enterprise is a social enterprise because each enterprise has to decide where to invest it’s profits - dividends to investors or social concern
• “”Everything I do is small - and that’s OK...” @bee_rachael on keeping things simple and clear. “The Spirit is bigger than me... it’s a little bit of faithfulness...
• We call our Asset Based Community Development day Redcliffe Treasures Day...” 
• @naomibmiller from #Bristol #Cathedral “All kind of partners are important. Key thing is to know your eccentricity and find the right fit. #Church has a key role nurturing community partnerships... invite people in to take part!” 
• "New connections made. Insights from Sam Wells, both inspiring and liberating - a clarion call to a new confidence in sharing Fullness of Joy with our world .....!"

Our next event is at GreyFriars Kirk in Edinburgh on Tuesday 21 November. 'At the Heart. On the Edge.' is a day hosted by Revd Dr Richard Frazer, Minister of Greyfriars Kirk, and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which includes theology, ideas, solutions and support, with a programme developed jointly by Greyfriars Kirk and St Martin’s.

The event will explore mission and ministry in relation to:

• Congregation – Liturgy and worship for day-to-day communal life – gathered and local
• Commerce – Starting and sustaining distinctive enterprise to generate finance for your church
• Compassion – Growing participation and volunteering to address social need locally
• Culture – Using art, music and performance to reimagine the Christian narrative in your context

Rt Revd Dr Derek Browning, Moderator, General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has said:

'Every now and again a venture comes along that captures the imagination, and speaks to some of the needs of our day. ‘At the Heart, On the Edge’ is one such venture.

How do we reach out with compassion to those on the edges of faith and life, and what do we learn from them when we get alongside them? What does our faith and our experience of life challenge us to explore and to share? How do we take our faith and put it into practice so that it might make a difference for good? Pope Francis has said that this work is not merely for institutions and leaders, it is for all of us, a move from ‘organised religion’, to ‘organising religion.’

“Along this path, popular movements play an essential role, not only by making demands and lodging protests, but even more basically by being creative. You are social poets; creators of work, builders of housing, producers of food, above all for people left behind by the world market…The future of humanity does not lie in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and their ability to organise. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change. I am with you.”

I am delighted not only to support this event but also to encourage as many as possible to attend. Here we might find another model to enable the authentic action and voice of Jesus to be seen and heard through our network of parishes, groups and organisations across the country.'

The following day I will be speaking on HeartEdge at a seminar organised by Churches Together in Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters - Wednesday 22nd November 8pm at Southgate Methodist Church. In my talk I will draw on examples from my own ministry and case studies from HeartEdge members to highlight work being carried out by churches in their communities to inspire work in Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters. 

This seminar is an opportunity to ask 'what are the needs of our community, in our part of north London? How can we work together as churches to address issues of poverty, loneliness and exclusion? All who are interested in the role of churches in the community and anyone with ideas on how churches can support our community are most welcome to join us.'

At Greenbelt I contributed to a session entitled 'Cathedrals and commerce: The challenge facing large churches'. This was in The Exchange, a new venue for 2017 that provided the opportunity over the weekend to think together about enterprise for the common good. I was part of a panel chaired by Cliff Mills which explored the reality that large churches are getting involved in enterprise activity to stay open and asked how we can find the right way through commerce and cathedrals. I talked about these questions in relation to HeartEdge, together with The Very Revd John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Alison Inglis-Jones from the Trussell Trust, and Jonny Gordon-Farleigh from Stir to Action.

Stir to Action have kindly published a post about HeartEdge on their blog. In this post I say that:

'In common with Stir to Action’s Unlocking the Next Economy initiative, HeartEdge is interested in finding new ways for churches to engage with their local communities while also creating revenues to help them survive. That’s because St Martin-in-the-Fields, which has initiated HeartEdge (a growing ecumenical network of churches and other organisations in the UK and beyond), has developed a model for its ministry that sees diverse congregations involved in commerce, culture and compassionate community activities.'

Recently in the Baptist Times, Andy Goodliff explained why Bell Vue Baptist Church in Southend has joined HeartEdge. Andy says:

'HeartEdge asks what are the obvious and hidden assets we have as churches, and how might they be used in ministries of culture, commerce and compassion that shape the church’s life and mission, so that they do not become just things we do, but become part of we are.

Many churches are engaged in compassion ministries - foodbanks, night shelters - but few of us are really taking seriously the opportunities to do mission through culture and through commerce. And our compassion ministries tend to be the kind where we do things for people, rather than seeing them as gift to us.

This word gift is important. Instead of seeing the deficits in our church life, the vision of HeartEdge challenges you to see the assets, those often unrecognised or not fully appreciated gifts, which can become something more in the kingdom of God.'

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Ricky Ross - Bethlehem's Gate.

Practical theology - HeartEdge feels different

In the Baptist Times, Andy Goodliff has explained why Bell Vue Baptist Church in Southend has joined HeartEdge.

Andy says:

"HeartEdge asks what are the obvious and hidden assets we have as churches, and how might they be used in ministries of culture, commerce and compassion that shape the church’s life and mission, so that they do not become just things we do, but become part of we are.

Many churches are engaged in compassion ministries - foodbanks, night shelters - but few of us are really taking seriously the opportunities to do mission through culture and through commerce. And our compassion ministries tend to be the kind where we do things for people, rather than seeing them as gift to us.

This word gift is important. Instead of seeing the deficits in our church life, the vision of HeartEdge challenges you to see the assets, those often unrecognised or not fully appreciated gifts, which can become something more in the kingdom of God."

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Howard Goodall - The Lord Is My Shepherd.