it was great to have people around last weekend, to see the young people who had come up through the project, linking with the professional people who help form the management committee, volunteers, their children and partners. building new forms of church isn’t rocket science, it is being real, open and relational.
People had space to be themselves, drawing away from the main group to chat, or smoke, or play. People had time to mingle over food and argue over which pudding was best, or education policy.
Here were a group of people journeying together from different startpoints towards christ. Helping to build kingdom (but not all understanding that sort of wording), and called together for a purpose. The practice of an open sobnoristic community meeting together around food, or if you want to get theological about it “a banqueting table”.
What does “sobnoristic” mean? I could not find the word anywhere other than this web site! I’m in the process of looking into church decline and how to stop it as I work with 26 churches, most of whom are just a handful of faithful old people in a position of ‘not knowing what to do’ to prevent closure. I am aware of most of the issues and come from a missional background but if you have any articles you could point me to then that would be helpful. Thanks.