Our network embraces those shaped by habits of pastoral ministry fostering in them an aptitude and appetite for translating these interests into compassionate, cultural and commercial opportunities.
22nd September 2022
What if the annual report was less report and more a promotional opportunity - a resource to explain your mission and impact? The annual report can feel like a clinical statement of facts and figures that satisfy a regulatory requirement; boring to write, boring to read. If you treat the exercise as something akin to creating a brochure showing all the great ministry you’ve done this year. Explaining the impact you’ve made to your congregation and to your community, you switch from reporting facts to sharing good news about your church and community.
20th September 2022
"... First position is, there’s a reality that’s deeper, truer, and more permanent than this one. Before about three hundred years ago, this was a largely uncontroversial assumption. So much of life was unex- plained, everyone took for granted that it was controlled by unseen forces. But in recent centuries the chain of cause and effect has linked so much of the known universe that it’s become tempting to think it can gobble up everything. When we use the phrase “people of faith,” this sense of a beyond is pretty much the only thing all such people can agree on."
20th September 2022
“Turf and terms” are great concepts for kick-starting a church discussion around working in partnership – what it might mean for the church and what people think of this. Here I say a bit about this and describe what partnership looks like for a church creating a community garden on the church’s turf (literally) and on shared terms. Many churches engaging in compassion, culture or commerce initiatives are seeing the benefits of working in partnership with individuals, groups and organisations outside the church. Partnership can look very different depending on
HeartEdge is about recognising 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.
‘humbler church Bigger God’ is the title for our ongoing online festival of theology, ideas and practice. We’ve developed this in response to our changing world. The church is changing too, and - as we improvise and experiment - we can learn and support each other. This is ‘humbler church Bigger God’’ - talks, workshops and discussion - hosted by HeartEdge. Created to equip, encourage and energise churches - from leaders to volunteers and enquirers - at the heart and on the edge.
The online programme includes:
Find earlier HeartEdge sessions here.
27th to 28th September 2022 from 10:00 - 16:30
St Ed's, Roundhay
Congregations developing open, hospitable, welcoming approaches to day-to-day communal life, liturgy and worship.
We think it’s possible to be a church without being defensive or closed-minded. The Holy Spirit works as much beyond the church as within it - we look for God at work and join in.
God wants us to live before death as well as after.
HeartEdge is about deepening and widening the congregation.
Engaging local need and addressing social justice.
We do unbelievable things when we start with our assets rather than deficits.
It’s possible to be compassionate with those excluded or in trouble, in a way that enhances community.
Care comes not from altruism but recognition of our own need, and desire to be transformed by the strangers God sends us.
Visual and performing art and ideas, re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present moment.
Exploring new avenues of arts from expand and encourage new cultures within church and the community.
Commercial activity generating finance, creatively extending and enhancing mission.
We think it is possible to have commercial activities available within Church that demonstrates a wider understanding of the Faith.
By allowing our assets - likes buildings and facilities - to broaden and appeal to a larger market we remain at the centre of our community, valued and considered by all.
Day-to-day communal life, liturgy and worship
Congregations developing open, hospitable, welcoming approaches to day-to-day communal life, liturgy and worship.
We think it’s possible to be a church without being defensive or closed-minded. The Holy Spirit works as much beyond the church as within it - we look for God at work and join in.
God wants us to live before death as well as after.
HeartEdge is about deepening and widening the congregation.
Partnering with others in forming relationships, releasing the gifts of strangers
Engaging local need and addressing social justice.
We do unbelievable things when we start with our assets rather than deficits.
It’s possible to be compassionate with those excluded or in trouble, in a way that enhances community.
Care comes not from altruism but recognition of our own need, and desire to be transformed by the strangers God sends us.
Re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present
Visual and performing art and ideas, re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present moment.
Exploring new avenues of arts from expand and encourage new cultures within church and the community.
Finding income streams to achieve financial sustainability and grow flourishing programmes
Commercial activity generating finance, creatively extending and enhancing mission.
We think it is possible to have commercial activities available within Church that demonstrates a wider understanding of the Faith.
By allowing our assets - likes buildings and facilities - to broaden and appeal to a larger market we remain at the centre of our community, valued and considered by all.
Log-in to access resources. Share what works for you and what you need, and make useful connections with other churches. HeartEdge is about sharing what we have and finding what we need. Start here:
Make contact and connections via a growing collective. Find help for your church developing commercial, cultural and community activity.
Find insight and knowledge to help your practice, learning from others with lived-experience and alternative approaches.
Find those with lived experience relevant to your situation. Learn from other stories and grow solidarity.
Not a consultancy selling techniques, we will take time to locate and introduce you to possible mentors with lived experience and professional support useful for you.
Update on gatherings and events useful to your context.
Not a single branded technique - find a mix of useful videos, access books, articles and newsletters and the latest HeartEdge publications.
Update on activities and alternative approaches, trying out something new (or old or borrowed).
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