We recently attended a Fresh Expressions day where we thought about fresh ways of being church. We came away really excited about how we might do something ‘fresh’ within our Circuit in Crewe. The Methodist Church has for two of it’s five current priorities:
- Encouraging fresh ways of being Church
- Nurturing a culture in the Church which is people-centred and flexible
It seems that within the Circuit, there are quite a lot of people in their 20s/30s/40s (or at least, in that younger mindset!) It also seems to be that same age group that is generally missing from our church services on Sundays. So we started wondering if we couldn’t organise some different way of ‘doing’ church that might appeal more to that age group.
In the same way that runway gets all the Circuit’s youth together each week, we thought it’d be great to get our ‘middle’ age group together too. It would be really good to get to know each other better, pray about problems, discuss current issues (and experiment with worship in a place where we know no one will have a moan about it!)
We’ve recently come across a really cool church in the States called Solomon’s Porch, which calls itself a ‘sofa church’. It looks like it’s all battered leather sofas, hot chocolate, laid back worship and muffins. Looking at their website got us thinking: wouldn’t that be a great way to do church? Wouldn’t more people of our generation want to come to a church that feels as comfortable and cosy as their lounge?
We’re wondering whether something similar might work as a fresh expression within the Crewe Circuit. Curling up on a couch to think about God stuff with your friends sounds really appealing to us. So we thought, why not start a new group called ‘sofa church’ where you could do just that?
We’re not thinking that sofa church meetings would replace our attending Sunday services. It’s great to go to church within the community you live and it’s good to mix with people of all ages. We were thinking more along the lines of a weekly mid-week get together.
At first, we were imagining that sofa church could take place in our lounge. But those of you who’ve been to our house know that if more than four people turned up we’d be overflowing into the kitchen! So we had the idea of doing up the back room at St Johns where runway meet each Sunday night. It’s a nice size, the kitchen’s right next door for making coffee and the room could really use a make-over. We know the runway kids would adore having a trendy room for their meetings too.
In terms of decor, we’re thinking along the Costa Coffee lines: second hand sofas, cuddly cushions, wooden flooring with rugs, soft lighting and real coffee. If you can imagine neutral walls, with maybe one feature wall picked out in a rich red, some rope lights spelling out ‘cosy’, canvas artworks on the walls... it could become a really nice space. We think it should be possible for about £1000.
We thought we could take it in turns to lead the meetings and bake goodies to munch on. Perhaps the leader for the night could talk for a few minutes, show a film clip or read something from a book they’ve found interesting, then a discussion could follow. We could worship together, pray... all the usual church stuff, only a bit more relaxed.
So we’re after your feedback. We figure there’s no point storming ahead with the idea if people don’t really fancy it or are too time-poor to even consider another group. So if you could take moment to scribble down some thoughts or email us, or write some comments on the blog here, we’d really appreciate it.
Susie and Andy Fishburne
6 comments:
Ey up, sounds a neat idea. I go to St Andrews in Crewe, my wife to St Steves. We are most definetly interested. Unless you go to an in your face Charismatic or Evangelical Church, there is nothing for 20s or 30s midweek. This is something I've been wanting for a long time.
I did my degree at Regents College, and have 3 failed attempts at ordained ministry, and 1 at lay ministry... the alternative worship scene is something close to my heart indeed.
On the note of getting furniture and stuff, have you heard of freecycle? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nantwichfreecycle/?yguid=278868181
May well be a way of heavily reducing some of the costs, or allowing designated budgets to be allocated alternatively?
Look forward to seeing this develop, and if required, maybe getting involved?
I have growing pictures, and in time, more write ups about Crewe and the area, too:
http://www.equinoxe.org.uk/?p=193
Very very interested indeed! It sounds brilliant and I am prepared to bake occasionally ;-)
It is quite a long time now since I was a student but I still really miss the CU housegroup type atmosphere we had back then. :-)
Looking forward to hearing more / getting involved (though with three children time is a bit tight for me at times!!)
Helen Prevett
helenrp@tiscali.co.uk
(Church Steward at St Stephens)
Thanks Helen and Tim for your helpful and encouraging comments - really great to hear.
Tim - we certainly imagine it being the kind of group that is led by it's members, so it's exciting that you've got in touch and sound so up for being involved.
Helen - baked offerings sound fab!
We'll keep you posted on developments, but we're really hopeful that something may come together. If nothing else, it'd be great to actually make some like-minded friends across the Circuit! :o)
Do you know what timescale we are looking at? Is it months, or years, with goodness know how many committees to work through? Just curious!
Also, do you know how popular it will prove? I opine that it will be quite popular indeed, and am concered that the seating looks rather minimal compared to what the appetite for the project may be.
Just some thoughts, cheers
Tim
Hi Tim - thanks for your comments and interest. We must meet up!
In terms of the timescale, I think it has to be agreed by two more committees, one this week, and then there is talk of holding a special church council to agree the finances. I am a teacher, and therefore have luxurious summer holidays at the moment in which I can do the work. I am hopeful that we can get it started in September. If the actual renovation of the room takes longer to come about, we could always start off in people's lounges for the time being.
I am pleased by your optimism with the number of people who would be interested! The room we have earmarked isn't huge, and we are planning to fill it up with sofas. I see the current plan as a kind of 'proof of concept' project, a prototype. If it does grow beyond the room there are a number of options. We could move somewhere bigger, but probably the best plan would be to spin-off a second branch somewhere else - I think that you lose something when things get too big. We could possibly end up with a series of local sofachurches across Crewe and have occasional get-togethers.
Anyway, it is very much an idea in flux, but I am keen to start somewhere and see how things develop.
Hello Andy
That's reassuring to hear! I was honestly expecting it to get off the ground in a year's time after emetic amounts of committee meetings.
Meeting sounds good; if you go the about section on my website, you have a variety of contact options there!
Blessings
Tim
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