Moving on....

21st Jan 2009 Moving on...

My walking buddie is moving away – I am upset... we began this walking church with 3 main adults, and their families. One person quickly became a ‘fair weather walker’ – and I am sure will enjoy some walks when the weather improves (Cumbria is very wet and cold at present). Still, we set of on Wed for what was the most beautiful of walks, through the Seizergh Castle estate and into the surrounding countryside. My friend – a friendship formed largely through our walks, is moving south in April. Yet I have gained so much through our conversations, enabling much reflection – though writing it on an on-line journal is a new experience, and one that I am just beginning to use more effectively.

On one level, this walking church has not met many of its objectives. It has not attracted other people to join, we have not read Bible stories together as often as I had planned, and we only take the children if we manage to walk at a weekend. These are for many reasons. A walking church that attracts others needs to focus as much around food as around walking. The original idea was to eat a meal together during the walk. The first time we did this – but it did not fit in with small children’s schedules... though others in the group loved it. Then the weather turned – the autumn was very wet in the Lakes, and stopping for food would not really have been the best move... We have also chosen a different route each time. This has provided a lot of variety and interest to the walks, but to form relationships, we would possibly need to go on the same walk at the same time each week – to meet others who do this, such as the dog-walkers. The children who came, including those in prams, also limited where we could walk and how the conversation could develop. Originally I had thought of weekends, but due to ‘church’ commitments, children’s activities and work, this has not happened as often as we would like.

So – where now? We will continue to enjoy our walks. I have been able to reflect on my own journey with God in a very positive way, but the walks need to be part of a larger network of believers. The last walk was reflecting on a review process that is about to be undertaken in my local church. My family and I have also been discussing how we can be an authentic community of believers . We are exploring if God is asking us to meet with a few others for a meal late on a Sunday afternoon, complete with a prayer tent, discussion areas, contemporary music etc. Not to attract others to us, but to worship God in a natural and authentic way. From this monthly gathering, interest groups might meet for normal activities – such as walking or going to the park. In these small groups, members will be accountable to each other and encouraged and challenged in their discipleship.

This is a different approach to the one I took when I began the walking church – it started largely as a college project, and most of my Christian friends who would join me on this journey do not live locally – part of the challenge of living in a rural area. But this needs to be a shared vision and journey.

‘I am convinced that no one can do this stuff alone. ... because I believe that the sharing of dreams, the overlaying of visions, the interweaving of relationships, and the struggles through difference and diversity are at the very heart of these ventures.’ – in The Prodigal Project, p49.

This book that I am reading is resounding very much to my journey – a sense of hurt, anger, frustration that the institutional church that I was very much a part of was not a place where I could live out my life in Christ - to come to understand over the last 5 years that this is not because I have a problem (as some within the institutional church would like to say) was a great release and relief – yet if an emerging church is to succeed, then others with the same outlook need to be found, and a joint vision emerge – that is where perhaps the walking church has failed the most – I have been going it alone.