To mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we invited Jo Jan Vandenheede, Pastor at the Gustaf Adolf Nordic Church in Park Lane, to preach at our Sunday morning service on Sunday 22nd January.
Here is his reflection on the readings: Psalm 133 and John. 15:1-9.
Read MoreTODAY is Holocaust Memorial Day - the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz which marked the end of the extreme prejudice and discrimination which led to the extermination of millions of Jews and other minorities.
Or did it?
Read MoreJonathan Clatworthy from St Bride's and Modern Church is leading our new series of gatherings on the fourth Sunday evening each month. This series of talks and discussions in the context of a Communion service & pizza is exploring 'What's so special about religion?' Jonathan got us started last Sunday reflecting on 'What's so special about God?'
Read MoreOn Wednesday 18th January, St. Bride's played host to an 'EA', Paul Clark. Paul explained to us that he was an 'Ecumenical Accompanier' who had been placed as an observer in East Jerusalem as part of a World Council of Church's programme.
Read MoreA Reading for Christmas Day at St Bride’s by Jon Jelfs
Read MoreTHIS ADVENT we have been reflecting on the theme of journeys, and hearing each week from members of our community.
On Sunday 11th December we heard a reflection from Margaret Nankabirwa, a former Commonwealth Games competitor from Uganda, who first came to Hope+ Food Bank in autumn 2015 with her partner Lydia. Together they are seeking asylum in the UK because their lives would be at risk if they return to Uganda.
Read MoreON SUNDAY 27th November in our morning service we commemorated World AIDS Day - the global health awareness campaign to combat HIV, support people living with the virus and honour people who have died. Our church was decorated with red candles and ribbons for the occasion, and we heard a moving personal reflection from Martin Fenerty, manager of the Armistead Centre, a specialist sexual health service in Liverpool, on the theme of this year's campaign: 'HIV stigma: Not Retro, Just Wrong'.
Read MoreToday (Saturday 29th October) is the final day of Asexual Awareness Week (AAW). Now in its seventh year, AAW was created to celebrate asexual, aromantic, demisexual and grey-sexual pride and also to promote awareness.
Read Moreby Guy Elsmore - Originally posted on modernchurch.org.uk
The future Church
We often ask ourselves: ‘Does the church have a future?’ The trouble with that question is that it is rooted in the baggage of the existing institution and hence it is a philosophically conservative question. Perhaps the liberal paradigm might cause us to ask a far more exciting one: ‘Does the future have a church?’
KIERAN, one of our Local Missional Leaders with the Open Table ecumenical worship community for LGBTQIA+ Christians, writes:
The last two posts have told the experiences of members of the at this year's Liverpool Pride - Jen's first experience of walking with a Christian group in a Pride march, and Richard's experience of being on the Pride community stall. This post was inspired by the words of the visitors to the Open Table stall who left messages of love and thanks, wishes and prayers.
THIS IS a guest post by Richard Bibby-Brooke, a member of Open Table at St Bride's Liverpool, who writes about being on our community stall at Liverpool Pride for the first time:
When I offered to help look after the Open Table community stall at Liverpool Pride this year, I did not expect the experience to be quite so enriching and educational as it turned out to be.
THIS is a guest post by Jen Williams, a member of Open Table at St Bride's Liverpool, who writes about walking with a Christian group in a Pride march for the first time:
Basking in the sun, under a brightly coloured rainbow umbrella, donning a rainbow cape, and wearing a beautiful white t-shirt with the brand new Open Table logo, holding an image of the wonderful Paul Bayes, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool up proudly, I marched through the streets of Liverpool as a confident, gay, Christian woman at Pride last weekend.
by Guy Elsmore - Originally posted on modernchurch.org.uk
In the first article in this series, I outlined the dire attendance scenario the Church of England is facing in the coming years.
I made a pragmatic case for the liberal wing of the church to move from a general attitude of scepticism to one of constructive engagement with church growth, then offered suggestions as to some areas of strength which liberals might bring to bear to the work of growing churches.
In this second article I shall look at some recent research on church growth, what it may have to tell us about the ways in which liberal churches might approach the task of seeking growth, and reflect back as I do so on some of the liberal strengths identified in the first article.
Read MoreWake Up in Liverpool: Liverpool Festival of Spirituality 2016
A lecture at St. Bride’s, 18th April 2016, by Ray Simpson
Ray Simpson is Founding Guardian of the International Community of Aidan and Hilda and is a well known author. He lives on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, UK, where the Community has a base for resources, study and retreat.
Read Moreby Guy Elsmore - originally posted on modernchurch.org.uk
The Church is in trouble.
The Archbishops have written recently to all the clergy in the Church of England appealing for a national wave of prayer for evangelism in the week leading up to Pentecost 2016.
I recently ran into a colleague who leads a popular leadership training module which aims to support Church growth. He’s run off his feet with demand. ‘The Dioceses are desperate’, he confided.
Read MoreAfter today’s service at St Bride’s we are invited to stay after Church to join in our Extra Big Fairtrade Brunch! Today as we "Sit down for brunch, Stand up for farmers" the focus is on how smallholder farmers have an amazing potential to fight hunger in their communities if we help can help Traidcraft support them to do this.
Read MoreA Contemporary Spiritual Paraphrase by Jon Jelfs
After his baptism in the Jordan Jesus was continuously experiencing a sense of God’s Presence. He felt drawn to spend time in the desert and this turned out to be about 40 days during which time he hardly ate. This was a time of great soul searching for him; you could say he was wrestling with his demons, the deepest most instinctual urges within the human ego. These were some of his thoughts
Read MoreIt’s different
poem by Dave Bradley read on Sunday 24th Jan 2016 as part of our series on refugees
Read MoreJoint statement from leaders of Inclusive Church, Modern Church and Progressive Christianity Network
In the statement following their meeting, the Primates of the Anglican Communion have expressed their profound sorrow for the deep hurt caused within the Church towards people on the basis of their sexual orientation and they affirm that God’s love for every human being is the same regardless of their sexuality.
Read MoreThe planet is currently seeing the largest movement of people fleeing violence and persecution since the second world war. Neither the market nor politics have any answers to offer, but from the deep wells of human kindness and from the compassionate heart of faith come loving actions and generous responses which are rising to meet the challenge. This January at St Bride’s is given over to a deeper exploration of the voice of the refugee and of our faith tradition. We pray for the grace to be stirred into deep reflection and loving action through the coming month.
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