Christmas greetings!

Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland sends warm Christmas greetings to all our friends, allies, enquirers and passers-by.

The birth of Jesus is the sign and substance of God-with-us... and God with us in vulnerability, not power and pomp. At the heart of the Christian message is an invitation to community, to peacemaking and to the kind of just living which makes love real in corporate form.

We look forward to continuing the journey with you in 2013, and to reporting on our last 'cafe conversation' earlier this month...

[Image (c) and courtesy http://alightdancetheater.org]

Edinburgh cafe discussion on church and community

In terms of 'Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland', we have something cooking in central Edinburgh for Sunday 16th December, early afternoon.

It will be a small, friendly, informal cafe-style conversation. By which we mean it'll be in a cafe! We will have Mennonite guests from North America with us, too.

The meeting will take place in a community cafe not far from Waverley rail station at 1pm through to around 2.30pm or 3pm.

Appropriately enough, it will focus on the theme of 'church and community'

If you would like to join us, please email contact details to: simon.barrow@ekklesia.co.uk

Street porridge sale to raise homelessness funds

Our friends at St John's Church in Edinburgh, the team behind the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, and the Streetwork homelessness charity will be holding a 'street porridge sale' from 8am to 1pm on Wednesday 12th December.

The idea is to raise money for Streetwork's direct engagement with single homeless people in Scotland, and also to increase awareness of the challenge and problem of homelessness.

The porridge distribution will be taking place outside St John's, which is on the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road in Scotland's capital. 

For more information about this specific event, contact Annika Wolf, St John’s Church, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ. Email: info@festivalofspirituality.org.uk Phone: 0131 2284249

Anabaptist Theology Forum

The Anabaptist Theology Forum will meet again near Leamington Spa, in England, from 5th-6th December. It is open to people from all around these islands (and indeed has enjoyed the contribution of German and Dutch guests in recent years).

There are a few spare spaces at this event for those with a serious interest in both modern and historic Anabaptism.

Dr Richard Bourne, author of Seek the Peace of the City: Christian Political Criticism as Public, Realist, and Transformative will be presenting on John Howard Yoder and restorative justice. Dr Ruth Gouldbourne of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London will be introducing the Hubmeier communion liturgy. And a discussion session will focus on where the 'post-Christendom' analysis of our religious situation is heading, including an interview contribution from Dr Stuart Murray Williams, editor of the After Christendom series of books published by Paternoster Press.

More information here - if you are interested in attending please contact us as soon as possible. 

[Image courtesy and (c) of Graber Designs]

What happens beyond 'organised religion'?

You are invited to join a discussion of 'moving beyond organised religion' on Sunday 21 October, from 12.30pm – 5pm, in the Hall at St John’s Church, Edinburgh, starting with a pot luck lunch (please bring a food contribution).

Many people today feel an instant disconnect or disinterest in ‘institutional’ or ‘organised’ religion. There is a sense abroad that faith, not least Christian faith, has been turned into a self-perpetuating bureaucracy which operates out of self-interest, refuses difficult questions, and suppresses alternatives.

This afternoon event, led by Simon Barrow from Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland, who is also co-director of the think-tank Ekklesia, revolves around the new and experimental shapes Christianity might take in a world where ‘top-down religion’ (along with ‘top-down economics’ and ‘top-down politics’) appears to be in crisis. More information here.

This event is sponsored by the new Centre for Living Christianity (CLiC) in Edinburgh.

The Canadian connection

As part of an Anabaptist Network visit, we are welcoming tow friends from the Mennonite Church Canada to Scotland (specifically Glasgow and Edinburgh) this week - to talk about collaboration and the future development of the Network, here and in other parts of these isles.

More to follow on this, another recent visit from Winnipeg, and also on the the brief visit to Glasgow next year of Anabaptist Network UK coordinator Stuart Murray Williams, who is also editor of the groundbreaking and well-regarded Paternoster Press 'After Christendom' series of books.

The green dove logo, incidentally, was developed by the Mennonite Church in North America.

Centre launches with 'First Supper'

You've heard of the Last Supper. How about the First one? The new Centre for Living Christianity (CLiC for short) based in Edinburgh is holding a 'First Supper' at Henderson's Cafe at St John's Church (on the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road) to mark the launch of its new venture.

There will be food and refreshments, plus an opportunity to hear about the vision and plans for the new initiative, which describes itself as “exploring faith at the crossroads.”

The Centre for Living Christianity aims to take traditional faith very seriously, but in an open and engaging way that recognises the fears and doubts many people have about “organised religion” and unthinking dogmatism. “CLiC is for those interested in exploring how to live out Christianity in the modern world, in a way which is thoughtful and faithful,” says the Rev Donald Reid. “It is about how to understand Christianity from the margins of a society which is both diversely spiritual and secular.”

Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland aims to be involved in this new venture, which will establish learning events for those within the churches, those on the margins and those exploring from the outside. Its style aims to be thoughtful but open and informal.

has been founded by a range of organisations, including Edinburgh City Centre Churches Together, the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, the Cornerstone Bookshop, and the Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh’s Adventures in Faith programme, alongside St John’s Church where its main base will be.

The full CLiC programme can be viewed and downloaded on the Centre’s new website.

The ‘First Supper’ at 7pm on Sunday 7 October is open to all. There will be a charge of £5 to help cover costs. Those planning to attend are asked to drop a note to: donald.reid@stjohns-edinburgh.org.uk

You can find out more here.