Creatives, Techies and Jesus
Albert Bogle
April 05, 2019
Add to Favourites
Finding creative and authentic ways to include the outsider and those on the fringe of faith to engage with worship, is a core strand of Sanctuary First’s ministry.
It is is a creative space that seeks to encourage our present worshipping community to think beyond how church has been shaped in the past and explore and encounter the beauty and grace of God that is at work in the most unexpected of people and places in our everyday worlds.
Our virtual hub has the capacity to engage with a wide spectrum of people within and without the church. We are therefore seeking new partners and new ways to develop our present work. We would love to hear from you and meet up with you if you feel you can contribute in some way to our overall vision.
Primarily, we are about encouraging a fresh approach to scripture reading and prayer. Our focus is to use a creative palette of poetry, reflective prose, music, and film-making that allows us to explore deeper insights in scripture and new experiences of prayer.
The digital revolution has opened up so many exciting possibilities in the world of communication. This in turn means it is essential that we understand and use its impact in order that we can be connected to a generation that has embraced the digital world. This brave new world of technology holds out all kinds of new ethical dilemmas as we seek to understand the new context of being, identity and reality. It is in these areas that a new discipline known as digital theology is beginning to emerge in conversation with the digital humanities.
As practitioners of worship we believe there is a great opportunity to seek partnerships with creative techies and artists to help us communicate across the whole spectrum of the church’s ministry. In doing so in the past many an artist or professional contributor to a Christian ministry has encountered faith for themselves. This approach invites the seeker or the collaborator to become an active participant in the creative processes of worship.
As the minister of Sanctuary First I’m looking to start to engage with people who can contribute and help us develop an interactive 24/7 pastoral service ranging from offering a basic listening service to signposting inquirers to agencies that can give practical help in times of stress or difficulty.
I’m also looking to engage with those who are interested in helping us develop an online children’s ministry. We know this will require a strict safeguarding policy but we are convinced this is an area that needs to be developed at a time when the national church has very few of its families and children attending weekly worship.
We want to create opportunities for children and parents together to write prayers and share Bible stories and compose daily graces for meal times. This kind of approach allows families who for different reasons may not attend church, to be given the chance to embrace the opportunity to engage in a daily Christian ritual of prayer and scripture reading.
As a result of our desire to grow and develop we need to engage with the creative artists and techie communities to produce original material that will assist our growing community to live out daily Christian lives serving the needs of the poor, the vulnerable and the lonely.
Above all we believe Jesus of Nazareth’s Gospel message of forgiveness and reconciliation still has meaning and significance for 21st century people. It is this message that we seek to promote using all the communication tools that we can find at our disposal.
In summary we are looking to meet up with experts in the technical end of digital development, as well as creatives in the arts world, including the performing arts. We also wish to speak to marketeers and social media developers and individuals who will help us finance our mission.
If you think you might be able to help with some of the issues raised in this post, send an email to us at admin@sanctuaryfirst.org.uk
We would like to take the opportunity to meet with experts and professionals in these disciplines in order that we can begin to tweak our strategy for mission.
Having such interfaces enables to understand the challenges but also the great opportunities that technology and the creative arts bring to the life of the church. If you know of such a person please make them aware of this blog post.
Very Rev Albert Bogle
Login to comment.