Canberra - churches in third places
Does anyone know of churches who run congregations in cafes, pubs or restaurants in Canberra? Or a home based church maybe?
Anyone doing some emerging church work in Canberra?
I would love to know as we have someone from our church who has moved to Canberra (who knows why!) and is looking for a Church.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Darren Wright from the Uniting Church in CAnberra would be able to help out
January 20th, 2007 at 9:47 am
email Darren here
January 20th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Thanks Greg… I completely forgot about Darren.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:53 am
Phil
I am at Canberra at Nationsheart in Belconnen. While we are still meeting in the facilities owned by the church, it is moving strongly into emergent principles.
Funny thinking about this. It is nearly a year since we have moved here. It takes time to settle into a new place, and new church.
One of the “advantages” of the ’seeker-friendly’ church is that it is very easy to feel welcome, but often at the price of failing to develop strong ties and relationships.+0.
January 21st, 2007 at 7:04 am
Phil
I am in Canberra at Nationsheart in Belconnen. While we are still meeting in the facilities owned by the church, it is moving strongly into emergent principles.
Funny thinking about this. It is nearly a year since we have moved here. It takes time to settle into a new place, and new church.
One of the “advantages” of the ’seeker-friendly’ church is that it is very easy to feel welcome, but often at the price of failing to develop strong ties and relationships. When the emphasis in a church is on the services which you attend, you can make a pretty good guess at how much you will enjoy being there by visiting a service or two.
At Nationsheart - while people are very friendly, it is not slick or polished. People have welcomed us, but it has taken time to get to know people and to find people of like mind. ( you see - an advantage of the organised ‘home group’ system in a church is that actively look for people of like mind, and ‘plug you in’ to a group).
There is not a lot slick at Nationsheart - in fact from the surface it looks as though not a lot goes on. But when you dig below the surface you find lots of interesting things happening by people in their everyday life in the church.m They have a strong ministry to people with mental and physical disabilities which reaches right through the community. Some of these come to the Sunday service, but many many of them will never be seen by those at Sunday services. Our young mothers are reaching out to other young mothers, and meeting them at their point of need.
We have some very talented musicians, but more often than not, only have a guitar at the services. So if you attend as a visitor, the music programme may not “attract” you.
It has been good to reflect on being at Nationsheart. The leadership of the church is very committed to the principles of being the presence of Christ in the community. If you are reading this Ron - you are great man….
You are welcome to give this person my email address if they want to make contact with someone in Canberra.
Janet McKinney
January 21st, 2007 at 7:06 am
Sorry about the double entry… I was cleaning my keyboard in the usual manner - you know turning it over and hitting it on the desk to get tiny pieces of paper out from between the keys. (Don’t ask why there was paper in there - I do paper crafts OK) - and I must have accidentally enter while I was bashing….
Janet McK
January 21st, 2007 at 8:09 am
thanks Janet. I will pass your email on too.
January 21st, 2007 at 10:00 am
Joyce Meyer writes entire books by turning her keyboard upside down and bashing it against the desk!
January 21st, 2007 at 10:10 am
I’m moving to Canberra in a month or two, and for the last 12 months or so have been having the odd conversation with people who are interested in doing something different. Phil, feel free to pass on my email…with the proviso that if anything does happen, it’s going to take time, and it will require the involvement of all…my partner and I and the other people we’ve been talking to aren’t interested in “running” anything!!
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Your friend who has come to Canberra and I got together today for a cuppa. What a wonderful person Pity I had a Drs appointment or a I think we may have talked all afternoon!
Phil - could you please pass my email on to Bec. I wouldlove to meet with her when she arrives here.
Janet McKinney
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:59 pm
And some people think signposts is devisive - we bring people together!
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:38 am
It has been great to hear from so many people. I spent yesterday morning emailing Bec and then the afternoon having a coffee with Janet! Looks like I’m going to meet Darren tonight at a pub where he and some of his christian friends meet up regularly.
Laura
He also emailed this info…
i know of a few people in canberra who are trying a few different
things, unfortunately i’m in the process of packing my bags and moving
to the rural area of the riverina in nsw, which means ill be based in
wagga wagga from feb 01 onwards. ill be back in town for the 10th and
11th of February if your friends there by then and would like to catch
up.
a couple of suggestions is to give me a hoi on my email address and i
can put them in touch with one of a few people.
adrian, a mate i met on a scripture union camp (who shares my stature
and exact birthdate) is currently trialling a pub church at one of my
favourite pubs, which is also the home base of another group of
friends who meet irregularly to talk church and life and worship and
god and beer and wine who i could also connect them with. another
suggestion is that glen powel, a mate in sydney and a founding member
of the cafe church in glebe and i got together a number of young
adults just before christmas to talk about the possability of planting
faith community, (perhaps cafe church) in canberra as a number of
cafe churchers have moved here recently and I know a number of
“churchless” young adults in the town, the first meal we had included
about 15 people with a large number of apologies, we’re going to
organise more gatherings of that group very soon (hopefully before i
leave on the 1st I’ll have set a few dates and venues) this isnt an
organised gig, but more a possible church plant with a pile of people
from students to public servants to theatre managers to dj’s…
also josh dinale over at st marks is a fairly neat guy (although we
STILL have not met in person and seems to be interested in alt worship
type stuff, his blog is at http://dipendente.typepad.com
I’ll put my thinking cap on, i know there are more options out there…
shalom
darren wright
March 28th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Hello all,
Hope people still check this post!
I haven’t attended church for probably 4-5 years, a series of events exhausted me and left me not wanting anything to do with churches!
But I’m feeling ready and in the mood to check a few churches out. Really looking for something very relaxed, no pressure, can cruise in and out and there not be any pressure to commit to programs or groups etc. Yes, I have a commitment phobia now!!!
Recommendations or thoughts or comments welcomed please!
Cheers,
LD