What is involved in building church?
I was privileged to join a church's midweek service -"MORE"- where some 15 people met for worship, bible study, group discussion, fellowship, prayer and holy communion - ie 'more' and indepth than Sunday, I guess...
There is no church building so they meet in a community centre; young, old, different nationalities, social backgrounds and varying abilities - together as one in Christ...
We explred the idea of "Living stones" -
Sharing individually an inspiring building we had visited - and why it was so.
In small groups, using our Lego, we built something that modelled some of the characteristics of God - and shared this with others. ( Can you spot the Tree of Life, Open Door, Bridge, Window that formed part of ours....?)
We sang and read the Bible together.(1Peter 2:4-10) and, in groups, considered questions related to the passage and shared our findings with one another.
Everyone's opinions were listened to respectfully....
In our groups we then considered the good and bad aspects of the different building materials ( polished stones, rough cut stones, colourful wooden blocks, playdough - see them in the photo).
We were also invited to ask ourselves which building material we most resembled...
For our intercessions we walked the "bricks and mortars" of the high street and
(privately or out loud) prayed for the people / the "living stones" of the area...
On return to the community centre, we made our confession, shared communion (and the Peace) together as well as God's blessing....
For me, there were elements of the "house group", interwoven with cafe church and distinctive elements of the eucharist...
Spiritually, sacramentally, socially and biblically we were nourished as we built one another up into the household of Christ....
I came away feeling very blessed to have been a part of this church as well as with a lot of practical questions which I will save for another time....
How do we in Dyffryn Clwyd / Ruthin build one another up under Christ our cornerstone....?
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