For Sceptics and Explorers


We are a church that gets excited when the skeptic dares to ask the questions.  Not all of us will have the answer immediately, we don’t all have years of study and degrees, but we will journey with you and help get the answers. Of course we welcome the ordinary question or the one who wants to explore and journey to weigh through the issues of life and God.

When the cynic & skeptic  who has been hurt by life, relationships, or even Christians and the church, often for real reasons,  we promise this: we will listen. We will work to understand. We will walk with you as you deconstruct and stay with you on the journey to reconstruct a healthy concept of God and hopefully the church and we welcome you  if you are led to make us your faith community. If you need more help, we will work with you to get the support you need.

For the explorer, asking the questions of all time, meaning of life, if there is a God  which god, does that God care, how does one then respond and engage with this God ? Often, people go on to wrestle the pain of bad things happening to good people, religious habits and practices and the church and its place and their place in that church. We want you to know this very clearly: THIS IS NORMAL! You are NOT rare or strange for asking. At times some Christians are scared and back away communicating that the questions are something to hide.  Many people grow up  in churches are not given permission or legitimacy to wrestle. We invite you to wrestle! You should and even must! You’ll be in great company with people in Scripture and sense, including Mother Teresa! ASK! We’re listening!

Last, the gender sexual complex issues of the day,  the issues that saw some Christians leave our Anglican Global Communion are real issues, complex and come with most of us on journeys of wrestling within ourselves, with God and with each other in what God says, how we the church and us – this church – are to respond.  At the day’s end, we do not all agree. We honour Scripture highly, and also recognise that in this, we have lots of complex positions and at the end of the day – we clearly state this for you – all of you:  We focus on knowing, learning from, listening to, relating with, and following Jesus in our lives. We hold the position that we love everyone. Lifestyles to honour Him for Christians is complex as we’ve said.  BUT we want anyone who walks through our doors to feel safe, to be welcome, to belong and to contribute. For a few from both ends of this complex conversation, this response is not satisfactory. We’re too complex for this easy black and white position. Life is more complex than that. Following Jesus is more complex than this. What we hope you’ll walk away with is that we as a complex congregation, honour and live out love for each other and everyone in our community.


Michael
Michael