Our final City Lab session of this year will be with Rebecca McLaughlin, who join us to discuss her recent book: The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims (2021). Her provocative book explores five current claims: "Black Lives Matter", “The Gay-Rights Movement Is the New Civil-Rights Movement”, "Women’s Rights Are Human Rights", "Transgender Women Are Women". By applying Scripture to each claim and examining it in the context of culture, Rebecca help us disentangle the ideas Christians can and must affirm and those we must not embrace.

Come join us for a thought-provoking evening with Rebecca on 1st December as we explore ways to talk with our neighbours in a loving and self-sacrificing way, demonstrating that Christianity is the original source and foundation for true diversity, equality, and life-transforming love.

Based on the short book 'Breaking Ground: The Church and Cultural Renewal' published by Theos think tank in 2021, this talk deals with the question of cultural change and the church's responsibility in culture. After surveying key dynamics of cultural change, Dr Nathan Mladin shows how gardening and farming offer a model for the Church's cultural engagement that is theologically rooted and generative, not least by evoking a set of virtues and practices which are essential to a faithful, Christ-like effect in culture.

Register now!

Jesus walked on the streets and came to meet people where they were. How do we meet people where they are in a city as diverse, vibrant and complex as London? How can we be more like Him when sharing the good news of the gospel with people with very different needs, hopes and fears?

Rev. Les Isaac will share from his years of active engagement and experience on the streets of London and beyond.

In this City Lab, Phil and Pete will talk both about how we can be better at fostering these conversations with young adults and also what the issues that animate young adults are and how the gospel of Jesus Christ uniquely connects and engages with them. If you want to be in the conversation about engaging young adults with Christ, then this is the City Lab for you!

How your gift of leadership is designed by God to serve your church.

If leadership is one of God’s gifts to the church (Romans 12:8), how are we supposed to exercise it? Is preaching sermons enough, or do we need to go to business seminars as well?

In this City Lab we’ll learn about the range of tasks involved in Word-ministry, and how leadership fits in. We’ll think about how our egos can get in the way, and how we should serve under Jesus’ lordship.

You’ll have a chance to run a real-life example through a grid we shall develop, and you can do that work in breakout rooms.

Chris has a new book coming out in August, ‘The Gift - how your leadership can serve your church’, and you’ll be getting a sneak preview.

Why should we cross, cultural and racial barriers, and to what end? Why should diversity be important to the church? How does the gospel speak into these questions? And how do we develop a relationship across the divide?

Continuing the conversation we had last year about Collaborating For Mission in a Global City, these are some questions Rev Celia will be addressing from her vast experience of working with a diverse people group. She witnessed people discovering the joy of being at a place where they learn to appreciate their differences and eliminate tensions and find a way for missional collaboration.

What Greta Thunberg, Luka Sabbat, James Charles, Billie Eilish, have in common - besides millions of followers across social media platforms? They consider themselves to be authentic, they care deeply about human rights, prizing equality, inclusion and diversity, and technology is a central part of their upbringing. They also consider creativity to be a life skill and form of personal expression. Gen Zers (born between mid-1990s and mid-2000s) represent around 8% of London’s population. The question is How do we engage with them?

“Irrelevant,” “unappealing,” “outdated” are often responses we’ll hear when asking the society about the Christian faith and the church. Why is that so and how do we as churches can engage with culture in a meaningful way?

Rev Dr. Joel Edwards speaks on how we understand both the challenges and opportunities for working across cultural barriers to most effectively reach our communities.

In this webinar Alan explored two foundational ideas essential to mission in post-Christian urban contexts based on his experience of leading a church in Melbourne, Australia and developed at further length in his book Forgotten Ways.

• Church in the missional mode. As our culture moves further from Christianity ‘the time has come for us in the West to learn that all our attempts to communicate the gospel are now cross-cultural.’ How does this idea of crossing cultures shape our structures and ministries as a church? And in particular ‘What are the characteristics and implications for missional church over and against the model of Christendom?’

• Church as movement. The church in global cities needs to be ‘a living, adaptive network, highly responsive to the deep spiritual needs and hunger expressed in surrounding society.’