Urban renewal

When I first began this blog, a few years ago now, the title and general theme reflected the fact that I was thinking rather a lot about life, work and ministry in inner-northern Melbourne. I had just moved to Preston and one of the topics that occupied a number of posts was the issue of finding a church in that area. One thing I found as I searched was that the inner-north, compared to, say, the eastern suburbs, is quite church-hungry. Churches were often very small, or very stagnant, or a bit on the odd side. I was doing a lot of thinking at the time about the so-called "emerging church" and how churches should engage with culture and be part of the community. But I didn't see any good examples of inner-northern churches doing that sort of thing effectively, well-meaning as a number of examples seemed to be.

I can't say I've thought terribly much about those kinds of issues in recent years. I found a church where I was happy, then I moved to Malaysia, then I left the north. Now I'm back, in Brunswick, and am finding myself, quite unintentionally, at a church that is about to move a tad further north for the purposes of mission.

Strangely, I am finding myself feeling much more ambivalent about this move than I would have years ago. Part of this is due to the general feeling of exhaustion that I have had in this period of post-Malaysia burnout (not necessarily something that would have been reflected in this blog, but which has been quite a present feature of my life since the middle of last year). Yet I do find myself growing somewhat excited at the thought of the inner north's "spiritual renewal", something that my new church family is keenly focused on.

The task seems a large one. Some might say insurmountable. Melbourne is one of the world's most secular cities. The inner north is one of the most secular parts of the city. How, you might ask, do we hope to renew the city? We could try to renew the way that everyone does urban renewal - through more community events, through city garden projects. These are all important. But do they renew the spirit? Truly renew the spirit, in the way that only God can?

But that's the thing. Only God can do it. So, if we succeed, it will only be through God's strength. This should bring a sense of relief. It isn't really up to us. But it's also scary, because it requires submission to God. It requires losing a sense of control.

One thing's for sure. If we plan on doing it properly, it will be quite a journey.

Some of that journey, I imagine, will be documented on the new church blog, and some of it will be documented here. It will, I'm sure, be a process worth documenting.

Watch this space.