Contents Up one level Introduction Not like us! New ways of belonging Evidence Exercise 1 Exercise 2        

By John Cole

 

 Learning from people

Introduction

Understanding what is local in terms of time and space, history and geography, is vitally important - but it is not the whole story. The people of a place are what make it really distinctive.

The people round about us are the results of the composting process. How they relate and how they behave have both been deeply influenced in a myriad of ways by the circumstances of their upbringing and their experience through life.

If, as a local church, we see the need to ‘look around us’ as a first step to discovering our calling, an important ingredient is to stop and look at how people actually behave and how people now choose to make their associations, how they relate.

So try some people-watching - we might be surprised by what we see!

Other people aren't like you or me..
People are finding new ways of belonging
A new quest for spirituality - but no interest in churchgoing
Some simple research
My personal world