Bethnal Green Mission Church BGMC

Within the diverse and creative world of biblical interpretation, it is possible to encounter scripture freshly and dynamically and which brings new understanding. This talk takes a second look at Jesus' encounter with a 'foreign legion' that had possessed and subjugated a man, through a post-colonial lens. How does it speak to us about how imperial power has occupied, dominated and diminished people and nations? What does it say to us and our privilege and power and our complicity in the system and spirit of empire?

What place links the New Testament events of Passover with Pentecost? Elisha with Peter, Mary, mother of Mark with Jesus? It is the Upper Room. The Upper Room is synonymous with prayer and the preparation for an encounter with God. This physically spacious dwelling place becomes the setting for Jesus to help the disciples encounter and embody the person of God - a God who has many rooms. How is this worked out in Pentecost and the story of the church in Acts and what kind of Christianity has many rooms?

"This Thing Called Church" talk focuses on the most used illustration in the New Testament - The Body of Christ". The passage is from Paul's letter to the Church in Rome and explores how the metaphor gives insight as to how the Church should function, including shared insights from the whole congregation. 

The challenge of any reading of the Bible is that we all come to the text as interpreters with different lenses. Peter Enns said, "All theology has an adjective" - our theology and interpretation are pre-fixed with a setting, a world-view and a bias. How can we prevent letting our filter become the dominant one? How can the diverse experiences of other people help us to encounter the Bible more richly and deeply? We will start using the lens of post-colonialism, at the story of Jesus' encounter with a 'legion of unclean spirits' in Mark 5 and allow each other to imagine and encounter the text through a new and fresh lens. 

What is mission? What is our place in the story of God? At the start of our new series, This Thing Called Church, James talks about the mission of God and how we are invited into the story of the restoration of all things.

We conclude our mini-series with a dive into some ancient habits and postures of prayer which are orientated toward being attentive to the sacred wonder in the ordinary and the everyday. We return to Nick Cave for some helpful examples and perhaps a surprising form of music as a metaphor of prayer.