Steve Timmis is involved in The Crowded House, an initiative to plant a network of household churches throughout the city of Sheffield (see the October 1998 issue of EN).
Its aim is to reach and disciple people for whom traditional church holds no attraction, and who dismiss it as having no relevance to their lives. In two consecutive articles, Steve explains the biblical and cultural reflection that lies behind the initiative.
'Swing low, sweet chariot'
The date is any time between, say, 1930 and 1989. The place is somewhere, anywhere, in the vast empire of the Soviet Union. The occasion is a Sunday morning church meeting, situated in a forest just outside the city limits. The singing is both melodic and heartfelt, after which you listen, along with 200 or so others, to three sermons. You notice a common thread running throughout the hymns and each of the sermons. You're aware of it because it's quite unusual from your perspective as a visiting Westerner. They seem somewhat preoccupied with the theme of the Second Coming. Not the detail in any academic sense. Simply the reality that one day Jesus is coming again. As you think about it, you realise that the reason is obvious: the difficulty of life here makes them long with a greater intensity for that 'home of righteousness' of which the apostle Peter writes (cf. 2 Peter 3.13).
