Loving God and loving all Their people…
Hello Snowflakes!
Welcome to the Wokerati…
We’re a group of Christians living in the UK and serving in and around UK faith communities.
While many of these communities are doing great work, and moving towards more progressive and inclusive positions, it can get a little… claustrophobic.
Often you feel like you have to sit on your hands – supporting groups who do not want to upset traditional beliefs and congregations that, understandably, are struggling to unlearn things that many of us have been told is ‘Gospel’ for years.
Why are we here…
We set up this blog to help us explore and document our thoughts, to show our workings as we wrestle with scripture and what it means to be followers of Christ today.
We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we hope to ask the right questions and find joy along the path.
What we believe…
We believe the way of Jesus is the way of love, inclusion, and generosity. That all truth is God’s truth and that all beauty is God’s beauty. And that everyone is invited to have a seat at the table.
Ideas that excite us…
That creation is good and beautiful, but broken (or at least torn round the edges). That God is stitching everything back together, renewing, restoring and reconciling all things.
That the future is full of possibilities, promise and potential. That in Jesus, God’s future kisses the present – and we get to live that future here and now.
That the gospel is the beautiful, radical, expansive and subversive Good News that Jesus the risen Messiah is Lord of all creation.
The church is a community, a family, a movement. We are the church. God rescues us and wants to rescue the world through us.
That The Bible is God’s story and our story - from Israel, through the early church to present day. That story doesn’t end at Revelations 22 – we need to live the story and see where it takes us.
That faith is the presence of trust not the absence of doubt. They are dance partners, not enemies.
Scripture that roots us…
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5)
That the Bible is divinely inspired accounts of people working out who God is. That it is the authoritative source curated from different authors, genres and time periods. That it is all valuable, but some bits are more valuable to the modern reader than others (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Joshua 1:8).
That the only commandment under the new covenant is to love one another as He has loved us (Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 13:34, Luke 22:20, Hebrews 8:6-13).
That we are called to interpret scripture through the lens of its original context (historical, cultural, literary, grammatical). That the Holy Spirit can bring revelation that transcends the original intent and moves the conversation forward. (Matthew 5:18-19, Hebrews 4:12)
That the Lord requires us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly (Micah 6:8)
Teachers that inspire us…
Our thinking is inspired by many, including N. T. Wright, Richard Rohr, Pete Enns, Brian Zahnd, Rachel Held Evans, Rob Bell, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Diana Butler Bass, Jonathan Martin. We are truly blessed and deeply grateful for their lives.
Come and join us…
We’re always looking for people to help move the conversation forward, so if you have something you would like us to share on this site, or would like to discuss more, then please get in touch via our contacts page.
"There is so much weight assigned to us to be special, to be unique, to distinguish ourselves. There is a great deal of pressure to be “great.” But what if, today, I want to enjoy my status as my Father’s awkward, backward son, absurdly treasured and irrationally loved?"
— Jonathan Martin
AKA tackling Bibby Stockholm Syndrome. Considering the governments performative cruelty towards the desperate people reaching our shores, we ask what the Christian response should be to the small boat crisis.