During November and December we are very fortunate to be able to host a photographic installation called “This Is Church”, which has been on display at St Martin’s in the Bull Ring over the summer this year. These thought-provoking images have proved very popular with visitors there and we hope that you will also want to encourage friends and family to make a special trip to see them, to reflect more deeply on what it means to be Church both here and abroad. Cheryl Homer (Arts Coordinator at St Martin’s Church) writes:
“‘Church’ is the word to describe people gathering around Jesus, yet, today, we tend to use the word to describe buildings.
The early church had no buildings. The churches existed wherever the Christians’ chose to meet.
Many people and congregations again, today, are meeting in different places and situations, some out abundant choice and preferences, others out of lack of choice and physical or political restrictions.
People don’t go to church, they are the church. People worship through music, dance, creativity, silence, meditation, laughter, tears; they meet inside, outside, in cities, in fields, in slums, prisons, palaces, in public and in private … God meets people where they are.
Through this series of photographs, collected from the UK and overseas, we want to explore the many ways ‘church’ happens; the ways in which people ‘gather around Jesus’”.
The photo shown is by Kieran Dodd / Tearfund and is used in the exhibition representing Uganda.
