A Message from Reverend Andrew M Emison

Dear Friends,

​As I write, the teenagers from our church are sharing in “Life Together – An Experiment in Christian Community Living”.

During a normal school week, church becomes our home as we explore what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ in the context of normal life. We share meals, find time to do our homework and attend our normal weekly activities. Each day begins and ends with prayers. We begin the day committing it to God and asking for God’s guidance and at the end of the day reflect on the day that has past.

Our Life Together is based on the experience and writings of the theologian and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who led an illegal seminary in Finkelwalde (now Stettin), Poland before the outbreak of the second world war. Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together was based on his experiences. The students of this first Life Together community were amongst those who led the Confessing Church so called because they confessed Jesus as Lord (and not Hitler). Bonhoeffer wrote that community was not a “given”, it’s a gift of God and something that has to be celebrated and which needs to be nurtured. Christian community is not one of isolation but of engagement. “It is only by fully living in the world that [people] find faith”. The intention of our Life Together is to model community which celebrates God’s gifts whilst living in midst of the world.

The churches in our town are joining with others to seek to make Frodsham a loneliness aware community in which we seek to make connections across our community, not just because those who are lonely need us, but because we need them.

Let’s continue to build up our common life and in so doing reflect and share the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace.
​
Andrew

Andrew M. Emison
​Minister

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