Sofa Church
SofaChurch –
a more relaxed way of being church
SofaChurch is for people who enjoy meeting together to find God in the amazing world around us. We watch and discuss films, debate issues and look for Jesus' fingerprints in contemporary culture.
You’d be made very welcome if you’d like to come along. Find us in the Heron Cross Room of Temple Street Methodist Church, Fenton, every 1st and 3rd Thursday evening of the month 7.30 p.m. to about 9.30 p.m.
SofaChurch isn’t a new idea!
SofaChurches can be found in the USA and in nearby Crewe! Indeed, we’re grateful to the folk who meet at St. John’s Methodist Church in Shavington every Thursday evening at 7.30 p.m. for their explanation of what their SofaChurch is about.
It goes like this:-
God
1. We try our best to follow Jesus - his actions and words.
2. We welcome challenges that sharpen our understanding of God and are not afraid to ask difficult questions.
3. We look for traces of God in the everyday, including the secular media, and encourage creativity as we recognise that God is creative.
People
4. We welcome, accept and listen to everyone regardless of belief, sexuality, background or anything else that might lead to alienation in some churches.
5. We are not judgmental as we acknowledge that we are all far from perfect ourselves.
6. We value friendship and express our faith in our care for each other.
Church
7. We recognise the importance of the Bible but have different opinions as to how we interpret it and how literally we read it.
8. We try to create a physically comfortable space.
9. We deconstruct man-made church traditions and avoid practices that exclude people without much church experience.
We think that’s a good base to work from, and as we meet and discuss and pray and worship, we hope to capture the essence of all of that.
The first Thursday in every month is an evening of Faith, Film and Food. We watch a film together and nibble snacks while we’re watching.
Afterwards we have time for a brief chat about the film and how we see God in it, or sometimes the film will be the prompt for the next SofaChurch on the 3rd Thursday of the month.
SofaChurch on the 3rd Thursday is the opportunity to discuss contemporary topics in our changing culture, and how the gospel relates to life in the 21st century as we seek Christian spirituality in the world around us.
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By the way, some of the films may contain language which may cause offence or deal with topics which some people may find uncomfortable. In engaging with the world around us, that’s unavoidable, and we do our best to ensure that you have advance notice of this.
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Since the start of the SofaChurch in August we have discussed topics such as how Christians are portrayed on TV, the Care-less Society R-E-S-P-E-C-T, how the Church and society views Homosexuality and how the church and society views Racism.
We have watched various films including - Dogma (18), Milk (15), and Anita and Me (12).
During these meetings we’ve had many interesting discussions as we seek the word of God in the world around us.
We ask for the SofaChurch to be included in your prayers over the weeks ahead as our Church tries a new adventure in worshipping God in a changing culture.