Identifying the Dream Network
'Core' identifying principles for groups wanting to join the Dream network
| Dream groups seek to be: |
| Christ-centred |
Open |
Relational |
Experimental |
1. Christ-centred – The Dream Network is committed to the concept of ‘faithful improvisation’, seeking in our exploration and experimentation, to remain faithful to the story of God’s people contained in the Bible and lived out over the last 2,000 years. While resisting unhelpful labels and working to be a welcoming place for those whose past experience of church has been negative, we remain unashamedly within the ‘Christian’ tradition. We therefore seek to develop a spirituality centred on Jesus Christ and lives that are formed by following him.
Questions to ask your group might be...
- How are we providing resources that direct people to encounter Christ in their spiritual journey?
- How in our worship are we engaging with the story of God’s people and allowing it to impact our daily lives?
2. Open – The Dream Network is committed to being open to anyone who wants to connect with it. It is vital that groups are welcoming and inclusive of all who want to take part, regardless of faith background, viewpoints, etc. A Dream group should be able to include anyone who is seeking Christ or exploring spirituality, provided that person is not actively obstructing the other core principles of the network.
Questions to ask your group might be…
- Is our discussion and worship sufficiently open to enable people with varying beliefs to feel included and involved?
- Is there anything we say or do that might cause those from a different perspective to feel unnecessarily excluded?
3. Relational – The Dream Network is committed to building communities, not simply to putting on worship ‘events’. Each group will embody this value of relational community through sharing ownership (as opposed to control by one or two ‘leaders’), inviting the involvement in worship of all who wish to take part, and encouraging honest support of one other in our daily lives. At times community will include conflict and struggle - we embrace this as we seek to rediscover together what it means to be Christ’s body.
Questions to ask your group might be…
- Do all who are involved have opportunity to influence the group?
- How are we supporting each other in our daily lives? Are we increasingly able to be honest about struggles and doubts as well as joys?
4. Experimental – the Dream Network has as its tagline ‘re-imagining church’. We therefore value creative experimentation and exploration of a wide range of approaches to prayer and worship. This ‘faithful improvisation’ aims to be more than a re-packaging of inherited models of church, seeking instead to build Christ-centred communities of faith in new cultural contexts.
Questions to ask your group might be…
- Are we seeking to create a culturally authentic community of faith in our context?
- Do we judge our ‘success’ by not getting things wrong, or are we open to experiment with new approaches which might ultimately ‘fail’?
Join the network
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