Friday 29th September 2006
A new Christian fellowship will be founded on 29 September – the feast of St Michael and All Angels – aiming to attract members who wish to see their faith expressed more fully in the whole of their lives including the time spent at work, and in social and community activities.
Called ‘Angels Anonymous’, the new fellowship is a form of network church for Christians at work, based on regular weekday meetings of small local groups at or near their places of work. Some members may see the networks as their main form of church. Others may remain members of traditional parish congregations, continuing to attend their regular Sunday worship, but also take part in ‘Angels’ activities and group meetings.
Angels Anonymous has been formed as a not-for-profit Company Limited By Guarantee, and has already applied to register as a Fresh Expression of church. Founding member, the Revd Peter Steddon, is the industrial chaplain for Oxford. He told the DOOR:
‘This is an upside-down organisation, reflecting the upside-down Kingdom we seek to serve. Individual members are at the top, then local groups, then the wider fellowship.The principle behind our anonymity is not secrecy, but humility: there are no experts, bosses, gurus or stars, and no “archangels!”.
We use Christian names within the fellowship. We are an every-member ministry, but we prefer to use the word service. The fellowship will be self-supporting from day one, seeking no external funding and owning no premises or other property. It will have no paid employees.’
Peter added: ‘Members are encouraged to work out a seven-point individual discipleship programme, with help from a mentor or soul-friend. This can be likened to a rule of life, or perhaps a spiritual workout, so each one has to be personal: it depends what your goals are and where you are starting the journey. And like a physical workout, it needs to be reviewed from time to time to take account of the progress, the personal growth taking place, and to line ourselves up behind what God is doing.’
Anyone interested in knowing more, becoming a member and/or forming a local group can obtain more information in the first instance by contacting Peter.