« Back to Issue 37

I Am Somewhere Else - Gospel Reflections from an Emerging Church

Reviewed by Stephen Dinsmore.

Barbara Glasson, a Methodist minister, has for the last five years run ‘the bread church’, an emerging church where people gather to make bread, working together at what it means for them to be an authentic Christian community.

Woven around the process of making bread, the author takes us on a journey where we encounter the faith stories of those around the church as they seek to ‘experience their experiences’, all the time interweaving them with reflections on the story of Jesus.

This may be an easy read - a narrative - but do not be fooled, for while at one moment it is delightful (the evocative imagery of making bread, the ease with which the story is told), the next it is sharply challenging, confronting us with the realities and experience of ministry among the dispossessed in Liverpool city centre.

The reader is drawn most effectively into the struggle of the community and so to reflect upon deeper issues, exploring the interplays between experienced reality and church expectation; between anger and the damage that Christians can do to vulnerable individuals who turn to them; between judgment and acceptance; faith and belonging; conversation, reason and tradition; the reality of humanity and the encounter of faith; honesty and grace; doubt and faith. All the while the book is pervaded by the aroma of love and laughter, silence and worship, faith and hope.

While one may not agree with all her answers, the author raises timely and challenging questions. I Am Somewhere Else makes appropriate and stimulating reading for those wanting to reflect further on reality, ministry, mission, spirituality and context, and particularly those involved, or looking to be involved with emerging or fresh expression of church.