RUN - Resource Network Envision

A Beginner's Guide To: Coffee Mornings (21.10.09)
Coffee mornings may seem like 'old hat'. But perhaps there’s a deeper purpose – coffee mornings, home-produce and baking stalls are all making a big comeback as part of small urban festivals. They’re seeking to gain a sense of community where people no longer know who their neighbours are...

A Beginner's Guide To: U2 (17.08.09)
U2, self-proclaimed ‘best band in the world’, not ones to wear modesty on their sleeve, are currently on a 2-year world tour. And goodness, these boys don’t do things by halves. But what of them, their music and their self professed Christian faith?......

A Beginner's Guide To: Godsploitation (18.06.09)
Godsploitation: the tongue-in-cheek name for a growing film genre aimed at the Christian market. But will it catch on?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Star Trek (14.05.09)
This month sees the new Star Trek film hit the UK’s cinemas. A great event for 'trekkies', but are there also Christian themes to be found in this iconic sci-fi story?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Coronation Street (21.04.09)
For nearly 49 years Coronation Street has been a feature of British television culture. A developing storyline is exploring the impact of Christianity on a teenager and her family. But will it last?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Eucharistic Mission (04.03.09)
The Eucharist is one of the most sacred of Christian rituals, but can it also be a tool for mission?......

A Beginner's Guide To: The Dechurched (03.02.09)
Who are the dechurched, do they have a faith and what on earth can we do about them?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Credit Crunch (20.01.09)
The credit crunch has arrived with a vengeance. There are few people who are not affected in some way. But what is it and can the church help those who are really suffering?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Banksy (28.11.08)
Banksy is certainly an enigma, but how has a graffiti artist become a cultural icon whose work sells for mega amounts?.....

A Beginner's Guide To: Flash Mobbing (30.09.08)
Flash Mobbing sounds like something we should mildly disapprove of but also tantalisingly intriguing. But what in the world is it really?......

A Beginner's Guide To: Douglas Coupland (05.08.08)
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian writer whose novel 'Generation X - Tales for an accelerated culture' described the children of the US baby boomer era. But who is this prolific observer of contemporary culture?......

A Beginner's Guide To: John Sentamu (03.07.08)
John Sentamu as Archbishop of York has captured major public attention since his installation. But who is the man behind the cope and mitre?......

A Beginner's Guide To: Damien Hirst (04.06.08)Damien Hirst: Love or loath his work - it is certainly difficult to ignore it. But is there an underlying spiritual aspect to his pieces......

A Beginner's Guide To: Club Culture (01.04.08)
Club Culture seems here to stay, although in ever changing forms but what is it?...

A Beginner's Guide To: Generation Y+ (07.02.08)
You may have heard of Generation X, but what of Gen. Y or even Gen. Z......

A Beginner's Guide To: The New Year (21.01.08)
New Year is traitionally the time of fresh starts. It's never too late to turn over a new leaf... at least that's one tradition in line with Christian thinking....

A Beginner's Guide To: Cultural Morphing (20.12.07)
What is 'Cultural Morphing' and does it contain a missional lesson for us?...

A Beginner's Guide To: Mobile Phones (22.11.07)
Mobile phones are a social phenomenon regarded by some as a blessing and others as a curse! But can they provide an effective means of communicating with a congregation?...

A Beginner's Guide To: Church in the Pub (27.09.07)
For some Christians pubs are a 'no-go' area. But can Church in the Pub offer a way to reach those parts that other churches might not reach?...

A Beginner's Guide to: New Age Belief (01.08.07)
For many Christians New Age belief is something to be avoided at all costs. But what is it and does it provide fertile ground for sharing of Christian Spirituality? ...

A beginners guide to: SecondLife (22.06.07)
SecondLife is an online virtual environment, which means it’s a simulated world in which people can interact with each other via computer generated representations of themselves called avatars...

A beginners guide to: Goths (04.05.07)
There’s a regular Christian Goth Eucharist in Cambridge and a Christian-run Goth night in Manchester. We’ve heard rumours of similar occasional events elsewhere in the UK too...

A beginners guide to : Postmodernity (13.04.07)
Many theologians say that Postmodernity is the main issue to understand in order to have effective mission in contemporary culture...

A beginner’s guide to: YouTube (19.03.07)
YouTube has provided many people with an outlet for creativity - some of the clips with the highest ratings are home-made videos for pop songs or pastiches on well known films and TV programmes...

A beginners guide to: Fresh Expressions (27.02.07)
Mission Shaped Church has been widely applauded, even by those awkward types who always criticise the Church for failing to understand contemporary culture and the need to respond and be active within it...

A beginners guide to: New Monasticism (25.01.07)
A make-over for the monks? Thankfully, this isn’t is the latest TV style show, but rather a re-emergence of interest in the idea of monastic orders and rules of life...

A beginner’s guide to: Blogging (05.12.06)
Blog is short for ‘web log’ and blogs are available online for everyone to see just like websites...

A beginners guide to: Podcasts (17.11.06)
Podcasts are multimedia files made available on the internet for people to download to their mp3 players and capable of being downloaded automatically by using technology such as RSS feeds...

A beginners guide to: All-age Worship (21.10.06)
Some would suggest that a successful service would see a worship environment that is friendly and vibrant with a theme that can be engaged with on different levels. Others would claim that it isn’t really possible to do that, but if you can keep the kids entertained for some part of the worship, at least they’ll go away remembering that bit...

A beginners guide to: Generation X (18.09.06)
A quick intro to a phrase that has come to symbolise a generation and its attitude to life...

A beginners guide to: Hymning (14.08.06)
That’s rather an old-fashioned word. I thought this feature was all about introducing new ideas to help us reached the unchurched...

A beginners guide to : post-Christendom (17.07.06)
Is this the Church of England setting up in competition with the Royal Mail? You’ve got to hand it to them - they’re nothing if not enterprising...

A beginners guide to : Café Church (13.06.06)
Ooh, sipping a cup of latte during the hymns, a blueberry muffin in the sermon…...

A beginners guide to: Greenbelt (01.05.06)
Ah, the long-awaited RUN fashion column. I hear that this season’s floaty shapes aren’t complete without that essential green belt...

A beginners guide to : Mind, Body and Spirit Festivals (21.04.06)
Ooh. Just the title sounds a bit scary - all new age and touch-feely. I’m not sure I want to know about this one thanks...

A beginners guide to : The Emerging Church (18.03.06)
Is this the new Mel Gibson film? A vicar trying to escape from God runs away to a secluded shack in Nantucket, but then from the lake first emerges a cross, then a steeple, then…...

A beginners guide to : Seeker Services (20.02.06)
Ah, I remember The Seekers – folk songs, pleasant harmonies and comfortable jumpers. So they’re making a big come-back in the Christian world are they?...

A beginners guide to : Sampling (18.01.06)
experimental types of worship aimed at reaching the unchurched have overlaid bible quotes and sermon clips to dance music or integrated them into the backing tracks for worship songs....

A beginners guide to : Kabbalah (18.12.05)
I'll try and keep it simple. The Hebrew word Kabbalah means 'to receive'. Basically, the traditional version of Kabbalah is a mystical understanding of The Torah - that's the first five books of the Old Testament to you and me. A scholar of Kabbalah aims to achieve an insight into the nature of God....

A beginners guide to : Alternative Worship (01.11.05)
Rave in the nave, smoke machines and celebrants in bikinis, right?
You're thinking of the reported scandal of Nine O'clock Service in Sheffield 10 years ago - an evangelical experiment that went tragically astray. That's not really got much in common with alternative worship today....