Just over a week ago about 20 of us gathered for an “open planning meeting on steroids” about the future of Headspace. It was an enjoyable night with good food, drinks, and great company. Part of it was spent in groups discussing what it is about Headspace that we value, and because alot of the same ideas came up in different groups, we discovered that it was not too difficult to put together a list of shared values.

There are, however, a couple of points worth noting. Firstly, we recognised that this is a snap-shot of an evolving group. The list is not there to fix in stone who we are. It is not a statement of faith or a creed that defines us. Secondly, we recognised that it is a response to a particular question. We discussed what it is that we value about the group, but if we asked a slightly different question (e.g. what is our purpose as a group) we might have a different outcome.

Here is the list. Your comments are welcome.

we want headspace to be varied
a place where we encourage creative approaches to collective worship and encounter God in different ways

we want headspace to be open minded
a place where different points of view about faith enrich our view of God.

we want headspace to be inclusive
a place where everyone and anyone can be welcomed, accepted, and engaged in our community.

we want headspace to be space
a place to explore, reflect, and meditate on what’s going on inside.

we want headspace to be social
a place where we spend time getting to know each other

we want headspace to be led by the group
a place where everyone can contribute and direct what we do.

Find out what religion you should really belong to!http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx

 I should be a Reformed Jew. Liberal Christian sadly comes only 9th on my list, just ahead of Neo-Paganism, but behind Islam and Sikhism.

Maybe I need to do the test again…

Some of you might be familiar with this already, but an old book that I have found really helpful on my journey is James Fowler’s “Stages of Faith.” Alan Jamieson, the author of “A Churchless Faith” has a brief summary of it here.* In it Fowler uses his experience as a developmental psychologist to examine the way in which our faith changes over time through conversion and development. For Fowler, “faith” refers broadly to our operations of knowing and valuing, and is something common to all of us regardless of religious belief.

I realise there is a danger of over simplifying things, but I find Fowler’s stages to be quite useful for understanding the development of faith. For example, it helped me to realise that my own difficult faith-transition of the last few years was actually quite normal. Moving from one “stage” to another often involves radical upheaval. As Fowler describes:

Stage dissolution means enduring the dissolution of a total way of making sense of things.  It means relinquishing a sense of coherence in one’s near and ultimate environment. It frequently involves living with a deep sense of alienation for considerable periods. (Fowler, 1978:37)

The ideas explored by Fowler have also helped me to appreciate that different people are at different stages, and that is ok. I don’t need to try to get my friends to deconstruct their beliefs or whatever if they are not ready for it. We don’t necessarily become better people by progressing to a new stage, and our energy is probably better spent trying to understand where people are at, and helping them within their current stage.

I think it will be interesting to think about Fowler’s ideas in relation to Headspace. This might be a bit too much of a generalisation, but it seems to me that alot of people at Headspace probably have an “Individuative-Reflective” faith. I wonder is it possible for us as a community to cater for earlier stages as well, or is that better left to other communities? Is it even possible for a community to cater to all?

*For those who are interested in exploring this further, there are some other useful resources by Alan available here.