Pre-denomination, Rules and Rhythms
The early Christians were pre-denomination. There was just faith and the same faith was shared by all. Gradually people who liked doing things in certain ways coalesced and formed a “brand” of the faith that worked for them but the Celts feel that this loses the closeness to God and His created world as the faith itself is so very simple and the Gospel, the Good News, can be understood by anyone.
Each individual needs to have their own faith and personal walk with Jesus and should belong to a community. Communities today contain different personalities with different ways of doing things but one shared faith and one shared goal, the coming of the Kingdom on earth. This was true at the beginning and is true still.
In the old days each new community that formed made a Rule for their people to follow. This told their members and visitors how they walked with God as a community and even outlined what they brought to the Church as a whole.
The Rule of Plain Church Celtic Community was given to Plain Church in its early days and is Walk, Worship and Warfare.
The community walks together every Sunday as a sign of our journey with Christ and alongside other Christians. It’s a sacrament of ours, an outward sign of our inward faith.
Worship takes place inside and outside, with accompaniment and without, with music and without and is central to our faith as it is to every Christian’s faith. So often it is through praise and worship that we meet with God.
Warfare is the same calling that every Christian has, to be aware that there is an evil force opposing the work of God which is why the Lord Himself taught us in His prayer to ask to be delivered from it. We pray for places, for people, for countries and against things that are not of God. This is The Way we have been given.
Keeping a rhythm in today’s world can be hard. The rhythm we seek is one that means we make time for God, notice the world in which we live, travel our own road whilst helping others to travel theirs. In secular circles it might be called “Work Life Balance” however for the Christian it could be better called “God, Family, Church Community, Work and Well Being Balance” and the old saying “the devil loves a busy Christian” is as true today as ever.
This is why Plain Church Celtic Community has Space to Breathe opportunities at our base on Salisbury Plain.
The rhythm of the community is to start the day in prayer for the community, its visitors and the activities. To ask for blessing, freedom and protection and that the needs of individuals will be met. There are meetings most evenings except Friday and Saturday and worship meetings on Thursdays.