Sanctum in 2023

With a new church year underway I thought I would bring some reflections on where Sanctum is at the start of 2023.

People have had a lot to deal with these last few years.  Everyone needs space to refresh and recharge, including the key creatives at the heart of Sanctum. 

Sanctum has always been driven by the creative contextual mission & worship that its members have been doing. Over the last few years of the pandemic many of us have been doing very creative things around hybrid, at home, and rebuilding community worship. But much of this is difficult to share, and may not now be so relevant! 

For me personally lessons I learned about creative and responsive worship and the effective use of technology from Sanctum were massively useful in the pandemic - but our alternative worship community Place has not survived the pandemic as key members moved away. We are waiting and discerning where our missional response will be next. We are all finding our way.

Sanctum still enjoys a strong relationship with the Transcendence Trust (I am chair), which employs Sue Wallace. In 2022 we returned the Transcendence branding to the trust to enable Sue to build her ministry in a post pandemic space.

The trust provides a legal and financial framework that Sanctum can partner with. but it is also clear that Sanctum needs to have a degree of freedom that comes from its collective nature. Not everything Sanctum is Transcendence, and not everything Transcendence is Sanctum, but Sue is very much a founding part of Sanctum, and members of Sanctum continue to support The Trust.

For Sanctum as a whole it feels the right thing to wait until we have new things to share before we gather again as a collective. A Selah. That doesn't mean we are not doing anything as individuals or together - but at present we are not planning a national gathering. 

However,, there will be some 'collabs' to come in different regions, and members of Sanctum continue to support and contribute to other networks like On Fire Mission and Space to Breathe.

I am going to work harder this year to keep the Facebook group active, especially since I am not longer active on Twitter, and I hope others will contribute too.

Sanctum remains a network of emerging sacramental, practitioners and dreamers. Sanctum remains slapdash and haphazard. I am excited about what we will all bring when we do next gather.

Eddie Green
Community Enabler & Chair