Following on the sucess Late last year of the Prayer Development Day last year we are doing it again!. IN 2007 the Bishop of London challenged the Moot Community to become contemplatives to be able to sustain the vision of Moot - to be able to discern a complex God in a complex culture. The place of contemplation in our lives is therefore important as we seek to discern God.

Some of us have been struck by this quote from Volf which is key to Moot's development:

A participative model of the church requires more than just values and practices that correspond to participative institutions. The church is not first of all a realm of moral purposes; it is the anticipation, constituted by the presence of the Spirit of God, of the eschatological gathering of the entire people of God in communion with the triune God. Hence the church needs the vivifying presence of the Spirit, and without this presence, even a church with a decentralised participative structure and culture will become sterile, and perhaps more sterile even than a hierarchical church. For it will either have to operate with more subtle and open forms of coercion. Successful participative church life must be sustained by deep spirituality. Only the person who lives from the Spirit of communion (2 Cor. 13:13) can participate authentically in the life of the ecclesial community.

Moot has for sometime been promoting new/old ways to engage with prayer, particularly forms of contemplation. Inline with our new rhythm of life, this prayer day seeks to enable participants to explore different approaches to prayer. Ian Adams, an Emerging/Fresh Expressions of Church Missioner & Spiritual Director is trained in forms of ignatian prayer will lead the day.

This event is open to all people who are exploring prayer - whether you feel a novice, struggle with it or just want to go deeper.

This event will be held in the beautiful and peaceful surroundings of St Saviour's Priory Near Old Street, East London. It will start from 10am and finish at 3ishpm with packed lunch. There will also be coffee breaks. Click here for map of location.

Bio on Ian Adams

Ian is one of the founders of mayBe - an emerging church project and community in Oxford. You can check out something of the mayBe story on the mayBe website . Ian's current role in mayBe is that of abbot - ‘to orientate the community at all times towards Christ’. He is now involved in encouraging the coming into being of other new small missional communities like mayBe, and is an Associate Missioner with Fresh Expressions.

Ian runs a project called 'Pace Bene' ["peace and well-being"] which is aimed at helping individuals and communities to live more simply, creatively and peacefully, and to engage with the possibility of God. Ian helps people to discover imaginative and prayerful ways to make this exploration. He is particularly interested in contemplative prayer, stilling practises and symbolic actions.

Plan for the day

10am Arrival
10.30am Session 1
11.30am tea break
11.45 Session 2
1pm Lunch
2pm Session 3
3.30pm End