Imagine: The Story So Far...

As the Imagine project is now seven years old, for those new to what the project is doing we thought it might help to recap how the project has developed, the progression of our thinking and how we hope to see the project developing over the next period of time.

2003: Publication of Imagine
Imagine began with Mark Greene’s essay Imagine: How we can reach the UK. The central thesis argued for a recovery of whole-life disciplemaking as key to mission in the 21st century. With a copy distributed to every person receiving the Evangelical Alliance’s Idea magazine, Imagine struck a chord with many who read it. As Joel Edwards, the EA General Director commented, ‘The response by our readers was extraordinary. Never before have we received such a wave of positive affirmation from a publication.’

2004: Imagine Project
With the unexpected scale of the response to the Imagine essay, the question began to be asked, ‘so, how do we respond to the issues raised?’ Consequently in May 2004 the Imagine Project was launched, led by Tracy Cotterell, as a grassroots pilot learning and experimentation project with local churches. The project began by focussing on research and consultation. The first step of which was to engage in a listening exercise, leading to two reports What the People Said and What the Leaders Said that identified the issues and barriers to whole-life discipleship capturing the perspectives of both church leaders and members.

Changing the Culture

In this article, Alasdair Macleod, shares his thoughts on disciplemaking and his involvement with the Imagine Project. Alasdair is now the Senior Minister at Billericay Baptist Church, however, until a few months ago he was leader of Bushey Baptist Church which was part of the first Imagine pilot project. This article was previously published in the Baptist Times 'Crossing Places' Special Edition published 30th April 2010.

We are all longing to see the church in the UK grow. All too often we place the emphasis on adding converts to our churches without adding depth. Yet for growth to be sustained we must equip believers to live well for Christ in their frontlines of mission. This vision has been recognised by the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) in their Imagine report, “The UK will never be reached until we create open, authentic, learning and praying communities that are focussed on making whole-life disciples who live and share the Gospel wherever they relate to people in their daily lives.”