NCBC HISTORY WALK

The East Granary; one of the first meeting places of NCBC

The notes for my history walk can be downloaded as a PDF from here ("File" drop down and then "Download") This walk starts and finishes at NCBC and draws attention to the historical connections the church has with it's locality. This walk was first used in "anger" at the November "Vulnerable Mission" conference. As tasters I quote below the introduction and finale of these notes:

The Introduction:

Norwich was for a long while the second city of the English Christian realm that through its 18^th century industrial revolution became the mother of the modern world. This revolution brought with it all the issues of riches and wealth disparities that we see today. Above all this revolution helped usher in a secular world view along with its philosophical pathologies. Therefore it is perhaps not an exaggeration to claim that the history of Norwich is central to contemporary world history.

This tour looks at English history through its connections with Norwich Central Baptist Church. Studying Norwich history through its religious history may throw light not only on contemporary times but also the problems Christians face in coming to terms with secular society.  

The Finale:

The contemporary Christian response to civic marginalisation has often been a reactionary swing to overcompensating forms of charismatic Gnosticism, wooden Biblical literalism, sectarianism, mysticism or very woolly liberalism. Faced with issues of epistemic insecurity churches today are trying to find a path between overcompensating extremes.

Plaque memorialising NCBC's presence  over 320 years ago