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Christian Heritage
Recovering the Past… Challenging the Present…
Shaping the Future
Our Mission and Work
Christian Heritage is committed to demonstrating to our contemporary society that Christianity was and is a living faith with the power to change people and therefore to shape history.
As those in Europe, England and the West in general move farther away from their Christian heritage, the general assumption that predominates is that Christianity no longer "works" and perhaps never did. Westerners have only the vaguest idea of the influence of Christianity upon their own history.
By recovering the rich history of Christianity in Britain we seek to learn the ways in which our culture was once influenced, even radically shaped by the truth of Christianity. We believe that valuable lessons can be learned from the past that can then be used to challenge our world today. The questions, problems, and concerns of this generation are rarely unique and thus the past can ‘speak to’ the present in powerful ways, albeit in ways that must be made relevant.
If it is the case that the ideas and patterns of living from one generation deeply impact the ideas and patterns of living of the next, then calling people to become committed followers of Jesus Christ – followers that rightfully understand their dynamic role in the wider world – will positively influence our culture today and tomorrow. By challenging the present we help shape the future.
Why the Round Church in Cambridge?
The 12th century Round Church, modelled on the 4th century church standing on the traditional site of Christ's resurrection in Jerusalem, has stood as a witness to the Christian faith for nearly 900 years of Cambridge history. Over 100,000 visitors from all around the world walk through its doors each year. These visitors - tourists, students and residents - have the opportunity to encounter in various ways the role Christianity has played in Cambridge history. Internationally renowned as a seat of learning, research and scholarship, Cambridge has been a centre for new ideas, discoveries and movements that have influenced western culture for centuries. Focusing on Cambridge as it has both shaped and reflected western history, Christian Heritage seeks to introduce visitors to the ways in which Christianity has been a foundational intellectual and moral dynamic. It stands behind the formation of the university and, in many respects, the broader cultural impact of Cambridge in the west and worldwide.
Christian Heritage makes use of the Round Church today as a visitor centre highlighting Christian history as well as a focal point for training in Theology and Cultural Apologetics.
The Christian Heritage Project
Christian Heritage grew out of eight years of successful work pioneered by Cambridge Christian Heritage (CCH). In 1992, CCH began guided walks around the historic city centre of Cambridge, highlighting the Christian roots of both the university and Western culture. Succeeding CCH in 1999, Christian Heritage has expanded and is refining its work in the following areas:
VISITOR CENTRE
Christian Heritage is enhancing the Round Church as an ancient monument and as an informative and welcoming centre for visitors. Christian Heritage has:
• Redecorated the interior of the church, refreshing it as a warm and inviting place
• Produced a video, called Saints & Scholars, celebrating the Christian heritage of Cambridge and the West
• Installed a 12 panel exhibition in the ambulatory outlining the development of Christianity in the British Isles and in Cambridge
• Maintained it as a base for Guided Walks of Cambridge
ENGAGING AND TRAINING
Christian Heritage provides formal training in theology and apologetics.
• It continues the annual Cambridge Summer School of Theology, a one-week theological training course in June, which covers the fundamentals of the Christian faith over a six-year cycle.
• It also runs summer schools in apologetics - an Introduction to Apologetics for younger Christians and Further Apologetics for those who have responsibilities in, and a vision for, church ministry within the community. We seek to encourage and train people to intelligently engage with those nearest them in their surrounding secular contexts.
• It provides and hosts public lectures at the Round Church opening up discussion on a range of issues including topics such as: the relationship of faith and learning, other religions and worldviews, and Christianity and the Arts.
• It offers itself to local Christian churches as a training resource which includes an excellent apologetics library in the Round Church vestry, as well as organizing occasional discussion sessions for church groups known as ‘Big Picture Groups.’ BPG’s are meant to encourage people within the local churches to begin to think critically about the secular context within which they live, how it has come to be, and how to actively engage with it for the sake of the Gospel.
Christian Heritage has a vibrant programme of events to facilitate engagement with the local community examples include:
- 'Heaven in a Night Club - the spiritual roots of jazz' - Bill Edgar and his band 25 Jan 2009
- The Mark Drama - Mark's gospel played out dramatically by local actors 7 - 9 March 2009
- 'Caravaggio - Can Guilt Be Assuaged?' Illustrated talk on the art of Caravaggio by Paul Shakeshaft
- 'Dostoevsky - A Prophet for our Time?' by John Valentine - Nov 2009
- Those Glorious Songs of Old - Carols & Lecture with Quartet (Anna Harvey, Abigail Brook, Peter Matthews & David Gillespie with Benedict Shin) Ranald Macaulay 4 Dec 2009
- The Reason for God series Jan - Feb 2010
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