Heft

It’s nearly a year since I made the shift from being rooted in a local role to working across Cumbria. I have had some time to reflect on what it means to do that, and to remain hefted.

I love that word – heft. We all have a place that we call home – that is if we have the privilege of warmth – or cool as we have come to value in recent weeks – and shelter.

Heft – or the place we are drawn to because of people, the familiarity where we are known and have come to know the way things work – is so vital.

I am really enjoying spending time with people across Cumbria who are deeply rooted in place; it is one of the gifts of this County. I am still prioritising that way of working: meeting people, prayer walking, connecting, and listening for mission. If you haven’t yet seen the Pilgrimage Prayer Cards that Lori and I have created, look out for them — they are currently out of print, but will be online again soon!  We have seen nearly 100 packs of them go out across Cumbria to assist local churches and communities listen to their places.

And what does this have to do with the theology of mission? Heft is about knowing why we are in a place and how we are in a place. It is about ‘lying low’ and not about always coming up with new ideas quickly. About being part of place and hearing its rhythm, and its timing. Cumbria time is slow time – and pioneering can be slow – and then suddenly fast as we catch up with the Holy Spirit. Plans need to be formed from love and grief and not just opportunity.

We are not the ones with all the insight – we need to consistently realise that we come with open hands – without all the power. Local Parishes, new plants, those starting on a journey to begin a new worshipping community are all in the same position of listening to a place to ponder what God is doing, and asking difficult questions about resources, potential, hope, grief, love for their place, conflict, possibility, and ultimately the desire to see flourishing. There are no easy answers. Of course, there also need to be good questions – the gift of each other is that we learn to value the difference that the community of faith brings us and the gift and joy of conflict in this process. As Tina Hodgett and Greg Bakker recently noted in their publication ‘Into All the Parish’ reflecting on their years of Pioneering Parishes work – ‘The mixed ecology of church is not for the faint hearted.’!

One of the most significant questions that heft can bring to light is the posture we bring to these questions. If we are truly shaped by the wisdom that comes from the Spirit of God, power may be handled differently. A fuller theology of place suggests that we never bring God with us, but that we are journeying in a God-blessed world towards a fuller encounter with the Creator who made us. How do we begin to ‘lay low’ to hear the voice of God? How might our love and grief become faithful action?  I wonder if you have been following some of this faithful action across the County in the God for all blog over the past few months. https://godforall.org.uk/blog/ I hope some of you may add to it in the coming months too. Don’t forget to book onto the Festival of Pilgrimage – where the importance of heft and contextual theology will be celebrated fully. www.trybooking.com/uk/GJMG

Place has the power to change us, as well as some of the people who are shaping that place– we are on Holy ground, and we have to make a decision if we are open to that and to taking the risk to stay, and if we see a burning bush to ask who is there? That can be a dangerous question to ask, as it can also change our whole lives.

Beth Honey

Director of Missional Revitalization

July 2026