About Us

Seeds was initially an activity of Urban Seed, an ecumenical initiative based in Melbourne, Australia, seeking renewal of the church and society through engaging faith, community and culture. 

Originally started by Peter Chapman and Jim Barr, Seeds has played numerous and various roles, existing at different times as a theological subject, discipleship training for residential interns and a bible study for all comers.

Seeds describes activities that have preserved the stories, learning, values, relationships, practices and debates at the heart of our spirituality, creativity and struggle.

Seeds is not an ideology or a religious doctrine but an ongoing, ‘spirited’ conversation by which, together, we discover the truth that inspires our life and work.

Seeds were a favorite image used by Jesus of Nazareth to describe a vision of a new society.

Some individuals and mobs express the spirit of Seeds through  three key elements

Know the Word

We seek to know and be known by God’s message of truth, love and justice by gathering together to pray, discern and celebrate our participation in the living story of Jesus Christ.

Grow Home

We seek to grow a new sense of home in  local places by re-imagining the traditional vows of

Poverty: by seeking simplicity; solidarity with those marginalised; and ways of sharing our resources.

Chastity: honouring the sacred connections between God, creation and each other’s bodies through sharing “slow” food around an open table.

Obedience Being faithful to the mutual decisions we make to live this vision with others.

Go Engage

We seek to serve others through the practices of teaching, healing and casting out evil.  These are often expressed through ministries of education, hospitality and political engagement.

 

Seeds activities over the past year 2005-6 have included :

“Word on the Street” City Walks

In our present political climate superficial religion is often used as an ideological weapon. Over the course of the last year we have improved community literacy by assisting over forty church and religious education groups to read sacred texts on the streets of Melbourne and use their themes and dynamics to interpret the changing face of our society.

“Come and see” experiential learning.

We believe truth is not simply taught but caught and so we invite others to share in our lives by: 

 

Offering Placements and Mentoring for the Forge Mission Training Network.  David and Ruth Bryce lived with us for 6 months gaining valuable experience before their relocation to Cambodian slums to work with Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. Jono Dredge presently assists with our Edge youth program in Norlane.

 

We said goodbye to Pam, Jo, Tom and John and hello to Amy, Caroline and Rachael our Global Action Team volunteers who each lived with and ably served us over a three month period. In partnership with Oasis Trust (UK). 

 

Two of our traditional mission exposure weeks were again held where a dozen interested people lived at Central House, assist with lunches and received training in mission and spirituality from our residential community.

 

We also hosted a city weekend for 35 Vetamorphus students, an accredited Christian leadership course for VCE students.

 

Seeds Gatherings

This year we took our learning from Credo Gathering and created a Seeds Gathering on a Sunday. Our initial meeting place at Mission to Seafarers gave opportunity to contribute to the emerging culture of Melbourne’s new Docklands precinct culminating in the Dead Man Waiting Easter Saturday event which reflected upon grief and loss to critical acclaim.
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Since then we have relocated to The Den in Chinatown where a weekly “mob” of twenty people reflect upon and celebrate our work.
 
Seeds Speaking, Conferences, Seminars and Study Circles

 

Public meetings promoting the spirituality of engagement were held in Neighbourhood renewal areas. “Bendigo Seeds” was run by David Fagg in Long Gully and Noodle Nights by Brent Lyons-Lee in Norlane. The Seeds bible series “Chasin Mark” ran weekly in conjunction with the Salvation Army in Foostcray along with “Seeds for Lent” at The Den.

 

Continuing our popular education upon the critical moral, ethical, spiritual issues of our society we have spoken at numerous churches and continued our participation with conferences and organizations such as Blackstump, Forge, Forest Edge, Urban Neighbours of Hope, Liquid, Tabor College (Year in the Son), TEAR Australia and Forest Edge,  World Vision Australia, State Youth Games

 

 Seminars have included:
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• Sustaining A Spirituality Of Engagement
• Recovering The Christian Tradition Of Hospitality,
• Nonviolent Theology And Community Safety Training, 
• How To Run Bible Study That Doesn’t Suck.
• You’re Fired: Is God Like Donald Trump? 
• It’s The Economy Of God, Stupid!
• Slow Food, Slow Worship, Slow Church
• Colossians Remixed: Subverting The Empire, 
• The Beatitudes And Ethics Of Jesus
• Advent In Art, Lenten Reflections and The Waters Edge postcard series
• Interactive “Sacred Space” Installations

 

We have also hosted international speakers such as Ray Simpson on neo-Monasticism and Celtic spirituality,  Robyn Hemmens (YFC South Africa via TEAR Australia) ran a forum for agencies working with At Risk Youth and Brian McLaren on Emerging Church/Theology.

 

Future

 

We are exploring experiential learining models with Praxis (NZ) and developing a new website to continue to promote the Seeds conversation and connections which underpin our unique approach.  We acknowledge the support of the Baptist Union of Victoria, and the many elders, punters and spiritual guides to whom we are indebted.

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