The Cut Flower: Rooting a Fading West

A Lenten Journey Toward Transformation

The West is often described as a "cut flower"—strikingly beautiful, yet disconnected from the soil that gave it life. As author Ayaan Hirsi Ali famously observed at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference, we are currently enjoying the bloom of Western civilization while the stem withers, severed from the Christian heritage that once anchored our values, our ethics, and our sense of purpose.

Hirsi Ali, who recently shared her own journey to Christian faith, notes that while the flower remains beautiful for a time in the vase, it is ultimately fading. However, she offers a hopeful challenge: we still possess the "seed packets" of our heritage. By returning to these "seeds"—the core spiritual disciplines—the West can be "replanted" and renewed. Dispatches from the Living Soil

This Lent, we aren't just looking inward; we are looking to our global family. Two members of our team are currently traveling to Kenya to visit our partnership church in Thika and a Church Army project in Nairobi.

Equipped with cameras and a mission to listen, they are capturing authentic "field reports" from our brothers and sisters in Africa. We will hear their perspectives on how these ancient disciplines are lived out with a vibrancy and depth that can show us the way back to spiritual vitality.

Our Lenten Path:

Starting this March, join us as we explore the "Seed Packets" of our faith:

●     Fasting and Prayer: Moving beyond comfort to find our source in God.

●     Social Sin and Confession: Facing the shadows of slavery and injustice to seek healing.

●     Service: Honouring the life-giving labour of serving others.

●     Encouragement: Choosing Christian joy over cultural cynicism.

●     Simplicity: Learning to live with less so that we can give more.

●     Hospitality: Discovering how God makes room for us and how we do the same for others.

●     Pilgrimage: Navigating our home in the cultural divide of the "The Somewheres" and "The Anywheres"