When Seed was launched back in 2015, we wanted to invest in the formation of Jesus followers to help them make a real difference in the world – to move beyond belief. And we were confident that if we could help people design and create tangible expressions of the way of Jesus and the Christian story, then we would see lives and communities start to flourish. There was A LOT we didn’t know about how to do that, yet in the midst of the unknowns, there were two vivid pictures of what Seed could be that were at the front of my mind.
The first picture was an incubator for entrepreneurs. We were blessed to pilot our first incubator in October 2015, and we have been privileged to work with entrepreneurs since. They have remained a key strand of our work, as other parts of Seed, like our Consulting and our work with emerging marketplace leaders, have developed.
The second picture was a room full of passionate Christians, from a variety of sectors, collaborating together to design tangible solutions to pressing social or cultural issues.
For 7 years this picture has sat in the background of Seed’s thinking. We’ve not wanted to waste people’s time having conversation about issues unless we were confident that we could facilitate those conversations moving to creative action. The highlight of 2022, for me, was seeing this picture become reality at our Seed Summit in October. Working alongside our partners, with people from the marketplace, community sector and church, our amazing team put the Redemptive Design toolkit to work, designing collaborative solutions to issues facing young people and marginalised workers. We explored real-world possibilities for helping churches work together to more effectively pastor their city.
We should not have been surprised that when we paid attention to God collectively, the Spirit was present, both enlightening our minds and enlivening our hearts.
Having ‘’seen’’ this in my imagination for so long, ‘’seeing’’ it come to reality was a true gift.
This was faith coming alive in the world. And it was beautiful to see.