Kairos: a New Place for New People initiative in Yorkshire

The projects might be varied from photography to the podcast Don't wake the baby!, but their aim is the same, building a community of like-minded people. Like the Bridge circuit, the Kairos movement is a new type of circuit – a single church circuit.

Kairos arose from established pioneering work in the Yorkshire North & East District. “We tried to identify people with a pioneering heart who wanted to do something different and shape a church differently and we understood it is not always easy to find a home in existing circuits and churches, so we wanted to give them a new home”, starts Revd Leslie Newton, Chair of the Yorkshire North and East Methodist District.

Kairos is overseen and co-led by Revd Andy Lindley, a presbyter who is partly released from his normal circuit work, and Liane Kensett, a lay pioneering person. She says, “We spent many months chatting, thinking, praying and chatting again as we shared and played with what we could see going on, what we could only sense, what we were reading from other people and what we were feeling in our own Spirits.”

They started by offering online spaces to further this conversation during lockdown. During their travels in the District for the “Breaking Bread” week, the Kairos Movement was finally launched in September 2021. “Our self-description is: a movement of people hungry to live differently the Jesus way, aching for a transformed world & seeking a more balanced, life-affirming way to be,” explains Liane.

Kairos is Christian but not preachy. It is not geographical but has an overarching reach in the district. It does not have its own building but uses other buildings. Its aim is to develop a range of community and spiritual initiatives. Kairos is interfaith and oecumenical, attracting people who are active within their church and people who do not.

The Kairos Movement is also thriving with activities and ideas. “There are many collaborations between individuals passionate about changing the world. We are exploring ways to collectively learn, support and encourage one another. We want to be out among our neighbours, getting involved with the good things they are doing, and being part of the conversations that transpire,” adds Liane. 

Kairos is part of the New Place for New People (NPNP) initiative of the Methodist Church, meaning it has funding and support with the freedom to engage in new projects and to see the emergence of new expressions and ministry. The concepts of faith-shifting and wilderness are particularly important to them. “We haven’t in any way arrived, at a new way of being church, rather we are on a journey together (hence movement) and like many pilgrims, we gather for periods, to share, to tell stories and discern together the way forward. In doing so, rather than resisting our faith-shifting, we are offering a safe space to explore it and for God to reveal through us, the way ahead,” concludes Revd Andy Lindley.