Severn's Vision 2026
Where are we as a church, what makes us who we are, and what are we looking forward to in 2026? Owen and Claire Lynch share how Severn is an inclusive community of friends where all people are welcome to encounter Christ Jesus. If you would like to know more about giving to Severn, see our Giving page.
Transcript
Good morning everyone.
This is our annual vision talk, and we’re genuinely excited to be sharing this together. We have produced a sheet of frequently asked questions that offer more detailed answers to questions that might occur to you as you listen to us this morning. Do pick one up from the information desk afterwards.
This is our seventeenth vision talk, and as always, as we look forwards, we want to take a moment to look back.
During 2025, we walked alongside one another through the ordinary and extraordinary things of life — the joys, the pain, the opportunities, and the challenges that every year brings.
Like all churches, Severn has offered us a rhythm. A rhythm of worship, prayer, contemplation, service, and celebration. Practices that help us live Christ-centred lives.
And I want to say this personally — I am deeply thankful to be part of this community. My life is richer because of you; because of the conversations, the meals, the laughter, the care, the worship, and the shared life we have together.
During 2025, Claire and I invited the trustees to consider allowing Severn to preside over same-sex weddings, and to involve same-sex couples in leadership roles.
That was not a small decision for us.
We knew that this would mean returning our Vineyard licence, and that Severn would no longer be part of the Vineyard movement in name. We also knew that for some people in our community, this would be a difficult change — one that raised real questions, emotions, and convictions.
As we reflect on that journey, what has stood out to us most is the way people have behaved.
Whether people agreed with the decision or not, we have seen love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
That hasn’t been easy. And for some, it may still not be easy to be part of Severn — or to stay closely connected to us. We want to acknowledge that honestly, and gently.
But as we begin 2026, Claire and I feel both relieved and grateful for the way that everyone has conducted themselves in this conversation.
We are now able to welcome same-sex couples fully, knowing that we are no longer required by our licence to treat people differently because they are gay.
At the same time, we deeply treasure our thirty-year Vineyard heritage, and the friendships that remain across the Vineyard movement. Those relationships matter to us, and they continue.
So, as we ask the question: What might Severn look like in 2026?
It’s important to say clearly — we are the same church.
Although we are no longer a Vineyard church in name, we remain anchored in the historic Christian faith. We are still a protestant, evangelical, charismatic church, grounded in the ancient Nicene Creed.
Just as we always have been, Severn is an inclusive community of friends, rooted in Christian practices — worship, prayer, contemplation, service, and celebration — seeking to live Christ-centred lives.
Together, we seek to create and hold space where all people are welcome to encounter Christ Jesus.
We’ve been living this way since we began in 2009. But it’s language we want to use more intentionally in 2026.
Earlier this year, we asked many of our team and community group leaders to describe their ideal church.
They spoke about a church that is bright, visible, and attractive. A church where everyone can be involved. A safe and cosy community, marked by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. A church where people encounter Jesus — in both the miraculous and the ordinary. A church of music, food, drink, and celebration. A church that is accessible, transparent, and trustworthy. A church that looks after one another, and vulnerable people in the wider community. A church that is loosely defined, where people can be themselves and don’t feel pressure to conform in order to belong.
As we listened, we realised that Severn already reflects much of this. So we distilled those reflections and named three simple ways to describe who we are becoming in 2026.
Three words.
Grassroots. Light touch. Low cost.
Severn has always been a grassroots church.
We didn’t begin as an institution or an organisation. Claire and I moved to Bristol and invited friends to share simple Christian practices together — worship, prayer, contemplation, service, and celebration — to help us live Christ-centred lives.
At the beginning, it was two families and three young adults. It grew from the ground up. Informal. Relational. Open.
In Acts 2:46, it says, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,”
That’s what it was like and in all of our community groups it still is!
We weren’t trying to create a closed group. We wanted to minimise any sense of insiders and outsiders - everyone together working out what Christ Jesus meant to us.
Grassroots doesn’t mean low impact or insignificant. Park Run is grassroots. Local amateur drama is grassroots. Foodbanks are grassroots — and there are over a thousand of them across the UK.
Grassroots means local, volunteer-led, relational, and adaptable.
Grassroots means rooted in our neighbourhood, emerging from existing relationships. Easy to start and easy to sustain.
Severn is a grassroots church.
Severn has always been a light-touch church.
We believe Jesus helps us carry our burdens — not adds to them.
Jesus says in Matthew 11: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest… for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
This is why we’ve tried to avoid being a ‘should’ or ‘have to’ church.
There is no pressure to attend. No pressure to volunteer. No pressure to behave in a certain way. No pressure to agree with us on everything.
We trust the Holy Spirit to lead transformation in each others lives.
If you want to orbit Severn lightly, you’re welcome. If you want to be deeply involved, you’re welcome.
You don’t need to hide behind a Christian mask here. You don’t need to perform. You don’t need to pretend.
Light touch means respect for dignity, freedom, and conscience — just as Jesus modelled.
Severn has always been a low-cost church.
We began with a £5,000 gift, no buildings, no full-time staff, and no safety net.
All our staff are part-time, by design. That keeps us grounded, sustainable, and connected to everyday life.
In Acts 18, Paul is described as a tentmaker — holding ordinary work alongside extraordinary faithfulness. If that was good enough for Paul, it’s good enough for us.
Being low cost makes Severn easier to sustain — and easier to replicate.
It allows us to imagine starting other churches like this in the future.
Severn is also a deeply connected church.
Though we are no longer Vineyard in name, we remain connected through friendship, shared history, and mutual respect.
We partner with other churches and organisations across Bristol — through Foodbank, CAP Debt Centre, refugee support, fostering and adoption, student ministry, and work with people experiencing homelessness.
We are also a well-governed church — accountable, transparent, and supported by trustees and professional advisers. This matters, especially in times of change.
And we want to be a visible and attractive church.
We gather in public, accessible spaces. We invest in hospitality and welcome. We maintain a strong online presence so that people can find us easily.
If we are kind, open, and Christ-centred, people will come.
As we step into 2026, we’re not trying to become something impressive.
We’re trying to become something faithful.
A church close to the ground. A church that doesn’t guilt people. A church that doesn’t load burdens onto tired shoulders. A church that restores and heals.
A church where people can be themselves. Where questioning is normal. Where Jesus is encountered — in the ordinary and the miraculous.
We want to keep creating and holding space where all people are welcome to encounter Christ Jesus.
Whether you’ve been here for years, or you’re new, or you’re still deciding — there is room for you here.
And if one day there are too many people for one space, we’ll do what we’ve always done.
We’ll start another Severn and call it eight!
Before we finish, we want to say thank you. Thank you to those of you who give financially to Severn. Your generosity is the quiet reason so much of what we’ve talked about today is even possible.
Because Severn is a grassroots church, every donation really does make a difference.
It helps us gather, care for one another, support vulnerable people in our city,
and keep creating space where people can encounter Jesus.
If Severn feels like home for you, or if this vision resonates with you, we’d love to invite you to respond financially.
If you’d like to give a one off donation, start a monthly donation or increase your monthly donation - we would be grateful if can you do it this in the next couple of weeks via our website so that the trustees can budget for the rest of the year.
There’s no pressure, no expectation. Give only if you’re able and if you want to. But for those who do give, please know how grateful we are — and how much your generosity helps sustain this community.
Thank you.