Watershed Thinking: An Eco-Church Spirituality and Praxis

How does ‘Watershed Thinking’ inspire an eco-theology as spirituality and living praxis? This article is in three parts. PART ONE is a ‘theological profile’ of St James’s Piccadilly (SJP), a nation-leading Church of England church in central London developing innovative eco-church practices and disseminating theological reflection as part of its commitment to living the Christian Gospel in transformative social action. PART TWO is a sermon on ‘Watershed Thinking’ preached in our ‘Season of Creation’ by a lay member of the congregation. The sermon serves as a case study of eco-church thinking and theological praxis in this city-centre church; the sermon it invites the congregation to link the Gospel text for the Feast of St Matthew with the intricate ways in which the Thames watershed ecology at work beneath our church foundations shapes our lives and our church identity. (In the scholarship, this is akin to the ‘human ecosystems’ model proposed by Burch, Machlis, and Force, 2017.) The watershed, the sermon argues, roots our ministry and eco-church activity in the work of the incarnate Christ who is, first and last, good news for the creation. At the same time, however, our Gospel commitments and eco-church values also have the potential to shape ecological wellbeing in London measured by the health of our watershed. PART THREE shows the way ahead in ‘Watershed Thinking’ as a Gospel imperative. Older maps of London show that our city-centre churches were once intimately linked by the water wells tapping into the Thames watershed. These wells were lifelines to the communities that formed around them (some of them bearing the names of ancient saints or associated with spiritual beliefs from pre-Christian Britain). This retrieval of ancient connections is for us a prompt towards joint practices with churches previously linked by these water wells. This includes prayer walks and acts of thanksgiving for our watershed ecology as God’s gift to common life between the churches and a city we believe Christ wants to reach with ‘living water’. FINALLY, then, this article argues that ‘Watershed Thinking’ and Christ’s ‘living water’ as a Gospel theme provokes fresh theological reflection, as well as research and activity, around the care of our watersheds that will resonate with other churches and the geographies and ecologies particular to their notions of Gospel identity and calling to creation care.