The vision for the Sannox Christian Centre (SCC) has been developing over at least 20 years. God has been speaking to different people and groups around Scotland calling them to establish a house of prayer at Sannox. For example, a group of Christians from Arran have been praying on the site for the last 20 years and another individual in Edinburgh has carried the same vision for at least 20 years. Now we are seeing it mature and emerge. The common aspect of the vision God has planted in people is to establish a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7). It is to be a place of rest and restoration where God can meet with His people, those within His church and those without. It is to be a place open to all people with Christ at its centre. It is a place where people can enter leaving everything outside the gates; denominations, doctrines, condemnation and self importance and walk with their Father God finding His rest, forgiveness and reconciliation.
The vision of the SCC reflects the ethos of the Celtic Mission – Christ at the centre but open to all. It is founded on the three areas of Celtic Christianity – devotion to God, hospitality and service to the community and mission to the world. (This is often symbolized as the cave, the refectory table and the road).
CAVE
The cave is our personal journey with God rooted in worship and prayer, it is the bedrock of all we do and the foundation stone of SCC. It revolves around a rhythm of prayer and worship – daily, weekly and seasonally. SCC will provide a safe space for individuals to walk and talk with God. It will do this through providing a place where people can re-orientate their lives, slow down to listen to God, to commune with God in His creation within and without the SCC and allow God to do his work of blessing, healing and restoration.
REFECTORY
The refectory table is the outpouring of what God has poured in through direct service in the local community and in the work of our guests who
return to their own communities. This expresses itself in hospitality, the weekly prayers of blessing for the community and its issues, the plans for affordable housing and the provision of community transport. Other things will follow as the need arises in consultation with the community. It is envisaged SCC will develop as a community resource responding, wherever possible, to needs as they are identified by the Isle of Arran communities. The facilities of the centre will be made available, whenever possible, to the community subject to the needs of the SCC. SCC will seek to be part of the community, not a closed commune, but a centre open to all, faithfully praying blessings on people and communities as they seek change for good.
ROAD
The road is our outreach in the name of Christ to the wider world. It encourages us to live out our Christian lives in whatever sphere of influence God has placed us, to be shaped by our contact with friend, family, neighbour and stranger. Through the experience of individuals and groups and the courses SCC will offer, we will seek to encourage and equip people, for their service in local churches and in their daily lives, as they journey with God. The SCC is a neutral, safe place where people of all Christian denominations, or none, will come to be still before God. It is a place of relaxation, restoration and revival; a place where people walk and talk with their Father God.
