UK
22. Host , Brixton, London
23. The Epicentre , London
25. The Warehouse , York
26.1 . Iona Glasgow ,
26.2 . Iona Island ,
27. Open Meeting , , West Glasgow
28. Late Late Service , , Glasgow
29. Adelaide’s , , Glasgow
30. Corrymeela , , Ballycastle, N. Ireland
31. The Gathering , , Thornbury, England
32. Third Sunday Service , , Bristol, England
22. The Host, London
Doug Gay is on staff at an Anglican church here, and leader of this group of Christians from various church backgrounds (some even continuing their connections). It is ambient with candles and circular seating (for 20-30). There is meditative prayer, discussion, activity. For key dates on the calendar, they use all their talents, arts, & energy to help people connect meaningfully with God.
They have started a Food co-op and Credit Union, and they have a community communal meal as part of these initiatives. Their only staff is the co-ordinator of this venture.
Comment: It is a very articulate group of young adults. This reflects Doug. Top
23. Epicentre, Clapham, London
Ian Mobsby heads up this group with a firm theology of art. “Everyone is artistic in some way” maybe movement, paints, crafts, video, sound, music, poetic etc. “As you express yourself, you discover deeper things about yourself & your spirituality. Then we can point you to find how God meets those basic needs.” Ian is an occupational therapist by trade.
This night about 30 met in a crypt under St Marks old church building. Ambient light cast by the OHP putting images about the night’s theme (Masks) onto draped screens. With ambient techno music, we made masks, and worked through stations concerning what we do, feel, and how we relate, to ourselves, friends, and God. There were key readings, meditations, and time for prayer. There was a song or two, but in such an ambient, quiet atmosphere no-one really sang up. The leader on the microphone would sing for us all.
Comment: This would prove to be a feature of all the quiet ambient groups. Indeed wherever the sound gear overpowered the audience - the people left the singing to the wired ones.
The creative process also involves: T-shirts, advertising (good alternative/rave style graphics), a 3-monthly cabaret, regular art galleries (encountering spirituality through the fine arts, and being involved in the community as an arts project in its own right.), and the development of an arts cafe.
Comment: By far the greatest benefit with the use of art is for those involved in the creative process. This applies also for 23, 26 & 30.
Website: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/mark.rise/epicentr.htm Top
24. Holy Joes, London
Meets weekly in an upstairs room at the Railway Pub. Chairs and tables set ready for maximum discussion over drinks & smokes. About 30 attended. Has been going over 10 years. A good environment for chewing over ideas, morals, etc. They accept all comers, and keep disagreements from becoming personal, in order to maintain a safe environments to explore beliefs. A video projector was used to stimulate discussion on tonight’s topic (genetics).
They also have a monthly worship meeting (prayer, expression of worship, Bible) in a church venue, and interestingly they have more people join the group through this than the pub meeting. Probably because they sense there the spiritual reality they’ve been looking for - connecting with God.
Holy Joes can seem cynical about the mainstream church, but it is actually trying to empathetically validate the feelings of people who have been burned, for their recovery so that they might open to God again.
Comment: Discussion wasn’t particularly Bible-based, which made it seem like sharing ignorance. Holy Joes seems to deconstruct well, but not so clear on reconstruction.
Website: http://www.ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/holyjoes
Top
25. Sue Wallace, The Warehouse, York
Another group specializing in alternative worship. They’ve changed venues numerous times but have maintained their name from their first venue. I was not able to attend, but Sue was very helpful explaining much of the creative process behind their services, with photos too.
26.1 Iona (Glasgow)
A dispersed community, meaning that the members dont live with or even near each other, but they are still part of the group, adhering to the common rule in their own contexts. A blurb says “daily prayer and Bible study, sharing and accounting for their use of time and money, regular meeting and action for justice and peace”. It mentions “discovering new and relevant approaches to worship, the promotion of peace and social justice... for example... the cause of the poor and exploited ...racism ...environmental and constitutional issues ...strengthening interdenominational understanding ...the rediscovery of an integrated approach to spirituality...”
There are over 200 Members, 1400 Associates and 1600 Friends of Iona.
The administrative headquarters in Glasgow houses: a full time youth worker; Wild Goose Resource and Worship Group (writing worship liturgies and songs etc which are accessible for people to participate in); Wild Goose Publishing House (liturgies & writings are available); and Coracle (a bi-monthly magazine. They aim to promote “integrated spirituality” (ie social, spiritual, all of life together), and historically this has meant a lot of overlap with Celtic Christianity, (but they dont want to limit themselves to celtic only). Top
26.2 Iona Island
A community founded by St Columba in the 6th Century, there is a long Celtic Christian Tradition here. Iona maintains 3 centres, Iona Abbey, the Macleod Centre, and Camas Adventure Camp on the Ross of Mull. These provide opportunities to extend horizons through sharing experiences of the common life in worshiping, working, discussing, and relaxing together.
The modern Iona Wild Goose community began in the 1930’s when Macleod enlisted 6 tradesmen to restore the Abbey. He also found 6 clergy to be the labourers. They would work alongside the tradesmen, who would worship alongside the clergy. In itself a fertile concept!
For some reason it’s often an important spiritual experience for people just to be here and walk the windswept sod. Top
27. Open meeting, West Glasgow New Church, Clevedon, Glasgow
Coming from a Bretheren background, the first service is “open”, meaning people are expected to come prepared to contribute something to the worship experience. Today these took the form of songs, Bible passage, personal testimony & response, a communion service introduced by someone reading a Christian creed from Africa. Lots of silence, and no ambience.
After coffee & nibbles, there follows a contemporary mainstream style service. Top
28. Late Late Service, Glasgow
The week I attended was a quiet service in an old pillared church sanctuary. They remove their shoes & sit on the carpeted floor with cushions around an altar consisting of candles, wine, and a rustic tray of bread, in a candlelit space in bordered by sheets with various slide images projected. The service included ambient chants, celtic quotes and reflections, a procession stopping at stations to hear scriptures describing the events leading up to Easter, a meditation on how the events of Easter might have seemed to the locals, reflective discussion, and a recurring theme: “If the Resurrection turns out to be a different Resurrection from what we thought, it will be the Resurrection it turns out to be.” The DJ was kept very busy in the background providing background music to all these features.
Comment: 20,21,23,26 and 30 all face similar constraints in that as the core group gets older and have kids, it’s harder to keep being as creative, so they fall back on resources gathered over the years. They’ve been thinking of scaling back their Celebrations to 4 per year.
The structure is democratic, with a steering group composed of people in different technical posts. Everyone is on a rota to create, express, and explore new avenues. They were once sticklers for quality, but have relaxed in favour of organic humanity. There is no staff, but they have a bank account for the services and giving to needs.
Comment: A question they ask themselves is, are we doing this for ourselves, or for the people out there? (see comment at 21.)
This had been described to me as a “Punk Church”, but that’s overstating. It seems more an arts church, drawing eclecticly from many subcultures - punk, techno, house - in a mystic way. Certainly the quiet service I attended is not punk at all. The Thorntons, instrumental in it’s establishment 10 years or so back, aren’t sure how the rumour started.
For music, contact Sticky Music, Glasgow, 331 1678 (Kathleen) Top
29. Adelaide’s, Glasgow
“In 1990, faced with potentially disasterous maintenance costs, the congregation of Adelaide Place Baptist Church (a city centre church) ...redeveloped their B listed building (heritage value).” Drawing finance from “church members past and present, Historic Scotland, Glasgow Development Agency, Glasgow District Council, and the Bank of Scotland”, they opened 18 months and 1.2 million later, as “Adelaide’s”, a unique city centre commercial complex, comprising:
30. Corrymeela, Ballycastle, Northern Ireland
Began 30 years ago as a youth campsite. Developed into a key centre for reconciliation between religions, political parties, God and us, each other, and within ourselves. People come to the beautiful campsite and retreat, or do activities, reflect, and meet (God, themselves, others). The idea is that healing can take place in the encounters. It sure seems to work.
Here you’ll see: art; grief, bereavement; youth involvement; cross-community reconciling; nature/ environment; discussion of issues; a safe environment, welcoming, trust building, team, group contracts; key speakers drawn from many fields of expertise for specific camps; families of prisoners, single parents, abused spouses, disabled dependants having respite.
Corrymeela has numerous staff, and many volunteers, plus 180 members who work in normal jobs (ie. a dispersed community) but use their roles in their jobs for the ends Corrymeela espouses. For example one might be a teacher in a Protestant school - he would use Corrymeela to hold camps with kids from a Catholic school, Corrymeela has become a trusted neutral party over the years. On one day in Belfast I visited with Sinn Fein, Epic (a centre for UVF ex-prisoners), and spoke with an IRA intellectual.
Corrymeela has an office in Belfast where you’ll find staff such as the founder, a fund-raiser, administration, Christian ed officer, schools worker, youth worker, Family worker, interface community worker. At Ballycastle most duties are done by one-year intern volunteers. There are of course cooks, admin etc, and also a volunteers co-ordinator & Program Resource co-ordinator.
Comment: So Corrymeela is a campsite with a powerful coal face in social action, inserting the gospel into the wider community in very practical and meaningful terms. A campsite with on-going, strategic, direct involvement in people’s everyday lives! That’s got to be rare.
It draws on Celtic Christian tradition, seeing it as a common root for both Catholic and Protestant. There is worship twice a day to which all on the campsite are invited. There are facilities enough to cater for 3 sizeable camps at once. They are used by churches, schools, political groups, families, international groups, interface groups. They try to: understand, not judge; exchange stories; trust all on campsite; welcome all; create a safe place; foster relationships (“everything takes place in relationships”); try to find common ground so that people are encountered as human persons.
Liturgical resources are available.
Comment: A 3rd approach to orthodoxy: 1) Mars Hill - Midrash, truth in the tensions. 2) Jubillee - Follow Jesus, let differences enrich you. 3) Corrymeela - Accept that to be a good Catholic / Protestant is OK. Corrymeela seeks to enrich both traditions to be their best. Top
31. The Gathering, ngm (New Generation Ministries), Thornbury, England.
Once a month, ngm, a parachurch organisation going into schools and youth events with Christian perspectives, have a big youth event / church in the gymnasium of Castle High School, Thornbury. Imagine pulling out all stops technologically - using all the latest gadgets to convey your point, then add in a twist of pentecostal culture. That’s The Gathering, gathering kids from all the schools/groups they’ve been to for a worship experience. The DJ plays a big role, as do the sound & lighting crew, using loud music, video prjections, smoke machines, and various spotlighting effects - and that’s just while the message is being preached! It was a mixture of evangelistic hard sell, activities for Christians (“groups of 3 and pray for your lost friends”), and a show.
Some observations: There is so much technology happening, it might hide the simple spiritual reality from the searcher. Is it all a legitimate form of expression using all modern tools available to us, or is it a modernist at work (more is better, science & technology is good) losing the mystical, simple side of our being.
Comment: Nightclubs are not the only ones with all the gear!
As with almost all groups using sound equipment, there was no time when the audience found it’s own voice. They were overpowered by the gear, and left it to those in power.
Everything except the founders’ role was operated by youth - sound, light, technology, instruments, door, merchandise counter etc.
Moments for involvement: communion; response to message (oil annointed, to go out and take the message); garbage can for renouncing sinful practices; dancing of course; meditation.
Comment: But no right of reply, no 2-way interaction. Top
32. Third Sunday Service, Bristol.
Paul Roberts is actually on staff of an Anglican Church in Bristol, and can use this great facility every month to “explore new ways of expressing Christian life, thought and worship in a changing world.” About 30 come regularly. It is similar to the Epicentre, & Late Late Services that I visited (21. & 26.). Extensive use of ambient music, candlelight, projected video & slide images onto draped screens, use of physical movement prayers etc.
A few new features. Use of artistic displays/altars around the room to get people focussed on: 1) leaving worries behind, 2) confession, 3) nature, God, worship, all before the program begins.
Every second month they plan with a blank sheet of paper, every other month they use a basic service structure - 1) Word 2) Prayer 3) Gift. They punctuate these sections to move to the next phase by a video image instead of clumsily saying “Now we are going to...”
This group is not exactly a stand alone church. However they do meet every first Tuesday, in a pub for intellectual discussion of a book, theme, Bible passage, or to chat with a speaker. And a few cell groups meet weekly. Top
Sue is writing a book on “wacky prayer ideas”. Top
“Within this complex, the congregation of Adelaide Place Baptist Church continue to worship and from it they minister to the city community.”
Comment: Here’s a church that looks like a community-building commercial centre. It is very well done. Top
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