Wednesday 29 March 2006

Finally, Re:Hope re:viewed. And I promise to stop doing the re: thing as soon as I think the joke wears thin. Which might not be for a while, I’m afraid.

So yes, this was Sunday night’s church, whose website content I had a rant about earlier this month. It struck me as a fresh, new, controversial and completely leftfield sort of church, and I expected to either love it or hate it. Well, it was one of the best places I have been to in my church-search project so far.

The welcome was instant and genuine. The pastor, Brian, greeted me outside as I came in, took me inside and introduced me to various other people. Nearly everyone was young - either members of the leadership team or students, and there were no more than twenty-five or so in the church. Their building was an old school which had a lovely, almost Hogwarts, feel to it, and it was laid out with candles, decent seats, tables and food! Yes, tons of snack-type grub at the back over which people mingled and chatted before the service. It was a great way to get people talking and meeting, and I found myself being warmly greeted by people there, many of whom were quite new to Re:Hope themselves.

The service, far from the over-the-top, Hallelujah-overload, charismatic sort of gig I feared from an obscure new independent church, it was quiet, contemplative, relaxed, and utterly unintimidating. You could keep munching through the service; the songs were lively, meaningful and easy to sing (not with crisps in your mouth, admittedly); the band (piano, guitar and jembe drum) were talented but not too loud; and the visual aids through the computer and projector screen were useful. Brian’s sermon was excellent - sadly not backed up by powerpoint which meant I couldn’t now tell you what his main points were. However, it was practical, deep, engaging and humorous, and delivered by someone who clearly had a talent in studying and discussing the Bible. And he didn’t put the boot into Desmond Tutu once!

In an extended prayer and praise session towards the end, there was an opportunity to sit and think, go and stock up on nibbles, take communion over at the side, or pray with some of the leaders. It was refreshing that they operated the idea that you could pray or take communion if you wanted but not feel you had either to do or conspicuously opt out of. Like other aspects of the church - such as the food, friendliness and unintimidating layout - it was gentle and non-threatening. This was exactly the sort of church you’d want to bring a non-Christian to.

Above all though, from the service and from chats with folk afterwards, this was a church that was none of your fluffy, shallow, superficiality that many new churches go in for - it was deep, meaningful, focussed on the scriptures and developing peoples’s faith, and with an excellent young leader in Brian Ingraham - who blogs! From hearing more about the work they were doing in the local area and in their midweek groups, they really came over as a holistic Christian experience. More so than many well-established places.

Re:Hope is a sort of church plant crossed with a mission project. It was set up around a year ago by an American group, Christian Resource Ministries, whose aim is to train and send out Christian leaders to work in churches throughout the world. Many of the leaders of Re:Hope are Americans on placements from CRM. This would normally have alarm bells ringing in my head, and would make me think of freakishly pentecostal evangelical pastors with arrogant, right-wing views charging over here to set up churches under our noses and to tell us what we were doing wrong. But was not like that with Re:Hope: they seemed to be working with other churches in the area, were learning lots as they worked, and were bringing in a lot of local people (including quite a few drifting in from other churches) which can only enhance what they do.

Far from the weird, controversial apologists they came over as when I read their website, Re:Hope struck me as a well-led, well-planned, spirit-driven and full-bodied sort of place, and I was genuinely surprised, relieved and inspired by my experience. I hate churches that are either lethargic or over the top in any element, be it worship, welcome or vision… Re:Hope seemed to steer a neat course between the two on nearly all counts.

They definitely pass the cut of round 1, and if this was football, I’d give them a Champion’s League spot.

Tuesday 28 March 2006

I’ll re:view it tomorrow. I promise.

Hopefully.

Monday 27 March 2006

Due to spending the evening seeing Dance Monkey Boy Dance at The Stand, I haven’t got round to telling you about Re:Hope like I promised you in my last blog. Sorry. I’ll do it tomorrow. I was the only person there to have heard of Van der Graaf Generator, though, which showed that it was not your ordinary sort of church.

At Re:Hope, I mean, not at Dance Monkey Boy Dance.

No, DMBD are definitely not your ordinary sort of church. Far from it, it was the usual fun night of depraved improvisational comedy. Guess who won the weekly draw for free tickets? My second time in only three visits! So if you’re kicking your heels on a Monday night in Glasgow, let me know…

Sunday 26 March 2006 (again)

Today’s double-header of a church review kicks off with the morning gig at Partick Trinity Church of Scotland, which meets in a traditional old building near the university. As I walked in, a woman dishing out intimation sheets asked me if I knew I where I was going. I paused for a second, wondering if she was offering me some spiritual counselling, but I realised that she was just recognising me as a newbie, and when I said “no” she press-ganged the first person to pass by into looking after me, who showed me into the church and then afterwards came over for a chat and introduced me to others. So, top marks for the welcome.

The church was a very traditional-looking place, with a beautiful but austere interior, rigid pews (more on them later) and a rather elderly looking congregation. One doddery old bloke carried a huge big bible in at the beginning of the service and set it on the lectern, and took it away again at the end (we all had to stand during this), and looked like each shaky step he took was dangerously close to being his last.

On the other hand, the minister was an energetic younger guy, was engaging, cheerful and humorous in his delivery, and used powerpoint brilliantly as a guide through his helpful and practical sermon. I can’t remember much of what it was about, because I was so tired (see previous post) and was trying to cope with the awful pews. They had cushions on them to minimise posterior damage, but that still left the horrible hard backs, and the pews were set a tiny width away from each other - so close that when you stood up your knees were pressed against your own pew and your crotch against the one in front making it rather uncomfortable to stand up straight during the songs.

Afterwards the church was laying on a lunch as a way of bribing people into staying for their Stated Annual Meeting, and over lunch I ended up chatting to two young guys who had only recent connections with the place about our experiences of visiting new churches. It was so nice to be able to talk openly about what makes a good or bad church. We all agreed, incidentally, that the processing in and out of the Bible was a bit of a sad ritual… after all, we’re called to revere the Bible not a bible.

I also discovered that the horrible pews are due to be replaced at some point in the future by normal seats. It was apparently somewhat of a contentious decision. Contentious?? Why?? How can the choice between comfort and utter lack of comfort be contentious? Honestly. It is an example, though, of new ideas slowly trickling into the church - though I didn’t speak to him, I get the impression the minister and others are gradually dragging Partick Trinity kicking and screaming into reality.

So in short - a bit staid and potentially uninspiring and frustrating in the long term for someone like me, but it was friendly, and there was good teaching and lots of evidence of a thriving, caring, focused church. They just about nose it into round 2.

This evening was the intriguing Re:Hope who I blogged about on 17 March after visiting their website. Did I love it? Did I hate it? I’m too tired to write any more just now, so come back and find out tomorrow!

Sunday 26 March 2006

Hooray!

Yesterday was the last night ever of smoking in public places, thanks to the ban which came into effect this morning at 6am. Not that I was awake then to celebrate the moment. I was in Edinburgh last night meeting some joinees and going to see a gig of the excellent and off-beat Porridgy play in a pub on the Royal Mile. I got the last train back to Glasgow and then walked the 45 minutes home (through the rain), getting back after 1am. Or 2am, as it was when I realised the clocks had gone forward.

It was a great night, and more so knowing that it was the last time that smoking will ever be allowed in pubs. At last fresh air, common sense and health can come to thousands of people like me who love going to pubs but hate cigarettes. It will be very interesting to see how well-enforced the ban is, but I am sure it will be a great success, will encourage more people to go out who wouldn’t normally, and will do wonders for the nation’s health. I’m in Inverness this Friday and intend to enjoy the novelty of upstairs in the Market Bar without the thick smoke.

With the late night and hour’s less sleep, I was a bit shattered in church this morning. More on that later, though, after I’ve been somewhere this evening too.

But for now, let me be one of the first to wheel out the thoroughly un-PC joke that the only place you can now get a pint and a fag is in a gay bar…

Wednesday 22 March 2006

The weekend after next, I’m going to be in Inverness for the first time since I moved down to Scotland’s murder capital around six weeks ago. I’ve kept in regular touch with lots of folk back north, so it’s been very much in my thoughts.

Not that you’d think it, moving from a city of 60,000 to one of around 700,000, but I’ve really enjoyed a quieter pace of life here. Largely thanks to no longer having a mentally busy job that takes me away from home lots, I’ve been able to enjoy my evenings and weekends and generally relax when I want to.

And Inverness really stands up to Glasgow when I compare the two. Inverness is in a beautiful location with so much beautiful countryside and interesting places to go and see around it; Glasgow has the likes of Cumbernauld. Glasgow may see itself as a diverse and cosmopolitan place, but not in some senses - Inverness has heaps more Polish and Mormons than pretty much any place I’ve ever been to. And postmen, for some reason… but they’ve yet to be classed as a race or religion I believe. Also, being the fastest growing city in Europe (supposedly), Inverness has a real confidence and sense of boom about it, whereas Glasgow is just a little too big to get any sense of it as a whole.

The accent here still takes a bit of getting used to as well. I’ve noticed how Invernessian my own voice has become over the past three and a half years - I’ve been saying things like “match” instead of “much” and “ap” instead of “up”. I’m not quite sure whether I’ve noticed it because it is so out of place here, or whether I’ve been subconsciously emphasising it to resist getting a Weegie whine. Which would not be good.

Not that I dislike it here at all - far from it, I’ve settled in brilliantly, met some lovely people, enjoyed my work, and had a really good time so far. The shops are good, the pubs are good, the West End has a lovely feel, and the people are nice. Plus the train network is really handy, and I’ve yet to see open gang warfare in the the street.

Which is right enough, I suppose.

Sunday 19 March 2006

I slept in this morning, so didn't make it to Partick Trinity. I'll save that delight till next Sunday. Tonight, though, I went to C7, a church plant by huge Australian hands-in-the-air merchants Hillsong. And what an experience it was.

Only started in August, they've been camping out in various venues around Glasgow and are currently using Partick Burgh Hall which is just down the hill from me. At the doorstep I was almost besieged by the welcome team… actually, "welcome mob" would be more appropriate - there were enthusiastic handshakes and cheery smiles all round, which was almost a bit over the top. Seriously, it was great to be greeted by people who actually seemed to care that I visited… just a bit surprising after the lacklustre efforts of other churches I've been to.

Inside the hall was very chilled out and bustling with people chatting, and with non-Christian music playing (I think someone like Supergrass, I'm not sure). Perhaps not the most holiest of atmospheres but maybe a great reassurance to someone visiting a church for the first time. I was greeted by more folk inside, ordinary members, who talked to me, introduced me to others, and generally made me feel well at home. And importantly, it was genuine chat, rather than a shallow "quick, new guy, let's convert him" - I found myself getting to know people within moments.

The hall was laid out very nicely, with tables and stalls at the back, and really comfy seats to sit on, where I was greeted by yet more people, many of whom had only been coming to C7 a few weeks. The stage held the band, who kicked off the service with the sort of tuneless and lyrically anodyne music that makes me hate modern "trendy churches". The band were accomplished, but their singing was truly awful, not helped by the terrible accoustics in the hall and the fact that the guys leading the singing were jumping around like Bez from the Happy Mondays.

The preacher/pastor, Jason, gave a bizarre sermon. He was one of the team sent out from Hillsong HQ in Sydney and his sermon was lively, humourous, and down to earth, but substantially lacking in the way of doctrine or informative scriptural interpretation. Amongst the jokes, audience interaction, and horrendous accoustics, it was hard to figure out exactly Jason was saying. The best I could make out, he was preaching that if we ask God for something and don't get it, we should just keep asking. Not quite sure that's on the button biblically, but I'll leave it to those who know more than me to comment. I'm first to complain about long, boring, irrelevant sermons, but equally I want more than soundbites.

Also, for a church that was very hi-tech (their intimations were by video presentation!), there was unfortunately no use of powerpoint for Bible readings or sermon notes. Oh yes, and Jason was cheered on stage with a big rousing music intro, which I thought was a bit "personality cult", frankly.

There was little of substance in the service - having background music during the prayers made it hard to concentrate, while there was little in the message about developing a deeper faith, only about coming to faith in the first place. With little explanation of what that means.

Afterwards I talked to more genuinely lovely people, including Jason the pastor who I found to be a very nice chap and who hoped I found the right church, whether it was C7 or not. I spoke to another guy who explained about the "lifegroups" they have midweek - allaying perhaps some of my fears about the superficiality of the place.

So, bit of a long blog there, but lots to write about as it was a compelling place. Sure, it was mostly just spiritual candyfloss, but bloody fantastic people and a great sense of community in evidence. This is a new, confident church with lots of energy and drive. They definitely warrant a second visit.

Saturday 18 March 2006

I've just rejigged the mullet page. Any comments from web design boffins are welcome.

Friday 17 March 2006

I'm throwing in one last-minute addition to the churches I'll visit in round 1. Another St Silesian emailed me the other day, and drew my attention to the very eye-catching, almost over-slick, website of Re:Hope, a church he had not himself visited, but which seems to be a new pentecostal church near where I live.

They introduce themselves as "a brand new church in Glasgow's west end focusing on church for the next generation. This primarily twenty-something church is casual in feel, while being passionate about faith", and on the About page (called, yes you've guess it, Re:Re:Hope) they launch into a diatribe about how "historically, Christianity is credited with more evil than good. Christians have made the mistake of mixing politics with faith and living unashamed hypocritical lives. Christ has been rejected because Christianity has made God look evil instead of emphasizing the good that He is. This is sickening."

Phew. Controversial!

 

Well, re Re:Re:Hope, the mistake of mixing Christianity and politics? Oh yes, that'll be the same huge blunder Archbishop Desmond Tutu is so universally mocked for; that made Jesse Jackson an international figure of shame; that sees Terry Waite booed everywhere he goes.

Good grief! Being socially and politically aware is exactly what Christians are called to do, to get involved in their world, to shape it, influence it, stand up and be counted in it, not to lock themselves away from anything political or difficult. Re:Hope seem to be apologising for, and almost reinventing, Christianity. Re:inventing it, if you will.

Slick design, bizarre message, and the name of their pastor, Brian Ingraham, reminds me of spoof TV news show The Day Today's feckless reporter Peter O'Hanraha'hanrahan. Chris Morris, The Day Today's creator and presenter, must somehow be involved.

Re:Hope do seem very clear about their mission and purpose, though. They "are to be an enfolding community, quick to embrace as our own whoever walks in the door. We actively pursue forging relationships with everyone who comes." It's great to profess to be welcoming, even if coupled with the stress on their primarily twenty-something profile it all sounds more like a dating agency than a church.

I don't think I've ever come across such an intriguing and bizarre church as Re:Hope. They're controversial, confident and distinct. I like that, I think. They will definitely get a visit, but I'm sure I could either love it or hate it. Time will tell.

Tuesday 14 March 2006

On Sunday night, because the snow was so heavy and I didn't want to travel far, I went to Partick Trinity Church of Scotland. Their website is simple and clear, but I'd not heard much about the place. I found it closed, unfortunately - a woman posted at the front door informed me that the service was cancelled due to the snow, which I thought was a bit wimpish in such a densely-populated parish where folk wouldn't have far to go. I had a nice chat with her nevertheless - she asked a bit about me and when I told her where I worked she said that they had good links with the Christian Union at the university. She encouraged me to go back another Sunday, and I will.

As it was just before half past six, I nipped round the corner to the Catholic church I'd remembered seeing a few weeks ago - I didn't see it's name as I rushed through the door. The Catholics were obviously hardier souls because it was packed out with folk who'd braved the snow. I sat right at the back and realised the service was just coming to an end, and with a quick communion and wave of smelly stuff, everyone cleared off without speaking to me. I went home and enjoyed a quiet night in. It was a nice building and clearly a big, active community, but I'm not sure if smells and bells is my scene. Sorry, Benedict.

So three churches in one day - the church-hunting is going well! In fact, it's starting to get some more attention, too. I've had a number of emails in the last couple of days from folk expressing interest in what I'm doing. I suspect most of the traffic has come via David McCarthy who blogged again about the impact of my visit to St Silas, offering six scriptural reasons why being welcoming is so important for a church.

I'll share my thoughts so far on some of these wider issues once I reach the end of round one. Just Partick Trinity and the trendily-monikered C7 to go…