I guess this will be my last official posting as I really need to start writing the assignment. Well there was a different feel again this month. Some new people along one of the non-christians came back which was good. A new person took part. All fairly encouraging although getting people involved felt like pulling teeth at times. We had purposely not prepared many songs, so at times it felt really hard work. There were some good conversations that arose though. Little by little I guess.

With the encroaching deadline for the essay one is forced to ask some of those reflective questions. How did it go? Was it a success? Are there things that could have been done differently? How effective was it?

But how do you begin to measure success and effectiveness. Were their people who engaged with Bare Soul who wouldn't have engaged with any other christian activity? An almost definite yes. Has it brought those people closer to the kingdom? Well that is something only Jesus can answer - I would like to think so even if it is breakdown preconceived ideas of what christianity is about. Has it been effective in transmitting the gospel? Well you could have a big 'ol discussion on what the 'Gospel' actually is but I would probably have to say no in all honesty. Not that that couldn't be done at a later point in time. Has an effective community been built. Well that takes time but again I would probably have to say no! Again that could still develop. Was it a worthwhile activity to take part in? Yes. Is it church? Well you'll have to read the essay to get the answer to that one.

Well this is Dave signing off.

Let the Adventure continue!

February's Bare Soul on Love was definitely different. I felt very under prepared especially music-wise. At the start there were just a group of Christians there and I thought why am I doing this, especially as I had been talking to quite a few people who said they would come and then didn't show? Later the Landlady and Landlord joined as did a couple more non christians. The contributions were varied from a piece on the science of hugging to a Christian poem (that wasn't particularly good and quite jargony) to a fantastic poem written by one of the non-christians on Desire, Attraction and Love. There was some great art work displayed, and I sang a song that I had written ages ago.

There were also candles set up in a heart shape and people were invited to light a candle for some-one they loved and spend a minute thinking about them.
Towards the end a local musician came and joined us - after chatting with the landlady he went up and lit a candle. He then got up to sing a couple of songs explaining that it was the 4 year anneversary of his sons suicide. The songs he sang were special to him. It was a really touching moment.

After we had finished another couple came and joined us and again the Landlady encouraged them to light a candle for someone they loved. By this time both the landlady and landlord were totally hammered. Trevor the landlord was telling us how he had just resigned from 5 masonic lodges (although was still a member of his mother lodge) and Catherine his wife explained that it was because it was lent, they had talked about what they should give up and, as it was taking so much time, they decided the lodges had to go!!!

Though not many of the people I had talked to about the evening turned up, it had stimulated some really interesting conversations, culminating in one guy coming to 'regular' church last Sunday and another revealing that he had been abused by his priest! There is definitely something going on here.

I am trying to think through how to develop the community side of Bare Soul. It is great having a once a month gathering but it feels like there should be something else. I would love to see it become a community for those in the arts.

Well it is nearing that time of month again. Bare Soul has a lurrrvve theme this month. I've had a few interesting conversations over this last week. One was in the bar where it is held where the landlady was persuading another guy to come along next wednesday. She is not churched though holds some christian beliefs but she is a great evangelist.

Another conversation was with a friend who said she had been in the bar and heard one of the guys who works behind the bar telling people who were interested in coming that it was religious and we were trying to trick people into a 'God thing'. He is an ardent atheist but at the same time something is going on with him. It got me thinking about opposition and how we deal with it. It is so easy for us to have a really defensive attitude and get annoyed when we're trying to build something up and others are trying to pull it down. But actually God is bigger than that. It is him who builds the house (ps 127:1). It is our job to bless and God's job to build.

Another conversation was today, I was chatting through with a friend about what we could do for the next one. I was suggesting a quiz and her reply was 'do nothing'. She rightly reminded me that the whole idea was for the evening to be led by all those there and pointed out that the more I did now that was from the front, the harder it would be when I've left (I'm finishing here at the end of September) for anyone else to take over. Why do I/we have such a need to control from the front? Are we scared of what might happen? Do we doubt that the Holy Spirit can work to lead people ( even those that aren't fully signed up christians)?

Well I will let you know how it goes on Wednesday.

Is it church?

Well it's the morning after the night before. I was just reflecting and thinking through last night. I still feel really hopeful and excited about the project or do I dare call it Church! What is church? I question that I have been trying to answer for the last 10 years. I've come to the conclusion that church is (or at least should be) a God-centred community. Well there was definitely a sense of community last night, partly due to the venue which is such a warm and welcoming place, with Landlords that are so friendly (they are really behind bare soul and pushing it at any opportunity even though they are not church -goers) they are definitely people of piece - to use some good evangelic jargon. Anyway, community, the other great feature was that most people already knew someone there, whether through my gospel choir or a neighbour or a regular at the bar and people were talking to one another.

The God-centred bit is a bit harder to quantify I don't know everyone's motives for being there, one guy was just there by accident. Though all the songs we sung were 'secular' (not that I believe there is such a thing, only creativity that honours God or creativity that does not) as a band we were worshiping through them. People's poetry also reflected a god-wards focus even if it was not explicit.
Some may argue that to be church there needs to be some teaching or discipleship, which I would agree with. Last night there were some fantastic conversations going on around the theme of hope. A friend of mine had the idea of putting questions on beer mats. This went down brilliantly. I had long discussions with one guy about 'does there need to be an external spiritual force for us to have hope'.
The element that was possibly missing was prayer. I had planned to have a minutes silence for the victims of the Haiti earthquake where people could pray/think about/send out positive vibes to the victims. But I forgot! Oh well.
So I think I can safely say we now have a church. I'm thinking of setting up a facebook group so people can interact between months hopefully that will become a bit of a online creative community.

Just had our second evening we're calling it Bare Soul. The theme was Hope. A number of people took part. There were a number of Christians there but also a number of non-christians. The night went really well. Two of the non-church people took part, one wrote a poem that was awesome, the other sang a Guns and Roses song. It was such a cool night. The quote of the evening was from one guy called Peter who said " I came in a confirmed atheist and I'll go out a confirmed atheist but you really blew my pre-conceptions out of the water, you've really uplifted me. It was fantastic to hear such good music." We sang R.E.M, Westlife, Eric Clapton, BeeGee's and Rembrants. As well as poems and songs one lady brought some art and another a cake. Hopefully we made a real impact.