Fancied a bit of a change last night so i went over to Visions in York. It was a bit of a drive but well worth it the service wasn't particularly dynamic, but it provided much needed space. The guy welcomed everyone began by saying something like "Good evening everyone. Lots of stuff is going to happen tonight and you're free to duck in and out of anything we do, the only thing that is compulsary is coming to the pub afterwards!" It made me smile! The service had an interview, a couple of songs of the electronic variety and an interactive prayer thing, but it was much more about the enviroment than the content. The room was fairly dark, they were images all over the place and the sweet smell of incense filled the air...
One thing that i remember about the evening was the guy who was being interviewed who was a leader of Visions talked about the difference between being driven and committed. Whereas Visions was once maintained by people who were driven (driven towards a goal; it's popularity, it's success, it's development) it is now run by people who are committed (committed to the emerging church as something that is good and special and genuine).
Another thing that struck me is how small alternative worship really is. There can't have been more than fifteen or maybe twenty people there last night and from what i hear it's the same with most of these things... perhaps that's what makes it so special though!
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