[STORY] 04.08
Back to the estate
BOB LIGHT
[Southampton UK]

"...When we get round the word it's really inclusive. I don't stand up and preach to them, I actually sit with them and give them the opportunity to share what God is doing...."

[STORY] 01.04.08
In the WILD
MAY DITTUP
[Coventry UK]

"...in the spirit of the message I remove my trainers and socks and step into the building. It's clear that multisensory is the watchword here - I can hear recorded bird song, I can see some artfully-placed farming tools, the ground does indeed have a circle of soil to place your feet on and somehow even the authentic smell of farmland is present..."

[STORY] 04.08
Thoughts from Hartbeespoort
ANTON VAN ZYL
[Hartbeespoort :South Africa]

"...we must try to question every tradition that is part of our christian doings. Is the things we do really Christian things or are they church stuff?...."

[STORY] 02.08
Breaking up fallow ground
VANESSA, CARL and MALDWYN
[South Wales UK]

"...we felt it important to humanize Jesus so to speak and participate in breaking down the stereotypical barriers that the church has engrained..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 01.08
Becoming mission-shaped
PHIL GREEN [Bootle, UK]

"Church happens!! There is no need for a slick program or a practised sermon just believers meeting to seek God.."

[STORY]01.08
The Boring Wells Story - Scene 1
Adrian McCartney [Moneyrea, Ireland]

"Holes in the cheese - that was God's word to me. I read somewhere recently about the parish system in the Anglican church being a bit like a cheese sandwich - wherever you take a bite you get cheese."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 01.08
Unboxed Church
Glenn Kelley[New Jersey, USA]

"What's the big secret you're itching to share with everyone?
Church happens!! There is no need for a slick program or a practised sermon just believers meeting to seek God.."

[STORY]10.07
A transcendent vision
Sue Wallace, Visions [York UK]

"Last year, when the roof of our usual venue was being re-done, we migrated to York Minster crypt for a few months. We loved the space, and opportunities to meet new people that came from being in the Minster, although it was quite hard work doing a full service set-up every week..."

[STORY]10.07
Prayerfeeder
Stephen Dominy

"Prayerfeeder (http://prayerfeeder.com) is a simple, powerful and free internet tool, designed to help friends, families and communities pray with each other..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 09.07
Cooking tonight
Eric [Birmingham]

"Has anyone ever turned up out of the blue not knowing what to expect? What did they say? Yes, "are we seriously cooking dinner?"."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 09.07
Friends and laughter and silences together.
George[UK]

"What's the big secret you're itching to share with everyone? “Seek first the Kingdom of God”."

[STORY] 08.07
Boring Wells
Paul Rowden [Belfast, Northern Ireland]

"As long as I stay true to what I believe Jesus would have me do then I am going to be seeking out the poor and oppressed and feeding the hungry and releasing captives and helping the blind to see where-ever I can. If that is what Christ was here to do then I will give it a go too..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 07.07
We be jammin.
Ness [Wales]

So, if you had to describe the church/project/experiment/thingy you are currently involved with in one sentence, what would that sentence be? "community folk jam evening in a pub with spiritual input"

[STORY] 07.07
Isaac Everett: musician, composer, audio designer
Becky Garrison

"Isaac is a musician, composer, audio designer, and the co-founder of Transmission, an underground church in New York City. His recent album, Rotation, weaves pop, glitch electronica, acid jazz, and traditional liturgical melodies into a unique but familiar tapestry of urban spirituality ..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 07.07
You DO know God has humour, right?
Mackan Andersson [Sweden]

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 04.07
Change is here to stay
Jonathan, UK

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 04.07
Mom, coffee slinger, writer
Gina, Clio, MI

[STORY] 03.07
Ambient Wonder
Norwich, UK

"...we wanted to be a place where people who didn't know what they thought or felt about God could experience something spiritual in a way that relates to the rest of their lives..."

[STORY] 03.07
Joining the tribe...
Jim Gilmore interviewed by John Drane (Pt1)
Los Angeles USA

"...I think the debate about women in church leadership is overrated because I don't think there should be a debate. The rest of Western culture has figured out that there isn't a thing in the world a man can do that a woman can't do just as well. So why are we in the church lagging behind?..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 02.07
Plant, struggle, collapse?
John
UK

"I'm beginning to think this emerging church thing is just for those who are lucky enough to have someone ordained looking after it. The rest of us plant, struggle to sprout, but ultimately aren't fed..."

Dangerous Living
Si Johnston
Coleraine, Northern Ireland

"Part of maintaining a healthy spirituality and perspective on life involves punctuating it with moments that might allow us space and time. For many, the Soliton Sessions are becoming a space to allow just that..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 12.06
My Habit of Planting Churches
Matt [Tasmania ]

"I had these ideas evolve over a couple of years, only to find that my ideas are already out there..."

[STORY] 10.06
Urban Nights - Church on the streets
Kingston UK

Urban nights is simple, a team of workers sit outside the church on a Thursday night giving away Hot chocolate and cakes (Baked by the people in the church). Over the weeks and months they build great relationships and friendships with each other, talking about different issues and problems the young people face, as well as get them involved in local issues and concerns.

[STORY] 10.06
Have you been to church lately?
ASH
CapeTown, South Africa

"Church isn’t necessarily all about stained glass windows, a “worship” team and shiny polished wooden pews for me. They call me post-modern, emergent and a bunch of other things…but I’m just an ordinary Christian, a ragamuffin saved by God's grace..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 10.06
Love, honesty, action
FRED SHOPE [South Carolina ]

"I believe the emerging church is the next work of the Spirit to revolutionize the Church, sort of a new Reformation..."

[STORY] 10.06
Malt Cross Vision
DAVE WARD
Nottingham UK

" We have always had the intention to the café bar being a “safe place” in the city and people often comment on this and have actually called it a sanctuary. "

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 10.06
A tin hat and prayer support network
TIM MOORE [Derbyshire UK]

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 10.06
Liberating and Real
BETH [South Wales]

[STORY] 09.06
A line from Jubilee
ANN
Jubilee, Hartley Valley, Australia

" I have never "pastored" such a small group, nor enjoyed church so much. It has been hard to adjust to the idea of smallness."

[STORY/INTERVIEW] 08.06
Urban Harvest
KENN KILAN Caloundra CityHarvest

"I have resisted telling our story for some time now as I feel, along with many others, that it's too early to come to any conclusions about the emerging church."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 08.06
Follow Me and Catch People
BEK Parkes Austrailia

[STORY/INTERVIEW] 06.06
Fron non-church to emerging church?
LOWELL SHEPPARD Nagoya, JAPAN

"...The church in Japan is small, and virtually irrelevant. The non church movement however, is evidence of the Mission of God being expressed in Japan and deserves a second look by missiologists ... this is only part of the story of the church in Japan that can provide some light on the struggles we are facing in the West..."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 06.06
Cause, Commitment, Journey
ATHSTA fron SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

[STORY/INTERVIEW] 05.06
Experiencing God, struggling together
REVOLUTION, Inverness UK

"...The church in Inverness is quite traditional, formal and middle class. These kids are none of these things. We talked to lots of churches and there was no church that was willing or ready to take on a group of wild young people..."

LINDSEY HOWIE and DAVE SAUNDERS are interviewed by RICHARD BROMLEY to talk about Revolution - a spiritual community of young people based around relationships rather than membership.

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 05.06
Like a 3 week old puppy
SCOTTY B - from K2C
OKLAHOMA USA

[STORY/INTERVIEW] 04.06
A spirited exchange
JENNY McINTOSH interviewed by PAUL FROMONT

'Spirited Exchanges' co-founder Jenny talks with Paul about how personal experience led to the creation of an organisation engaging with people who have left or struggle with exisiting models of church.

[STORY] 01.04.06
Paradise on earth?
Wyndup Beach, Wales

"Adam waves at me from across the sand dunes, he is wearing a dog collar, sports sandals and nothing else. Welcome to NUDES - the UK's first naturst beach mission."

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 03.06
Out of my gourd!
ELLEN
USA

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 03.06
On a journey
PAUL
UK

[STORY/RESOURCES] 02.06
40
SI SMITH
revive : Leeds UK

What exactly did Jesus do with those 40 days in the wilderness? A new CD-Rom resource brings a fresh perspective to a familiar story through comic art.

We chat with illustrator Si Smith of Leeds church revive.

[STORY] 02.06
Is this discussion any good?
VARIOUS
Global

'Alternative-Emerging' is an email discussion list that grew out of the UK/Australia/New Zealand alt.worship communities. We asked its members what they valued about being on the list. Maybe you'll like to join them...

[The second in our mini-series of how digital technology is resourcing and transforming the emerging church.]

[STORY] 01.06
[STORY] 01.06
Bona Fide Fire
SHANE TUCKER
Dreamers of the Day : Northern Ireland

Where art, faith and culture meet and mix...an opportunity to be refreshed, renewed and re-created...
Shane talks about starting with a fire inside...

[STORY] 01.06
Virtually Emerging [1]:
Metacultural workshops
AARON CAVANAUGH
Christian Radio : Internet

The emerging church has siezed the opportunity offered by the internet to explore, discuss and incubate ideas unconfined by traditional boundaries of location and social situation.

Over the next few months we're gonna look at a mix of the established and some fresh ideas [because YOU might want to join in!] - we begin with one of the latter: Aaron tells us how he's offering online workshop space as part of the ChristianRadio.me.uk project.

[STORY/RESOURCES] 11.05
Asking, not answering
PAUL HUTCHINSON
Ikon : Belfast : Northern Ireland

A moving mix of soundscapes, poetry, beats and song combine in this unique collection of twelve tracks from Belfast based Ikon alternative worship group. We interview Paul, one half of 'Stray', the duo behind the CD from 'an emerging community, becoming Christian'.

[VIRTUAL CAFE STORY] 10.05
Thin places, strong coffee
BREE DENNIS
Taree : New South Wales : Australia

Bree pops into our virtual coffee shop to tell us about being part of a traditional church exploring new forms of worship for the community.

[STORY] 10.05
Christ - Creativity - Community
TONY HARDY
C3 : Stockport : UK

"Emerging church is not just for the emerging generations!" Tony tells us about church based around 4 creativity groups and a wide range of ages.

[STORY] 10.05
Light in dark places
ANNE DANNEROLLE
Lighthouse Project / Hull Community Church : Hull UK

When your church is a refuge for drug addicts, prostitutes and the homeless, perfect-life theology becomes worthless. Anne tells how real life is painful and messy but still has room for hope.

[STORY] 09.05
Playing in the Bath
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
UK

Swish buildings, weird sub-cultures and restrictive structures - who needs 'em? Certainly not a group of people in Bath exploring what it is to be a 'simple church'. Alexander Campbell (simplechurch.co.uk) tells all...