Church for the Unchurched

Wow, what an evening! In one sense it’s all so simple. Take one average sized room with about ten chairs inside, put a big notice on the door stating “Interrogate: Ask any Question” and see what happens.

That’s what happened at the drop-in on Tuesday night and we were blown away by the enthusiasm and participation of the youth in attendance that evening. The idea is simple; the kids really can ask any question, bring up any subject, state any point of view. And that’s exactly what happened, right from the off.

God, Jesus, death, disease, jobs, sex, the afterlife, the occult, prayer, evolution v. creation, the environment – it all came up in the hour and a half we had with these kids last Tuesday. The desire to talk was really strong – the need for answers even more so. As the questions and answers got knocked about the room at an ever quickening pace it became clear that for a few, the chance to talk through some really serious issues in their life had touched a nerve.

For one or two in particular the need to find some meaning in a desperate situation seemed acute. But how can you get really personal with eleven others in the room? You can’t, unless God graciously intervenes with news of food in the kitchen, removes everyone for just a few minutes, and allows you to share intimately with someone who is hurting really bad. Amazing. What a privilege.

By the end we’re offering to pray with people left, right, and centre. The kids don’t want this to end, and neither do we, but we’ve got so many prayer requests we just can’t remember them all. So we decide to pray for each other. All of us. No distinction. Just pray for the person sat to your right. The kids join in readily and then slowly begin to meander out in to another winter’s evening. It dawns on us that this really is church for the unchurched. We’ve been in Church for the last hour and a half. And loved every minute of it!

Jesus said “You shall know them by their fruit”. If ever there was an evening that felt “ fruitful”, like the beginning of a harvest, the start of a race, the verge of a precipice this was it. Over the years, members of Outside Light have faithfully tilled the soil and sown seed even when the discouragement and despondency was seemingly everywhere. But here’s the thing. God IS faithful! God IS just! God is the God of the hurting, the downtrodden, the sick and the hopeless……now watch out, because we can’t go backwards, we can only go forwards, watch out because God really, really is on the move, watch out, because God really is going to punch a hole right through the darkness…….

Paul Huggett