Had a good time at Tangent on Tuesday night. Tangent is a congregation of Northern Community of largely young adults that meets 7.30m on Tuesday nights.

For some time we have become increasingly uncomfortable about our location in the pub. There was something about a private room - behind a closed door that didn’t sit well with what we wanted to be at Tangent. So, we thought it was time for a move, as well as time to do some thinking about our direction.

The wonderful thing about smaller congregations, as well as our culture at Northern Community, is that we can make decisions about our location, style, content etc. without reference to some external authority. We just do it! We give it a go. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? Yet, it is wonderfully empowering and freeing knowing whatever we decide as a group - we can do.

So, off to Westgarth to the café where we were many years ago… We had a great meal with many cries of delight about the higher standard of food over pub meals and then it was the meal of Luke 10.

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two [a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for workers deserve their wages. Do not move around from house to house.

8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

We read this together and allowed the food and the text to be digested.

The two by two we moved into the Westgarth strip for time spent - popping into each cafe, restaurant and bar. Some of us hang around the lobby of the funky Westgarth independent theatre for a while. We read the notice boards in each of the cafe’s and soaked up the atmosphere of each of the spaces. Time was also spent just observing the way people were interacting - some sitting with friends, and other’s on their own.

We then gathered around at a different café for coffee and cake to share our experiences.

What did we see? How can we engage with people in Westgarth?

Answers? Well, the journey continues…

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 3:51 pm by phil and is filed under notes from northern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.