movements moving on

alternative worship was a name given to a movement that began in the uk with the nine o clock service and the late late service 20 years back. grace was born in that era. it was an attempt to make worship out of the stuff of every day life and popular culture rather than live in two worlds. it involved a turning back to tradition remixing it with postmodern culture. i experienced it as a homecoming and it has shaped my instincts to faith and mission ever since - the theologising done then was so helpful. however things change and move on and steve collins who was one of the people publishing stories and photos and ideas that captured the movement has announced he is pausing the web site alternativeworship.org as the movement has moved on into other things. interestingly the same is true of emergingchurch.info which captured a later moment... both are still really good sites, but movements by definition are always moving on!

a big thanks to steve who put so much into reflecting on alternative worship. smallfire is an amazing record and it looks as though that is being kept live...

Comments

[ben edson]

Jonny, this is interesting and I'm really pleased that you've marked it. I'm hopeful that we can celebrate all that was good about these two movements, but also that we can see how they've shaped where we are now. As I look back I can't help but think that there was a blissful naivety at times, part of me doesn't want to lose that and I won't - I'm too hopeful - but also I want to make sure that the hard lessons learnt can shape the future.

[Paul Roberts]

I want to add my thanks for the amazing work Steve has done over the years. He built an amazing website and resource which was just what was needed. I think I would want to make a distinction between alternative worship as a movement and alternative worship as a practice. The principles you outline are still valid, if anything more so now than ever, but I agree that as a movement it hasn't functioned in a real sense for a good few years. Because of the increasingly commercialised parallel universe of contemporary worship, I will be keeping the site up in its present form, but will review this in a couple of years' time. I think there are still lessons to be learnt, more's the pity!

[Mark]

I agree with both Ben and Paul here. A huge thanks to those who have archived and curated living histories of actual people struggling with what it means to be Christian in their particular places and times. Smallfire was such an important source if inspiration for my own faith formation and liturgical development. Stimulating my imagination with what could be possible pushed me towards more creative forms of worship along with a deeper pursuit of the theological implications of these emerging forms. We move now only because we have mined these theologies in such a way that they urge us all onward (not necessarily forward or backwards). Thank you Steve and thank you Jonny for all you have done....