Category Archives: General

Pub theology starts this week. It is intended to be a place where you can invite your friends who wouldn’t be comfortable at church. You can give them a flyer or point them to the website but the best thing to come yourself and bring people with you. The format is simple. Beer conversation and God.Continue reading “Pub Theology”

Some of the most important moments in the history of the church took place in the pub. Luther kick started the reformation over a few pints. The church of England was started in the white horse tavern. Hymns like ‘Love Divine, All Loves Excelling’ were inspired by pub music. And to my mind all theContinue reading “Pub Theology”

We celebrated the end of our building project, and rededicated the building last night. The place looked beautiful, as did everybody, and there was quite a lot of dancing. But the new floor is okay!Lots of picture on my flickr page. [more to come]

Well we have had some adventures this summer, but it is good to be back. Yesterday had a real sense of new beginnings – and that wasn’t just the lovely new building. For those of you who missed it here is the ‘Streets’ film that Ruth made.

Francis Blight has been in the studio with Stuart Mclean and others, and their work seems to be paying off. You can listen to tracks online and download a free MP3 of ‘My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less’His 6 track mini album called ‘New skin for old song’ is now available at Cross RhythmsContinue reading “Music Downloads”

This is cool – a cross between wikipedia and google maps called Wikimapia. It is essentially google maps with articles about landmarks. Anyone can add locations and articles, so why not contribute your favourite places around Islington (or beyond). I have added Church on the Corner.

Judy Low is heading out to Egypt for three months with World Horizons. She is going to be working at two special needs centres outside Cairo and utilising her physiotherapy skills. Please book tickets now for her fundraiser in the 18th August. Flyer here It will be great fun, and we want to support JLowContinue reading “jLow in Egypt”

This sunday is the first of our ON TOUR events. We are visiting Moot at St Matthews Westminster [Map] Moot are hosting a labyrinth service which is an ancient form of worship reframed into the contemporary as way of prayer and intimacy with God. Through it people have experienced God whether they are spiritually searchingContinue reading “COTC on Tour”

I’ve been to a few churches around town and they just annoy the **** out of me because they’re so fake, and the people look so lost, and the people on the stage just look so plastic and so charming and so seductive, and I just think ‘I don’t believe in these people’. These peopleContinue reading “The Monastery Revisited”

Below is the video from St Mary’s last night based around a song by aqualung called “easier to lie…”

I’m not planning on making a habit of this, but recorded the talk for last week on DVD. If you missed it you can watch it below. Part 1Part 2

Last Sunday our morning congregation had lunch together and we talked about where our service was going. We had a really good conversation, and you can read the notes from it here:What is next for the morning Service Responses and further thoughts are welcome below. My plan is to draw these ideas together into aContinue reading “What is next for the Morning Service”

We started our new series last Sunday at Church called ‘To the ends of the earth’. The first in the series is The Call and if you missed it, or want a recap you can download it here Comments below as usual

We have set up a part of this website for creative ideas for church, a place to throw ideas around, or ask for advice. I hope it will be a resource for our service leaders or any of you involved in communicating, and a way of continuing our pursuit of authentic creative worship.It is moderatedContinue reading “Creative Consultants”

Bit tired this morning because I sat up way too late last night answering questions on Yahoo’s new Answers forum. It is quite an interesting concept – people get to ask any question they like, whether it is about their homework, or about the existence of God, and then others answer them and you canContinue reading “Answers”

We are going video crazy on this blog – sorry about that. However here is a genius advertisement by a US denomination called ‘ejector pew’ and asking for peoples stories of rejection by church. “God doesn’t reject people. Neither do we”

We have been doing better at being creative this term at COTC, the service leaders have been taking initiatives, and that has had inspired lots of others. Jeremy made a short film about prayer, a beautiful simple piece of work drawing on the image of a message in a bottle.He writes…‘I think the message inContinue reading “a short film about prayer”

I really enjoy making these videos to tie into talks at church, but they take ages to do. I had been meaning to do this one based around my favorite Doves track called ‘Pounding’, and finally got the chance. We used it as part of the talk ‘Son of Man’ thinking about the apocalyptic subtextContinue reading “Son of Man”

One of the questions we have been asking ourselves as part of the vision team is this. ‘If you were to start church from scratch how would it look.’ I know this may seem theoretical, and of course we need to be practical, but I want us to have at least tried to think howContinue reading “Blue sky”