The antiquated building stood out like an elephant at a squirrel’s only Halloween party. Shop after shop after bank after shop lined both sides of a narrow high street that rose at an Everest-esque angle, much like a hundred other streets in a hundred other valley towns, and there it was, sandwiched right in the middle. I stood outside the church, psyching myself up to go and bring some clichéd message of hope to the seven octogenarians who waited for me eagerly inside. A shout from the other side of the road shocked me from my melancholy musings.
“Mate, did you see the score from last night?”
“Er, no, sorry,” I gingerly admitted.
The baseball-capped twenty something bloke continued his trek up Everest, without even the merest glance at the ancient structure I was stood beside.
It was then a question struck me. Would it ever be possible – ever – to get young, normal people into a building like this for anything that did not involve a coffin or bouquet?
I have concluded, no.
Times have moved on. People no longer go to church. Nobody wants to get up at some ungodly hour on a Sunday morning to sing cack songs and be talked at by a middle aged white bloke for an hour.
It just isn’t appealing. Now don’t get me wrong, folk in this day and age are more spiritual than ever and there is a veritable banquet of spiritual dishes out there to be sampled. But not church. It’s just too… Downton.
But, I think Christianity still has something to offer. There is still some life in the old girl yet. So, in September 2012, I along with a few others started Llan in The Gate Arts Centre in Roath. Llan is a church, but not as you know it Jim. A church for the unholy. A place for seekers. Somewhere you can come with all your irreverent ideas without fear of judgement, whoever you are. We don’t sing, but we do eat!! If you want to know more, well, you’ll have to come along.
James Karran is a pretty awful Baptist minister who leads Llan at The Gate. During Made In Roath, we curated an art exhibition and hosted a spoken word event, both at the Gate, on the theme ‘Spirituality in Art: Seeing The Unseen’. Both events went very well and I met lots of lovely new people, which was nice.
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