Steve Collins: Small Fire

Below are all the Small Fires started by Steve Collins, with the most recent conflagrations at the top. Small Fire has its own online discussion board for exploring the issues surrounding alternative worship. You can join the discussion by going here.

  • Network church and portfolio church – Assembling your spiritual life from a variety of church solutions, rather than just the one (August 2002)
  • Right thing, wrong place – The Labyrinth fails to draw the crowds at the Glastonbury Festival – why? (July 2002)
  • Giving prayer a spin on the London Eye – You can see for 20 miles all around on the London Eye, so where better to pray over the city? (June 2002)
  • Alternative worship is not about youth – Alternative worship is made, almost everywhere, for adults and by adults. Can it be for teenagers? (May 2002)
  • Inside the stained glass window – Visions, who worship in the church of St Cuthbert's in York, celebrate Easter with fire and bandages. (Apr 2002)
  • Come as you are? – Contrary to the cliches, sex is no big thing in alternative worship. (Mar 2002)
  • How far is too far? – The "season of dirt" at Vaux in south London examines our ideas of the "purity" of God (Feb 2002)
  • Church without commitment – If church were just a good night out, would you pay to get in? (Jan 2002)
  • A weekly work of the people – Is a monthly act of worship enough, or do we need to do something weekly for the sake of community? (Dec 2001)
  • Church just isn't there when you need it – "Most alt worship communities are not growing significantly"... is it true? (Nov 2001)
  • Coffee and campfires – Introducing Cathy Kirkpatrick, who believes that our job is to model ways of living the kingdom of God without the church (Oct 2001)
  • Bring back the pews (not) – The Greenbelt festival: which groups were there, what did they do, and can we now ditch the stylistic trappings? (Sept 2001)
  • The church as a sensual otherworld – Church buildings used to be heavenly spaces, but the stained glass has been outshone by television... (Aug 2001)
  • All-age alternative worship in Bristol – When Bristol's Third Sunday Service moved churches, the age-range expanded to encompass 9-87 year-olds... (Jul 2001)
  • Good vibrations – Welcome to Global Lounge, "an afternoon of sofas, music, performance, community and edutainment," in London's Brick Lane. (Jun 2001)
  • If worship is a city – If worship is a city... is it Singapore or Glasgow? Rio de Janeiro or Kansas? London or Lagos? (May 2001)
  • Anarchy in the USA – A report on the Epicenter/Tribal Generation event in Austin, Texas, complete with the Senses Lab and Luscious Room. (Apr 2001)
  • Straying from the path – Someone wants to adapt your idea but ends up subverting it. A labyrinth event in Nottingham raises uncomfortable issues. (Mar 2001)
  • The image of God – Christians aren't concerned with outward appearances, but western culture is. So where's the connection? (Feb 2001)
  • The word of life and the power of love – celebrating the power of love at Christmas with Host, Hackney, London (Jan 2001)
  • I will make you fish – What does it mean to embody Christ in your place and time? (Dec 2000)
  • A little child will lead them – Turning life and worship upside down at Vaux in south London. (Nov 2000)
  • Photocopy your face for Jesus – How a cold photocopier became a place of encounter with God. (Oct 2000)
  • Worship (alternative version) – What is alternative worship? Alternative rock? Rave in the nave? Priestesses with piercings? (Sept 2000)



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