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Jesus said "For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them." - Matthew 18:20
If you are unaware of "2or3" or our "Night in..." events, our team regularly host a variety of talented people to share their giftings of music, dance and other art forms. We encourage our young adults to invite all their friends (believers or not) to come and enjoy the performances and the company, at an expressly "Christian" but not overly "churchy" or religious event.
Our latest evening was just over a month ago in July. After several years of successful events, we were sad to leave our first host at Café Barcelona on Streatham High Road. However, it was exciting to be in a new location right by Streatham Common Station at The Railway tavern and we were looking forward to seeing what the night could bring. While we had booked a space in the pub to host our event, the pub remained open to their regular customer base who were free to pop their head in and walk through to get to the garden. For some, this may be a problem, but for us this was perfect. A space we can host our live events from, with missional opportunities if people listen in to what we have going on. And if they are interested we can welcome them to join us!
The theme for the night was “Reckless Redemption?” inspired by songs such as Reckless Love by Cory Asbury, Redemption Song from Bob Marley and the parable of The Lost Sheep from Luke 15. We include a theme at each event to help inspire our acts when choosing what to perform.
We began our night with a Redemption-themed Pub Quiz with freshly made cupcakes for the winning team supplied by our resident professional baker Ashlee. It was followed up by a dance trio called Xo-thermic who performed with high energy and really brought the night to life from the get-go with an excellent performance from some really skilled young people. To follow that up we had a young star on the rise; singer and guitarist Aliyana brought the house nearly to tears with a really emotional performance alongside her guitar tutor Thomas Lock. She really brought the theme of Reckless Redemption to life with her music.
Third up was our very own Neil Charlton with borrowed poetry that he had adapted for the night and was truly inspiring. Then just before the break, we heard one of our regular performers Althea (known as Pink Petal) who blesses us at many of our sessions with her beautiful voice.
After the break we had a surprise showing from the Kingdom Kid himself bringing the Son Out with his latest track and helping to get the event rocking again. This was followed up by our headline act Dominique who brought 5 outstanding gospel songs that were truly marvellous to listen to.,
Finally, we ended the night with a testimony from a young gentleman who had his very own reckless redemption. He got caught up in and was involved with robberies and drug use, but while away was introduced to the Word and managed to see change, forgiveness and redemption.
His miraculous story was really an inspiration to close out the night.
However, we had a final interruption from some locals who were listening in. They came in to share their own miraculous story from their family. Their first grandchild had just been born and they were out celebrating. However, there had been a hard long journey to get here and they felt so blessed. They welcomed some prayer from us and the night, at last, came to an end.
We look forward to the next event with what the Lord might bring.
Maybe next time you'd like to join us?
Write-up by James Barrick, on behalf of the "2or3" team - inc Zeinab Mantau & Neil Charlton. Thanks also to Mark and Ashlee for MC'ing.
"2or3" is the name for our young adults' group and "Ichthus" is our under-18s youth group. For more information on 2or3 and Ichthus speak to Neil Charlton, our youth worker. We have other groups that cater for other members of the church family and not all are listed on the website:- please ask for more information.