We decided that with our new album Campfire we didn’t want to just create an album but also a movement to call people into something new and costly in their walk with God and with one another. So we created the “Campfire Resource Pack”. Its free and available to download from our main website page. We highly recommend it and invite you to join us in charting new paths for the Glory of God. Here are some extracts from it… (we hope you are inspired and challenged!)

The heart of our Campfire album was to paint an alternative picture of what church can be. We LOVE the church.(If you don’t love the church, you have no business leading Her in worship). We love the streams of the modern church that pursue excellence and bring an offering that seeks to reflect the grandeur of the God we worship. We serve often in this setting, because it is a valid and honourable way to approach Jesus.

But the beauty of church is that it champions unity while adamantly rejecting uniformity. While the “megachurch” models itself on the picture of God in His might, glory and holiness, the campfire model tries to reflect God in His incarnate form: something human, touchable, and humbly beautiful.

All this is to say that we don’t seek to re-imagine church community and worship because others are wrong, but rather because there is a variety of ways to be right. There are many angles from which to view the glory of our God.

We imagine church as a sharing of our stories, struggles, hearts and lives – as vulnerable as an open flame…

We imagine worship as intimate as the fireside, as warm as family and honest as a late night heart-to-heart…

We imagine mission as the ignition of God’s people as we huddle closely around the Consuming Fire…

There is a reason, beyond our Irish heritage, why we gravitate towards folk music in our collective. The folk movement has always run parallel to high-brow art (historically often found in the high-brow church!). It is music for the uninitiated – accessible to people from all walks of life, regardless of musical-ear. The only qualification for participation in this movement is a willingness to be real; willingness to sing songs of everyday trials and victories, in everyday language, with everyone who cares to join in. Is the folk music story, in its focus on community, honesty and inclusivity, a better story than the one contemporary worship sometimes tells? Can we change our story?

Don’t get me wrong, I love giant stacks of speakers as much as the next hairy folk-rocker, but they do have an unfortunate side-effect(beyond tinnitus!). They drown out the church – and the church singing in unison and unity is more powerful than any amplifier. This is the sound that sacked Jericho, ushered the Glory of God into the temple and has been making the darkness recoil and retreat ever since! There is power in our songs and proclamations that cannot be measured in decibels, but that might just shake Hell enough to register on the Richter scale down there! I don’t want to miss the encouragement of being surrounded by the heart-music of the warriors and priests of the Kingdom!

Campfire music, by contrast, is all about intimate, singalong vocals.

There is no point developing a cozy sense of family and community in Jesus’ name if we are to ignore His Great Commission to invite the lost into the Kingdom!

There is no point in inviting the lost into a so-called Christian community of back-biting, malice, ego and selfish agendas!

Let us love with a white-hot intensity, both within our gatherings, and when reaching out of them.

That’s a quote from Rich Mullins a prophetic Christian singer/songwriter from the 80s/90s. His whole life’s desire was to not be part of an industry but to chase after authentic ministry. He lived on around $10,000 a year but made millions and gave it away to those in need. An inspiration to all of us involved in music or any other area in life.

At the minute, we are working on new songs for our next album which is very exciting… The only fear is writing songs for an album rather than writing songs to bring people closer to Jesus and make the bride of Christ more beautiful. We never want to flirt with the church and take her affections away from Christ, nor do we want to write great pop songs that people will love but not carry a prophetic message. There is such a temptation in every area of life to be accepted and it’s this trap that we all have to be so wary of. We may gain acceptance and maybe not even really sin but what about that wild, creative God who longs for us to be who we are and not cardboard cut outs of other people.

I also wanted to be open and vulnerable with you all and let you know how we are doing…This year is hard year for us as we are on the road so much and playing in so many new places. We knew it was an important year for us to sacrifice comfort and normality to be able to share our message with as many people as possible but… Sleeping on airbeds, scraping by with a few dollars in the pocket and not being in our home communities that much really is such hard work. Praise God that there are different seasons in our lives and this is the one we are called to right now. We can’t wait to be part of local church again next year, disciplining and serving on the ground as well as touring. That’s who we are as people and also what we feel is the priority to God, but for this time here and now we have to be obedient to what we felt God called us out to. Like Abraham it feels like a journey of unknowns and faith, of successes and failure but we have to be faithful to what we heard in the secret place and trust God to work all things together for good.

I hope being vulnerable with where we are helps you all in your own personal stories. Whatever worlds we live in – business, education, the arts, family we have to be who we are called to be and not “slick pop tune” versions of ourselves.

Please pray for us. We need strength, safety, direction and for the prophetic songs that are on God’s heart to rise up so that we can BUILD HIS KINGDOM HERE!!!

In Christ

Gareth

In no way do I think as a band we have cultivated the optimum environment for pursuing creativity. However, I do think that we are learning something of where creativity can reach its greatest potential.

Jesus’ teachings carry a heavy emphasis upon the quality of our relationships. The most important commandments He highlighted relate to our relationship with God and those around us. So often we can get caught up in the pursuit of creativity whilst losing sight of these fundamental commands. However, these were given as principal directives within every area of life, including the creative process.

The process of creativity must be found within the greater context of our pursuit of God. If we pursue creativity outside of this context we open ourselves up to self indulgence and competitiveness where the end product can impede, rather than aid, the church. As we pursue after God, the Spirit crafts His heart within us. The desire of self recognition and attention dwindle in the light of the divine desires for God’s glory and the beauty of His bride.

Writing within a group contains the added dynamic of our relationships with one another. In the context of a band, this often calls for honesty and compromise in regards to lyrical or musical ideas (which for creative people can often be a challenge!) The best environment for this kind of dialogue is in the midst of relationships founded upon trust and humility. This is why the continual dynamic of our relationship with God is so important. These characteristics come only through intimacy with God as the Spirit forms in us the heart of Christ. A creative environment of trust and selflessness is formed, the product of which lies parallel to the heart of God.

The prospect of the church pursuing creativity and originality is an exciting one. However, if we are to echo the heart of God to the world within what we create, we must first hear the initial sound of His voice.
Thanks for reading and journeying with us!
Will

We planned to fire this out next week, but due to a few leaks, we went a few days early just to keep y’all on your toes!

We want to say a huge thankyou to Greg Fromholz, who directed this, and to the production company Tiny Ark, who’s brilliant eye and creativity made this possible!

We hope you enjoy it..