I have wanted to go for several years now.  And last year meeting Brian made the desire 1000000x worse.

Someday I will go

Hey Dan,

Have you by chance read the article on 24-7 Prayer in Ibiza that appeared in the journal Culture and Religion back in March?  I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

Well the bulk of the academic work that's been done on the topic of spirituality and rave/club/electronic dance culture seems to have deliberately ignored Christianity, so in that respect it's nice to see someone investigating what's going on.

I found this quote very interesting: "...the mission team have sought acceptance from the clubbing community on Ibiza by tapping into island club culture at the expense of a clear and pronounced Christian identity" with regard to the author's observation that clubbers didn't realize that the events were being put on by Christians, and even after finding that out, they didn't identify anything particularly Christian about the events.

Maybe the author misses the point, but it certainly hit home to me in terms of my own efforts in event organization and participation, and I think this could be broadly applied, the question of whether events a means to an end or an end in themselves, because if they are the latter, the author suggests that they may not be getting the Message across.  The author also notes the 'sowing seeds' mentality.

Also I'm wondering if the mission organizers knew that this author was going to be doing research while participating in the outreach herself, I don't know if that's an ethical consideration or not. 

All in all, it's nice to read something that's not as sensationalistic as the popular press when it comes to Christian involvement in dance music.

Most academic journals are pretty finicky with their online offerings, I may have been able to access this only because I work at a University myself, but check:

http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/(wxbo1o45lwj1ikelw4vxxk55)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,6;journal,1,9;linkingpublicationresults,1:300339,1

I can email you the PDF I was able to download if you can't get beyond the abstract.

Cool, I hadn't seen that article either so thanks for the link.

Is there a way to post files on this message board?  PM me your email and I'll send you the PDF.

I'm not saying the "right" ppl have to come. I am saying that maybe when people come to an event held by Christians, that there should be something that tells them that it's being held by Christians. That's all.

I'm with you there Reds.

Its hard for people who don't really understand about DJ led worship to get their heads round the idea cos all they think when dance music is mentioned is bass, drink and drugs (also sex). They ask how its different from a normal club, etc...

And i think a lot of the difference is in people's hearts and attitudes. Once these two things, are as one, focussed on Jesus and glorifying only Him, then it becomes a Christian event. So now the next question is how do we get everyone's heart and attitude focussed on God? That is a lot to do with the leader of the worship, but also the people in the 'congregation'. Oh, and prayer.

In my opinion, DJ led worship is hard for non-Christians to enter into because their heart and attitude is (or should be) different to the Christian's. But for this change to really happen we need by God's grace for His Holy Spirit to move within the life of the non-Christian. Thats where prayer comes into it... cover an event in prayer (before, during and after) and hearts and attitudes could change.