Question; How do you get the message of the gospel across to other people – in particular those people who live in your own home town and who come from all different walks of life and backgrounds – some of whom may have little or no knowledge of what Christianity is all about? Not an easy one to answer!

The Christians Together group in Hebden Bridge are one organisation that aims to do this, starting from the strength of being a co-operation between all the Christian Churches and fellowships in the area and drawing on the collective resources of these bodies. An ideal opportunity for "mission" (if you wish to call it that) is presented by the now annual and thriving Arts Festival. Here is festival actively looking for contributions from all sections of the local community. So it is really doubly important that our voice should be heard amongst the others – as an integral part of the community we belong to. If people have actually heard of our existence, that is a good start – not just for the Christians Together group but the fact that there are as many as ten functioning Christian communities in the area.

The Arts Festival committee was particularly keen to attract more "street" events, which were perfect for our plans. Street events have two main advantages when it comes to "spreading the word".

1. They are free! Passers by who would not commit themselves to buying a ticket can loiter at their leisure.
2. They reach people who would not normally set foot inside a church.

So it was agreed that two events would be put on, on successive Saturdays and in the centre of town, thereby hoping to maximise potential audiences. The 1^st was a gospel choir from Leeds called "The Voices of Reconciliation". They were brilliant! The music was good and the message was good here were people so obviously living in the joy of Jesus. A fine example to us all. The 2^nd was our own "in-house" production billed in the Arts Festival programme as a mediaeval mystery play by the Christians Together theatre group. Sounds good? It was!

The theme was Noah’s Ark and the flood. Masses of effort went into the production from all involved and there were plenty. As well as providing an opportunity to relate a bible story, with added and often humorous embellishments, it also provide a real opportunity for people of different churches to meet each other and more importantly work together for a common purpose. For those of you who missed it – see the video!

I hope that we can establish our identity in the Arts Festival over the coming years and use it not just for our own ends of telling the good news but also as a way of really integrating ourselves into the community we are called to serve.