"THE first event was over a year ago and nearly 60 people attended. Our most recent event had an attendance of around 100 people.
With the feedback we have gathered, we're realising the need for these spaces and are committed to, in the next year, creating compelling monthly gatherings and building relationships and community among diverse groups of people.
We've been struck by the number of people who said to us things like: "I used to go to church but I can't go through the doors of a church any more."
Or conversely, "I find Jesus an intriguing figure, but I have no time for institutional religion"; or "I want to make a difference in the world, but the church doesn't seem to make a difference".
We felt there was a growing space in society of people on the borders of faith.
We can all benefit from a space for belonging, where faith can be articulated in a way that's not about building a denomination or church entity, but where our faith encourages us to build bridges instead of walls and open opportunities for positive engagement in society.
We see the growing dislocation in society, as well as ongoing sectarian divides and we need to create public spaces for spirituality and communal belonging in a public, non-threatening non-religious gathering space.
This has lead us to meet in different pubs hosting events with music, storytelling and attracting audiences of people from different social strata, nationalities, those from a faith background and those with no faith.
On the night before the election, Wednesday December 11, we want to create a space for all, regardless of political or religious affiliation.
This is a community night of carol singing, mince pies, and a call for reconciliation in our community and around the world at a time of unprecedented polarisation.
Speakers at the free event include Alan McBride and there will be music by Na Leanai.
In the past we have included stories from a Rwandan survivor of the genocide, an Australian pastor who bought a home where he lives along with 25 asylum seekers and a south Belfast resident who had spent nine years working among the poorest of the poor in southern India.
Borderlands takes place at the Errigle Inn on Ormeau Road, Belfast on Wednesday December 11 at 7.30pm.
