'Oh, so you wanna go skating!' The invitation comes from professional skateboarder Mike Vallely in skate DVD, Public Domain.

Soon after the call to his dedicated followers, Vallely jumps up and runs out of his house, propelling himself straight into a boardslide down the handrail next to his door. Vallely continues to career down the street, getting ready to skate some of the most famous spots in New York. We follow him in close-up as he encounters banks, blocks, curbs, rails, steps and even a graveyard.

As he meets each obstacle, Vallely throws out his usual selection of skater specialities - big ollies, fast flat ground tricks and huge bonelesses - in his unmistakable big and bold style.

Well, we may not be in New York, but encountering God can seem like going on a fast, adrenaline-pumped skate journey wherever you are - whether that's the Big Apple, or in my case north Bradford, where young people from Sorted meet three nights a week.

Sorted's journey began six years ago as I got to know young skateboarders in the area. Good skate sessions led to conversations about the good news of the Gospel and God started to work in the relationships that were forming.

Loose connections with both skaters and non-skaters then led us to form small groups that would meet to chat about life or Christianity. These in turn resulted in many young people engaging with God. The small groups later merged into three larger groups, each with a different focus.

Just as a skateboarder senses the moment for a trick as he encounters a street obstacle, so young people often sense the Spirit as they encounter God during Monday's youth congregation when they pray for each other.

After a skate session, skaters like nothing more than to sit back and chat about what just happened. Similarly at Sorted, we like to chat about God encounters - trying to make sense of what they mean in our everyday lives. We do our chatting in small groups with the help of the Bible on Tuesdays.

Skateboarders like to invite skaters from nearby towns and cities to share in huge skate sessions so that the atmosphere is heightened and the tricks flow more freely. Sorted's Friday session brings together many other young people as well as those around earlier in the week, gathering more into the life of the community and often into the life of God.

Captain Andy Milne is a Church Army evangelist.

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If you have something burning to say and want to contribute to the Share weekly guest blog, please contact Karen Carter. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, Church Army, Fresh Expressions or any of its partners.

 

I don't know about you, but when I hear a word too many times in quick succession, it starts to lose its meaning for me. It becomes just a sound or a noise. Try it yourself! Pick any word ('hospital', say) and repeat it to yourself over and over. At some point you will stop thinking of a medical building where sick people go for treatment, and you will hear just a succession of sounds and syllables that don't mean a thing.

This very nearly happened to me at a meeting of fresh expressions practitioners a few weeks ago. One of the buzz words was 'radical' and I heard it so often, from so many people, that I started to wonder what it meant.

I once heard a church leader say that one of his church's core values was to be 'radical'. When a number of other churches followed his church's example, he felt deeply uncomfortable at no longer being the most radical church in his network and decided to make his church even more 'radical' – out-radicalling those new upstart radicals!

But what did 'radical' actually look like in his church? Was it the fact that their music was louder and more 'out there'? Was it the fact that they showed controversial film clips, booked provocative speakers or tried to be headline-grabbing? Was their clothing slightly different – more cutting edge? Be honest: is that sort of thing really radical?

A page on Share, God seeks to transforms society, stresses the importance of being radical, and poses the questions: 'Are fresh expressions radical enough?' and 'Will fresh expressions as a whole develop in a socially conservative or radical direction?' The page name-drops JustChurch in Bradford where, as part of their worship, members write letters on behalf of pressure groups such as Amnesty International.

Is JustChurch's music loud and different? I don't know. Are they radical in their dress, language or choice of visual aids? I haven't visited, so I'm really not sure. What I do know is that they believe God can truly make a difference on all levels in this society and make time to express this in a practical way.

Maybe in a society where so many individuals struggle with self-worth and acceptance, a community that simply seeks to be nice to people is radical … that values people for who they are, rather than what they can contribute to 'our fresh expressions project'.

One fresh expressions practitioner in London describes himself as counter-cultural. He expresses this by humbly opening up his house to people to hang out and relax, in a city where not many homes are open or welcoming. Not very controversial or out there, is it – but radical? I think so.

What does it mean to be radical for Jesus? What does it look like in our fresh expressions to be socially radical, trying to bring about change for the better in society? How far do we go with being theologically radical? In short: what, in God's kingdom, is the real meaning of radical?