The Freehouse

The Church of the Exiles was partially born out of the worship.freehouse, an experiment in new forms of worship that ran for a couple of years in Saskatoon. Many call these kind of gatherings, alt.worship. While Exiles is more than a worship experience, alternative worship continues to be an important part of who we are and we decided to keep the Freehouse moniker for what we do.

We gather at other times during the month for other purposes but we get together monthly for a gathering called The Freehouse. They get started around 8:00 p.m.

What Happens at the Freehouse?

The monthly Freehouse worship gathering is experimental and hence rarely the same twice. We don't work to a fixed structure, giving us the opportunity to create a space, atmosphere and service suitable to the theme that we have chosen.

At our worship gatherings we strive to engage the mind and the senses in an encounter between God and ourselves. By combining ancient Christian and freshly created rituals, liturgy, music and visuals we experiment to find new connections between our worship and our everyday lives. We have become friends in a community to support the creativity and process in creating the worship experiences.

We look to the Christian call for justice, equity and balance as a means of living politically and ethically. We recognize the inspiration of saints, mystics and artists throughout the centuries.

Walking through the door you'll instantly notice the aroma of fresh coffee, soft lighting, candles, laptop computers, televisions and projections showing words and images. Together these define the space we are using.

Alongside the visuals will be music shaping the atmosphere. First time around this might all seem a little unusual. To help people navigate the space and time together, we have a sheet of paper introducing the evening and a verbal introduction. You can also grab a beverage or snack and find a comfortable seat to just sit down and take it all in.

Both the visuals and music connect with our lives outside of the worship gathering. We are all used to a soundtrack in our lives, from the TV or radio in the background, to moments of silence. The music we use forms part of our soundtrack, creating a vibe of contemplation, excitement, peace... whatever is appropriate. As we use contemporary music you might recognize some of the tracks, your mp3 collection may even overlap with ours.

The visuals are often complementary to the other parts of the worship gathering: more than wallpaper, less intrusive than a commercial or a billboard, hopefully they help make connections that may be missed otherwise.

Beyond the general styling, our worship gatherings are often less predictable. There may be things to look at, touch and do, a chance to wander around and explore, write things down or simply sit still. Meditation, discussions, readings, thoughts and prayers may be said, written or read.

Just don't expect a sermon. The closest you'll get is a guest speaker but that won't just be a one way activity, there will be a chance to ask questions.

To wrap-up, there is always a chance to eat and drink and catch up with people.

There is also this little thing we call the Mix Tape Club.

Although the most obvious part of our worship gathering is the styling, the experiment goes much further. It's an event which questions what a worship experience can be, what kind of things it can contain, what kind of issues can be explored and what kind of questions can be asked.

Some of the excitement of Church of the Exiles and especially when we plan, prepare, and gather for the Freehouse, for us, is the feeling of "what's next?" Our journey keeps giving us new challenges and inspiration to work with. You can join us on the journey or just watch this space to see where we go next.

Getting Involved with the Freehouse

There are lots of ways of getting involved in the Freehouse and we'd love you to create, participate and engage with us. It's pretty much an open door to involvement in any aspect of the life of the Church of the Exiles and the Freehouse is no exception. We do our best to have a low permission threshold. These are some specific ways you can get involved:

1. Come along to the Freehouse occasionally or regularly - there is no pressure to do any more if you don't want to. Of course we generally go out afterwards for some food and beverage and you are welcome to join us.
2. Participate in a Freehouse service - have a look at the themes for the year ahead - if there is one that you'd like to help plan let us know. There will be someone who is taking a lead role who will let you know when that is happening. The process usually involves a creative ideas session in a restaurant or pub followed by another to put on the finishing touches.
3. Put the dates for the Church of the Exiles Weekender in your calendar and join in
4. Make sure you sign up on the e-mail list and that way you'll get info about things that are happening. Alternatively we have a RSS feed that gives you an idea of what we are up to.
   

For details on what we are to, you can always see the Church of the Exiles weblog.

Last updated on 09/27/2007

The Church of the Exiles is a holistic Christian community in Saskatoon. We are also an incubator for creativity, celebration and core life spirituality.

We tell stories, install art, exchange gifts, and increase the peace, within our local community. If you are interested in learning more, you have come to the right place.

If you are looking for information from a previous Freehouse, check out our retrospective weblog, a place where we post photos, links, resources, and materials from previous Freehouses. There will also be content posted in the Church of the Exiles Facebook group.

Some other alternative worship sites.

• Small Fire
• alternativeworship.org
• Grace
• Online Prayer Labyrinth