Ukirke greatest strength !

Ukirke is a prayer house located in downtown of Stavanger where we have different events during the week focusing on having fellowship, eating together, talking, playing games and these things. It’s an open and safe place. I’m very amazed by so many stories and the people I met there, all the conversations I had. Even though most of them are christians you can meet people from a different religion background, which makes Ukirke a very rich place. Each day is different, each day you have a new experience, and I’m always astonished by how interesting people that I met there are.

It’s amazing how you can just sit there in a table with someone and hear their stories, hear how they think about different subjects and learn so much. We had a Thanksgiving event, preparing an incredible food, with turkey and a lot of special things… It was quite a night, we did an “open mic” for those who wanted to share something to be grateful for things happening during that year. I wasn’t expecting that much sharing, it was amazing. People actually left the shyness aside and went for it! And you could see how important that moment was for some people, for them to share something they hold very dear to them, or something that it was kept inside for so long and needed to be said out loud. What a great initiative.

So this is Ukirke, I was skeptical about it in the beginning, I didn’t quite get the whole picture, what was the purpose, where do we want to get with all these activities happening during the week. Like, we have a service attending there once a month, which is the “christian event”, the other things are basically hanging out, eating and talking or/and playing. But people come, and come again. And the reason they come again is that there is something offered there that gets them to join every time, and that is relationship, fellowship. I would say interesting people, interesting conversation, nice environment; We have small talks, just laughing and stuff, but at the same time there’s deep talks happening, that makes this place very unique, gathering a diverse group of people to a fascinating experience of fellowship.

I really hope the bonds made in this place may develop and always give space for God’s work, friendship is the best space for sharing faith, help each other in their faith and building up a good community, encouraging one another.