Reflections on Zac's

You may wonder what exactly Zac's is about so I thought I'd do a little explanation.

Sean Stillman, who leads Zac's, often describes it as a cross between an AA meeting and A&E, but let's go back to the beginning.

Sean and a local singer called Lorraine King set up Zac's Place, church in a pub? about fifteen years ago. The question mark was important as they didn't know how things would turn out. They met weekly in a variety of pubs in the town centre. Sean was finding that he was meeting lots of people, especially through his work on the bike scene, who were interested in finding out about God but who wouldn't dream of going into a 'normal' church. 

It proved to be successful but Sean realised that many of the people who attended or who would attend were struggling with alcohol-related issues so a pub wasn't the ideal meeting place. When an old gospel hall came available the Trust that supports Sean bought it and Zac's Place, church for ragamuffins was born.

The building is used weekday mornings for breakfast for rough sleepers and on Thursday evenings for a coffee bar/soup kitchen/drop-in. On Tuesday evenings it's our Tribal Gathering, our Sunday morning church meeting. Because, yes, it is a church now, a community of like-minded people who care about each other. At least that's the basic grouping that meets each week but we're also joined at each week by all sorts. 

Nobody is turned away. Zac's is known to be the last place in Swansea to ban someone. Someone who's been banned from every other facility for ragamuffins can still come to Zac's. We put up with a lot. Yes, now and again a temporary ban has to be put in place but it's with reluctance.

Drinking on the premises isn't allowed but drunks are welcome. As are addicts and the smelly, the ones with obvious mental health problems and the ones whose symptoms are less clearly seen, the ones who say they love or hate God and the ones who think they're unloveable.

A lot of churches these day boast that they're welcoming and inclusive. I would argue that they can safely say that because the only people who will attend are those with vaguely similar beliefs, people who know how to behave and who know to leave their bad habits at home. 

Zac's truly is inclusive - I hope you'll get a glimpse from my previous post. Sean's book tells the story of Zac's in full and he gives many examples of those who are or have been part of the story. It's where everyone belongs; it's where I belong.