There’s been blissful silence here over the last few weeks – i’ve been on leave… It’s lovely to be back.

Before I went away I had a flurry of alt worship workshops, where I finally put together some coherent statements about how I design stations. These are my tips:

What makes a station a station?

Spaces for people to put their story next to another

Self-directed participation: people can ‘choose their own adventure’, or decide the ending for themselves

Full participation: the space is different because each person has been there

Multi-sensory: inviting the active participation of people’s minds, bodies, hearts, souls, senses

Secrets to successful stations

Be contextual: use the ‘things’ of the culture you live in

Reframe: invest the ‘things’ with multiple meanings

Use different words to invite people of different intelligences into the space: ‘think’, ‘feel’, ‘imagine’, ‘describe’

Allow different interpretations: don’t prescribe the outcome, or make blanket generalisations – remember that what gives one person peace will make another confused

The advanced class: my guesses as to what makes a station transformative

Don’t repeat: don’t have an image and words that say exactly the same thing. Leave space for people to need to invest themselves to make sense of something

Don’t worry if things ‘don’t make sense’: take a risk – the best spaces aren’t straightforward

Trust your people: take them one step further than you think they can go. People [almost] always rise to a challenge.

A final note:
Aesthetics matter! You’re inviting people into a space to ‘lose themselves’ a little, and become vulnerable. Make it easier for them by making the space safe physically and emotionally. Don’t let them be distracted by clutter…