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Private Notes
First stop is York Minster – an awe-inspiring cathedral that's almost 1,000 years old – where they are asked to participate in a communion service. Then it's back to Leeds, where George Hargreaves gives each volunteer a Bible and asks them to read some every day. The mentors visit the volunteers in their own homes, to get a picture of their lives and to give them guidance. The parents are asked to spend 15 minutes each day with their children. The lesbian is ordered to get rid of her explicit pictures and books. The young man and his pregnant girlfriend are given some instruction in the basics of Christianity. The lap-dancing manager is discovered to have more than a passing interest in witchcraft and magic - her books and ceremonial paraphernalia are taken away. The womanising 20-something is persuaded to agree not to 'look lustfully at a girl'. The biker, so far, is challenging every instruction and the others are beginning to get fed up with his refusal to listen. All this is just the start of their three hard weeks. Can they embrace Christian ideals and learn to live in a different way or will their old lives prove just too strong to resist?
It’s time, now, for practical action. According to the Bible, says George, sex outside marriage is fornication, and that’s a sin. Enter Hester, a 27-year-old virgin, to persuade the participants of the joys of celibacy. She gives the lap-dancing manager and her boyfriend a game of pick-up-sticks to take their mind off sex, and takes the man who cheats on his girlfriend to a boxing gym to channel his energy in a new direction. Neither of these new activities has quite the appeal of sex, and the boxing training makes the hard drinking young man throw up violently after 10 minutes. Some of the mentors say that the lesbian must ‘unlearn’ her sexual orientation but she argues that God would love her as she is and not expect her to stop loving women. She is sent to Glasgow to meet a vicar who ‘used to be’ gay but found God, married and has a child. Things aren’t going too well, so the group is taken on a retreat, which starts with foraging for edible leaves to make soup over a fire – in the rain. The sceptical biker is unimpressed. ‘What does being a hippy have to do with God?’ he asks. The lesbian thinks her girlfriend would enjoy this activity, and wishes she could be there to share it. George works hard to persuade the young man and his pregnant girlfriend not to sleep in the same bed that night. Unimpressed with being talked to ‘like a two-year-old’, he says he wants to leave. Before that, though, he and the womaniser find a wheelchair in the church where they are staying, and have some fun larking about, Little Britain-style, in the graveyard. The atheist biker is finally persuaded to pray – but not to Jesus. The Muslim convert teaches him how to pray to Allah. George is very annoyed, and the Muslim apologises for having introduced Islam into the programme. A priest comes to ‘cleanse’ the lap-dancing manager of her involvement with witchcraft, saying that he will pray ‘to free her from any unhealthy attachment to spiritu
The volunteers are coming to the end of the experiment and most of them have been pretty resistant to Christian teachings so far. It's time for a change of scene, and the group's task is to clean out and revitalize a church that has not hosted a service for 10 years. For biker Martin, it's a step forward just being in a church but he says he's only here in body, not in spirit. Aaron's no more enthusiastic. 'It's a dead issue,' he says. Vicar Joanna believes he's lashing out because he can't articulate his fears about his mother, who is awaiting tests for cancer. She hands over to Father John, who arranges to meet Aaron's family in the pub they run. The participants have said prayers in different settings - in a grand cathedral, out of doors and in the privacy of their own homes. Now they are taken to an evangelical church. The music and happy atmosphere affect all of them except Martin, who has taken the opportunity to go to a cafe, saying: 'It's all cobblers as far as I'm concerned. Laura says she has found a gay church in London and thinks it may help her reconcile Christianity with her lesbianism. Rev George Hargreaves thinks this church is in error. Nor does Laura's visit to the church persuade her that they are doing more than interpreting the Bible in a way that suits them. At a crossroads, she goes to a convent in the New Forest to spend 24 hours in silence, walking, reflecting and praying. To draw him away from bad influences, George arranges for womanizer Kevin to spend an evening with a group of sober Christians. He is surprised by how much he enjoys himself. Sarah's family have been set the task of arranging a barbecue to share with others in their street because, says George, love is at the heart of Christianity, including the injunction to love your neighbor. The Christian barbecue is a great success. Neighbors previously in conflict are building bridges, and there's a discussion with a Hindu family about belief in an afterlife. Aaron'
