According to the Church of Ireland news, “A service by the Church of Ireland Hard Gospel Project is to be shown on RTE television on the last Sunday of this month, 26 August 2007.
It will be the first time the Hard Gospel Project has featured on RTE One’s Sunday morning worship programme. It will document the role of the Hard Gospel, an anti-sectarian project born out of the long-running Drumcree stand-off between the Orange Order in Portadown and the mainly nationalist residents of the town’s Garvaghy Road.
The Hard Gospel Project represents a commitment by the Church of Ireland to examine not only the challenges of faith which arise for Christians in the “vertical” relationship in loving God but also the practical implications for the outworking of faith in “horizontal” relationships as expressed in Christ’s command to “love your neighbour”.
The Hard Gospel Project is the Church of Ireland’s response to the challenge to speak truth to ourselves, as well as to the world we live in. Its core aim is clear – to strengthen the church for effective witness in a divided and changing society.
It asks the questions:
How should we as a Christian church regard ourselves and our role in a rapidly changing, multi-faith and multicultural 21st century Ireland (north and south)?
How should we as individuals in the context of 21st century Ireland (north and south) regard ourselves and our responsibilities as:
a) Individual Christians
b) Members of the Church of Ireland