Great minds are divided on the usefulness of New Years Resolutions.  Are they a fantastic chance to start writing a new story on the blank page of the new year, or are they a recipe for guilt and failure?

I’ve gotta say I do find them useful.  Anything which provides a stimulus for growth, change, improvement is worth embracing – whether or not the implementation is wholly successful.  Save me from being satisfied with being stuck in a rut…

So I’m going to offer three 2013 Resolutions for those of you who follow the Dock blog.  2012 was a whirlwind of scarcely-dreamt-of opportunities; I never would’ve dared to hope, this time last year, that Dock Cafe would be open and vibrant and playing its part at the heart of life in the Titanic Quarter.  But if that is to continue and grow, we’ll need more and more people to step from the sidelines into the adventure.  And here’s how:

MEET

 The beating heart of The Dock is its fantastic team of volunteers – committed, energetic, stylish, suave, sophisticated, just a little bit sexy.   We’re always on the lookout for people to join the team (most of those qualifications are optional) – so let us know if you have a few hours free between 11 and 7 on a Monday-Saturday.

And if you’re wary of signing up indefinitely, this year we’re planning to run ‘Volunteer For A Day’ days when you can get a taster of life behind the coffee bar.  Watch this space for more details…

PRAY

The soul of The Dock is our conviction that faith matters (maybe more than ever) in this crazy world, and that life makes more sense  lived with God.  The practical expression of that faith, as well as a hundred-and-one unplanned conversations and prayers during the course of the working week, is our weekly gathering at 3:33 on Sunday afternoons – the Dock Walk.

If you haven’t come across the Dock Walk before, it’s our experiment in building a church without a building – church without walls.  We meet for coffee, we walk, we chat, we discuss a Bible passage, we listen to readings and songs through a funky little bluetooth speaker, standing beneath the circling seagulls and glowing winter skies of the wild reaches of the Titanic Quarter.  It’s a workout for the body and the soul; it’s a dander with a lovely bunch of people; it’s the most profound and encouraging ‘church’ I’ve ever been part of.

You’ll get a taster of Dock Walking on Sunday morning at 10:15am on BBC Radio Ulster.  If you like what you hear, what about giving it a try in 2013?  (Don’t let the weather put you off – even on the worst of days, as Sus and I drive into the TQ for the walk, we pass loads of families bundled up in macs and wellies walking along the seashore at Jordanstown.  Going for a walk is a good thing – whatever the weather!)

At the start of the new year, it’s also a good chance to re-commit to embedding a little bit of Bible in every day life.  The Wordlive daily podcasts, which we use as our discussion starters on the walks, are a brilliant, imaginative, convenient way to centre yourself on a passage of scripture every day – I can’t recommend them highly enough.  A good New Year habit to start (or re-start) whether you’re able to join us on a Sunday afternoon or not!

GIVE

The lifeblood of The Dock – not pretty, but necessary – is the funding which arrives day-by-day in the Honesty Box in the cafe – people have been breathtakingly, wonderfully honest throughout 2012.  However as time goes on there are expenses that the Honesty Box can’t cover – new equipment, utility bills, investment in ideas which will help us expand – we want to keep growing, and we can’t do that if we’re always rooting round down the back of the sofa for loose change.  We also want to be able to offer a warm welcome and a guilt-free experience to those who use the cafe and genuinely can’t give generously to the Honesty Box.

So at the start of 2013, I’m asking if you would be wiling to sign up to a donation to The Dock.   You can make a one-off donation under the ‘Give’ tab on the homepage of the website, or you can follow this link to a DOCK standing order form for making a regular donation – a New Years Resolution which will keep making a difference as the year rolls on!

So – Meet/Pray/Give.  Sign up for a volunteer-for-a-day day… Join us at 3:33 on a Sunday… Form a Wordlive habit… Make a donation… Start a standing order…   Things you can do at the start of 2013 which will make a big, big difference in this adventure of Life in the Titanic Quarter.