Churched Ibiza: Evangelical Christianity and Club Culture

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between club culture and Evangelical Christianity based on a case study of a Christian mission, 24-7 Mission conducted on Ibiza, ‘the Mecca of house music and club culture’ (Osborne, 1999:145) in the summer of 2003. Drawing on fieldwork research undertaken on Ibiza, this article interrogates how a Christian youth group engages with club culture. The paper will adopt an ethnographic approach which allows ‘a “microsociological” focus upon the beliefs, values, rituals and general patterns of behaviour underlying social relationships or networks’ (Cohen, 1993: 123). A key issue to be interrogated is the contested notion of spirituality in electronic dance music. My analysis will be concentrated on members of the 24-7 mission team and the ways in which spirituality and dance music are discussed, leading to arguments about how members appraise and use popular music within their ‘ministry’. By looking at different notions of religious and musical ‘community’, I am going to investigate the cross-over between the ways that the mission team discuss spirituality, ‘community’ in relation to music and the mystification of the music by clubbers.