CMA hits the road in Durham Official Report by Sandie Keetch

A LIFE OF MISSION

The stalwart members of the Christian Motorcycle Association hit the tarmac most summer weekends scorching God’s danger trail to touch the secret, murky world behind the bike rally scene.

It is a challenging encounter with secular bikers - outcasts sometimes on the brink of death and despair. They clutch at drugs and drink for a hit and miss euphoria to distil the pain.  

Seven thousand bikers, some from Europe and  Scandinavia, flood the highways and byways to Durham, in search of one of the biggest summer playgrounds on the UK biking rally calendar. The  small team of  Christians might go unnoticed until you see the emblazoned white cross on their backs that signifies their gospel walk. Beneath every jacket is a heart that God enthuses for this often rejected, secular minority. A fluid society that often brandishes a heavy line in piercing, tattoos and all night drinking.    

It is a typical encounter. Numb, shaking hands reach for the steaming cup of tea in the hospitality tent that pours out love and comfort - Jesus style. But what this young girl really wants is a ‘fix‘. Behind the leather-clad, tiny frame the sunken, cold eyes tell a haunting story of  despair.  But here, in this twilight zone of drugs, drink and all night heavy music there is hope and prayer.  Here is the 24 hour call of  the faithful few. A call that brings the New Testament into the heartland of the 21^st century biking scene through the members of  Christian Motorcycle Association.    

It is a mission to those often warped by society’s ills. Bikers misshapen and tormented  by sickness, loneliness, divorce and death. Suffering has cut deep, breaking hearts and hardening spirits. It is a no nonsense mission that energises the CMA, often touching the distant chords of  their own suffering, to impact empathy.  They opt for the cold comfort of a groundsheet under canvas and a few hours sleep to minister to lost and aching souls through their 24 hour teetotal refreshment tent named “Holy Joes”.  They travel the length and breadth of the UK, come rain or shine, to heed that call.  

God’s bikers cut through the traditional Christian protocol. Men and women from all walks of life - who have often heeded the hand of God taking them to  breaking point and making point again, chiselled and refined through the rivers of adversity.  Such suffering gives them new eyes - eyes to see the potential in every biker, including those who curse them and try to  pummel them to the ground. For this is a mission of sacrifice for the sake of  perfect love.  

On the front line, they addressed thousands of  tough, notorious bikers with a message of hope after one of their members died from an unexpected heart attack. They officiate at biker’s funerals and weddings and help and encourage the biking  youth. Notching up endless miles across the UK and beyond, they  forge the gospel path of light to herald their Saviour.