Britain's most popular Christian band have a brand new album out any time now. Mike Rimmer spoke to IONA and went to the island of Lindisfarne to do so.

I ask Dave Bainbridge why Beggs was no longer in lona. He is quick to point out that there had been no falling out. "Nick left last September. I think it was several things, the band wasn't really making a vast amount of money so he had to find other work to support himself. He was also going through a difficult time with the break up of his marriage. I think going through his marriage break up also forced him to question his faith for a while and the fact that the focus of the band is mission based. He just for a while felt that he couldn't really be there and give everything he should give. He's okay now and playing with Belinda Carlisle so he's in work which is great. I wouldn't like to rule out the possibility of playing with him again."

Now the fourth album has been completed. I invite Dave Bainbridge to take stock of what lona has achieved, thinking back to the band's beginnings. Was it beyond his dreams to have got this far? "When Dave (Fitzgerald) and I got together to jam in the beginning, during sound checks for Adrian Snell concerts, we were thinking we should get something together musically. But parallel to that, for a couple of years, I'd been thinking I should do something as well and I wrote down a list of musicians that I'd like to get to play on a project. I was thinking I could fund a recording and press a hundred cassettes and I wrote down a list of people who might be interested in buying it! Lo and behold, a couple of years later lona gets underway and God's just blessed it beyond expectations, really."

These days the band seem very focussed and I wonder whether it feels that way to Dave. "Yeah, I think probably God has been gradually revealing what it is we're supposed to be doing. And I think it's fantastic the way a lot of people in different parts of the church who have been showing that we really need to get back to a church which is as strong as it was in the Celtic Christian times. We've got so far from that and we just need to learn from that."

It's obvious in talking to Bainbridge that his life has been challenged by his studies of the Celtic church so I ask him to explain what he means by "strong". He explains about the life of St Cuthbert. "He was regarded as being so holy in his life. A lot of the power of the Holy Spirit that was in the midst of people's ministry at that time seems to stem from lives based on personal holiness and humility. They had a real love for the Bible, a few writings of St Patrick have survived and there are hundreds of quotes from the Bible everywhere and it's obvious that they had a real love for reading the Bible."

Warming to his subject Dave then tells me about the life of St Aidan who was summoned from lona by the Northumbrian King Oswald to start a Christian mission in the north of England in the seventh century. "He used to insist on walking everywhere so he could meet more people. When he met people in the streets, if they weren't Christians he would exhort them to be baptised and if they were Christians, he would exhort them to strengthen their faith and live more holy lives." I wondered whether Bainbridge himself wanted to have a similar ministry. "Well, it's an example," Dave sighs, "I think I'm right at the beginning on a scale of one to a million. I'm probably on one, right at the beginning of the journey. It's incredibly challenging, all the lives of these people. I think we've come a long way in the wrong direction from that time. Another thing about the church then was there weren't any real denominations, just the Christian church. It seems like there are lots of different strands of Christianity which the different churches have taken on like the Catholic church has majored on contemplation and the Pentecostal church has majored on the Holy Spirit and power and signs and wonders. It's only really when all the churches come together that all these strands mesh together as they should and I think the Celtic church really understood that."

But what is it about Celtic Christianity that inspires Joanne Hogg today? "They had a very deep faith and it was very Christ-centred... It was a very prayer-centred life where communication with God was central to their lives. It wasn't just talking to God about everything but it was taking time to listen to God speaking to them... The whole involvement with lona has been a learning experience for me. Growing up in Protestant Ulster, my Christian roots went back as far as the Reformation and then the church in Acts but there was this big gap where I didn't really know a lot. It's challenged me because life can be so hectic and busy and it's challenged me to have a life which is more prayerful and where my relationship with God is the most central and important thing, because if the relationship isn't growing then everything else is superficial. Without Christ at the centre of what we're doing, it's like that passage in Corinthians that talks about love, it's just a noise. It might draw attention to itself but it isn't of any value."

There is something unique about lona. Whether it's the humility of the band members as they receive inspiration from God or whether it's the stunning musicianship as they play together. Each album has proved to be a feast and the new one is no exception. As with every lona album, 'Journey Into The Morn' has its epic musical track. On this album it's called "Encircling". Joanne Hogg describes the song: "Parts of it were again inspired by the hymn 'Be Thou My Vision' and the line 'Thou my whole armour'. So the lyrics are taken from prayers that are written by St Patrick and David Adams which really call upon the Trinity to protect us and be around our lives. There's an opening section which is putting on the armour of God and then there's a section where we're getting ready to go into battle and then there's a section which is a spiritual fight and then at the end of that comes a tranquil prayer of the encircling of God. When I listen to it now, it gives me goose flesh because what we did was have three voices coming in like a cannon effect so there's this ethereal mush of the three elements of the Trinity. The track summarises what the band lona are about both spiritually and musically."

At the end of the concert, as the crowds leave Lindisfarne Priory and head off across the causeway to the mainland, I am left to reflect on what Aidan would have made of it all. I am sure amongst all the technical baggage of the 20th century; he would have felt the Spirit of God and enjoyed the exhortations of the band's songs and the beauty of the music. The Priory may be in ruins but the body of Christ is stirring and the mission hasn't changed. For lona, this was just a stopping point on their journey into the morn.