Rend Collective Experiment is extending an invitation with the outfit's sophomore album – will you be a part of the collective? Hailing from Bangor, Northern Ireland, the group is more like family than bandmates; and its new release, Homemade Worship By Handmade People (Kingsway), is a fitting description of the five-piece band that recently moved to the U.S. to make Atlanta home.

“Worship music and your connection with God isn’t meant to be something that’s detached from normal life,” says band leader Gareth Gilkeson. With this in mind, the band crafted its latest release from the comfort of Gilkeson’s living room – recording and producing everything themselves.

They wanted the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, Organic Family Hymnal (Kingsway), to flow out of the normalcy of the everyday. “We wanted to do stuff that was real and rootsy and not forced. When we were looking at the concept for our album and what would drive the heart of the songs and the heart of the recording process, we thought, what’s more powerful than recording all of this at home?” says Gilkeson. “We didn’t want to go into a studio and be detached from normal life. We wanted to write in the middle of normality, in the middle of our daily lives. If God doesn’t exist in everyday life, then we’re really not following Him to our full extent.”

The result is an imaginative project that is as compelling as it is creative, blending artistry with congregational worship. Rend Collective Experiment hopes to bridge the gap between the artistic and the accessible. “We really believe that when people get together as a church there’s nothing more powerful than hearing them sing,” explains Gilkeson. “If they sing one song, then we hope and pray that means they will live as a body and they will live [out] the songs [they’re singing].”

Unity is at the core of what Rend Collective Experiment is all about, with a consistent call to become a part of something bigger than ourselves. “We came from a country that was divided by an internal war for 25 years between two different political sides,” shares Gilkeson. “We want there to be unity. The prayer that Jesus prayed, that we would be one, is a prayer that is still waiting to be answered.”

Rend Collective Experiment is facilitating that prayer by embracing the diversity of its members as well as its listeners. Enter the “handmade people” part of the album title. The band seeks to share a definitive message that “it’s OK to be different.” In fact, though the band has been praised by everyone from Tony Campolo and Francis Chan to David Crowder and Chris Tomlin – the latter of which they toured with in 2011 – they still feel that they have a lot to learn. Embracing uniqueness is a lesson the band is living out, carving out their own niche in the modern worship scene. “We want to just say to people ‘It’s OK to be who you are,’” Gilkeson continues. “Whoever God called you to be, we want to encourage you to be that. It doesn’t have to be a cookie cutout of something that you feel you need to be to fit in. Realize you are unique, [and] God has handmade you in a specific way to be who you are.”

Diversity might be difficult terrain to navigate, but Rend Collective Experiment feels that every difference is an opportunity to reveal the character of Christ. “I think that’s a healthy thing,” says Gilkeson, “because the more diversity we have, the more we get to see who Jesus is. We miss so many things as [individuals], but whenever there are lots of people trying to connect with God, we can learn so much.”

Playing music – specifically worship music – as a career is something the band is still trying to wrap their minds around. The Irish culture differs from today’s American philosophy in that artists are generally never paid to lead worship in the band’s homeland.

“There are a lot of creative people here who are getting involved and trying to develop worship music, but there’s also a caution in there as well,” Gilkeson advises. “You’re not to answer, ‘Do I want a career in worship music?’ You’re meant to answer, ‘Do I want to really develop the church and bless the church?’”

The band answered this question originally through serving together in a college movement for 20-somethings called Rend for over 10 years. “A big part of it was just being a missional church and trying to brush off a lot of the clichés Christians were known as and a lot of the religious trappings that were unnecessary,” he explains. The goals of the movement were singular and simple: community and unwavering commitment to Christ. “We didn’t try to water that down to include people,” he says, “but I guess we made ourselves a real community-focused thing so that people felt it was easy to get involved even if they weren’t Christians.”

Rend Collective Experiment’s platform may be larger now, and they may be traversing what a “career” in worship music looks like on American soil, but the basic tenants of what Rend was founded on remain in tact. “We want to keep the church healthy, keep the church utterly devoted to Jesus, but not necessarily utterly devoted to all of the traditions that they’ve been brought up in,” says Gilkeson. “We want to equip the church to be better.”

He claims the secret lies in humility and resourcefulness. “You’re not just pointing a finger at people, but you’re saying, ‘How can we get better? How can we get closer? How can we be better friends, better brothers and sisters in Jesus?’” he asks. “We try to be inclusive. If we can involve people, that really is something we feel is key to who we are.”

Catch Rend Collective Experiment on tour through the spring with MercyMe on the “Rock & Worship Roadshow.” For cities and dates, visit www.rendcollectiveexperiment.com.