The Meeting

The Meeting was the tenth and final musical written by John Gowans and John Larsson. It was commissioned for the 1990 International Congress held in London and premiered at the Wembley Auditorium on Friday 29 June 1990. The production was led by a team from Nottingham, directed by Major John Mott. General Gowans reflected that while the musical was challenging and might have benefited from further revision, it contained some of their best songs. He also expressed a touch of disappointment that fewer younger writers in The Salvation Army were creating musicals, a form he considered a 'marvellously painless way of getting a message across'.

The Meeting centres on a group of individuals attending a Salvation Army meeting. The core message is that the truly life-changing meeting isn't the one at the hall, but the personal encounter with Christ. The musical's songs delve into various aspects of this encounter, from dedication and saying 'yes' to God, to finding forgiveness and the joy of a life transformed by Jesus. It includes well-known songs like 'I Want To Say Yes', 'There's Someone Who Knows', and 'Do You Love Me'.