Intersecting Communities

Tuesday nights are planning nights for the church plant I am involved with. We share ideas and dreams. We pray together. We share a meal together (tonight was teriyaki chicken, rice pilaf and green beans). We laugh together. We watch Jeopardy. And we challenge each other to radically be the church God is calling us to be.

Quick thought: church is not a building or a location but a group of people sharing life and beliefs aligned with Jesus’ mission here on earth.

The idea of “location” was a topic of conversation tonight, and one that we will discuss further with our entire group at the next vision meeting. Currently we are blessed to have a facility to use: a church building. It comes totally equipped with chairs, sounds, new technology, heat and AC, everything you would need to do church.

But is having all these things crippling our ability to be the church?

A sister church plant of ours use to meet in a coffeehouse. What was awesome was that the coffeehouse wasn’t closed during their church services; the public was welcome to come in and get a cup of coffee and a pastry. Anyone was allowed to come in and sit and converse.

One great story I heard was that while the church was meeting, and the pastor was up front sharing, two women came in, got coffee, and sat in the middle of the church group. While sitting in the middle of the group they proceeded to have a lively conversation. They did not recognize this group as a church.

This is the church I want to be a part of. A church willing to gather together in unlikely places: a coffeehouse, a bar, a park, anywhere people gather. People may be unlikely to drop in to a church service at a church building, but imagine a church that is willing to intersect communities.