Shiloh Number One
We started our church in July, 2004. We'd been having a Bible study for about three months when the people said, "We want to start meeting on Sundays so we can have something to invite our friends to. We want a church." I wasn't ready to start a church. I wasn't sure I wanted to start a church. There were several reasons why we couldn't start a church. I shared all of those reasons with the core of people who had started the Bible study with me. They said, "OK. We'll pray about those things." To make a long story short, all five of the problems I presented to them were resolved within two weeks. So the people said, "We suppose we can start the church now!" We did.
We meet in the "cafetorium" of an elementary school in beautiful, suburban Caledonia. Every Sunday morning the loyal "set up people" arrive at about 8:00 to set up the room for our meeting. Tables are set up. Chairs are arranged around all the tables. The "coffee lady" comes early to brew coffee and set out all the snacks. (Our meeting room looks more like a Starbucks than a sanctuary!) The "sound guys" come early to put up the sound system. The "computer geeks" come and get the projector and computer all ready for the powerpoints for song lyrics and sermon outlines. It's a lot of work. Never once have I hear a complaint from these people about the extra effort they put in.
Once in awhile someone asks me about the vision for Shiloh Church. (The official name is Shiloh Community Church of West Michigan.) The most often asked question is, "Do you envision buying land and putting up a building?" I don't have an answer for them. I really don't know. In my experience, buildings create more problems than they're worth. People start to refer to the building as "the church." I don't think I want our folks to start thinking that a building is a church. They are the church. I'm not sure I want us to go into debt for land and a building. There are so many other ways we could invest our money in serving people in our city who have genuine needs. I don't like the idea that the "church" is a place where the ministries of a group of Christians take place. I would prefer that the ShilohFolks learn that ministry is supposed to take place wherever they are every day. The place where we meet on Sundays seems really irrelevant to me. The gathering for worship could be taking place anywhere! Someone said, "But if we have a building, people will see it and be more likely to come." I'm not sure I care about that. I would rather that people come to worship at Shiloh because someone who cares about them has brought them.
I'm thinking aloud here. I just don't think that buildings should be all that important. People are important, not buildings. Maybe if we really tried hard to love people we would discover that the places where we meet just don't matter that much. I don't know. What do you think?
You guys are great! Thanks for stopping by!
We meet in the "cafetorium" of an elementary school in beautiful, suburban Caledonia. Every Sunday morning the loyal "set up people" arrive at about 8:00 to set up the room for our meeting. Tables are set up. Chairs are arranged around all the tables. The "coffee lady" comes early to brew coffee and set out all the snacks. (Our meeting room looks more like a Starbucks than a sanctuary!) The "sound guys" come early to put up the sound system. The "computer geeks" come and get the projector and computer all ready for the powerpoints for song lyrics and sermon outlines. It's a lot of work. Never once have I hear a complaint from these people about the extra effort they put in.
Once in awhile someone asks me about the vision for Shiloh Church. (The official name is Shiloh Community Church of West Michigan.) The most often asked question is, "Do you envision buying land and putting up a building?" I don't have an answer for them. I really don't know. In my experience, buildings create more problems than they're worth. People start to refer to the building as "the church." I don't think I want our folks to start thinking that a building is a church. They are the church. I'm not sure I want us to go into debt for land and a building. There are so many other ways we could invest our money in serving people in our city who have genuine needs. I don't like the idea that the "church" is a place where the ministries of a group of Christians take place. I would prefer that the ShilohFolks learn that ministry is supposed to take place wherever they are every day. The place where we meet on Sundays seems really irrelevant to me. The gathering for worship could be taking place anywhere! Someone said, "But if we have a building, people will see it and be more likely to come." I'm not sure I care about that. I would rather that people come to worship at Shiloh because someone who cares about them has brought them.
I'm thinking aloud here. I just don't think that buildings should be all that important. People are important, not buildings. Maybe if we really tried hard to love people we would discover that the places where we meet just don't matter that much. I don't know. What do you think?
You guys are great! Thanks for stopping by!
3 Comments:
I understand from my life long study of the church that it began with women hosting small services in their homes and serving food and beverage. Some have argued that without these women there would have been no "churches." I'm not sure when the men came in and decided that gigantic buildings would be better. Perhaps it was when Christianity was named the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire. I guess it only goes to show, once again, when something gets popular it goes down hill fast.
My church resembles more of a "garage." It's modeled on Dr. Schuller's original "drive-in" concept he had nearby here in Garden Grove. What I have done is preserve the "drive-in" idea and removed the actual "Church." You're absolutely right, it saves a lot of headaches.
I've also been able to rid my church of the traditional "church gossip" problem by having no actual congregation.
My previous place of ministry was in a Lake Michigan beach resort town. The church owned a significant amount of property right next to the dunes. On summer Sunday evenings we used to have drive in church back on the soccer field. The people would just pull up in their cars and get their lawn chairs out of the trunk and just sit out on the field.
It was real nice except you really had to try to finish before dusk because the mosquitoes are so big. We lost one family that was visiting because when they went to the back to retrieve their daughter from the drive-in-kids-playground-ministry the child was gone, carried off by two mosquitoes. That family never came back.
But drive in church was still a big hit, especially with the smokers. Imagine! You could sit there and light up with your Bible in one hand and your cigarette in the other! No need for an ashtray. Immensely popular!
The teenagers liked it too. They used to lie to their parents and tell them they were going to the library and then sneak off to church!
Whoa - that sounds like Peter's kind of church! Could you do something similar in a garage so he'll feel completely comfortable there? A Bible, a cigarette and a garage - we're 2/3rds of the way there already!
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