In my last post on being a portable church, I discussed on of our biggest challenges. There are other challenges including, but not limited, to:
- Not having a facility always at disposal throughout the week for classes, meetings, etc.
- The lack of brick & mortar visibility to the community
- The perceived lack of credibility to the community and occasionally to the church body
These are all very real challenges that need to be worked through, but there are also some great advantages such as:
- There is no facility sitting mostly empty every day of the week except for Sunday
- The need to get out into your community in order to be visible (as opposed to just expecting them to come to you)
- The constant reminder of what church is really all about
Just a couple thoughts about the last point. Clearly there is nothing wrong with owning a church building (and if you offered us one we would probably accept it without much arm-twisting), however there is a danger with the identity of the church being wrapped up in a building. This is where perspective and the vision that influences it matter greatly. As a portable church pastor, I constantly have to weave into messages, conversations, blog posts (like this), the biblical principle that the church is the body not a building, and that our identity is wrapped up in Christ not construction. Our church is wherever go.
This ethos frees us up to embrace a pioneer versus a settler spirit. We are not settling in and trying to maintain the homestead, we are out exploring and blazing new trails. We aren't inviting the community to a building we own and they find strange, we are going to buildings they own and are comfortable in. We can move into a new facility as soon as we outgrow the old one. We change our context as frequently as needed while maintaining and even embodying the identity, mission and purpose of our church.
Next time: Thoughts on being portable by choice...
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