Take the Exit from the Church Parking Lot!

This resonated with me, as it is how I feel church can be out side the walls of traditional brick. I like to see people living out Christian community from the opposite side of the church parking lot - the Exit side!

A friend of mine said that during worship one day their leadership was stressing to the congregation how important it was for members to invite people to church, after all "If we can't get them in the door, we can't minister to them."

This is a church starting a 4 million dollar church building expansion. Getting them in the door is what the whole methodology is about. And if the don't come in the door who's going to pay for it right?

That my friends is exactly why we must change what church means. We can minister to them, even if they don't come in the door. It's called the 'Priesthood of all Believers".

UK: In Every Community, a Church that Fits

Source: Joel News International 761, January 26, 2011 (http://www.joelnews.org)

Church on the beach, church in the skate park, churches that bake, and churches that get messy. Goths gathering to celebrate communion, and football fans worshiping together. The Fresh Expressions initiative, a missions partnership of various denominations in the United Kingdom, has seen hundreds of these new forms of church spring up around the nation and Europe in the last five years. These new churches are supported and encouraged with the aim of seeing the gospel planted into communities to which people actually belong.

This month Fresh Expressions started a partnership with youth prayer movement 24-7 Prayer. "The young people I know resonate with the idea of connecting their faith with the real world they live in and the world around them, and that's been an emphasis of 24-7," says Andy Freeman, spokesperson for the new partnership. "We're not shutting ourselves away in a prayer room. It's prayer to go out, it's prayer that connects."

"For some young people it's very difficult to find a home within church as it looks right now. Our culture is fragmenting and we can't expect to meet all the needs with one form and style of church. So I'm very much in support of a 'mixed economy' or 'mixed ecology' of church. My vision is a church that fits. Many people have a hunger for God. We want to provide a home for them."