Location or Fixture?

Every church planter will walk through the journey of trying to find a location for their new church.  You find yourself making statements like, "That could make a great church" when passing by an empty warehouse or storefront.  Location seems like such a critical aspect of the church planting process.  Certainly a church's location can magnify their visibility in the community.


If you have talked about your church to people in your community, you have probably been asked this question, "Why does our city need another church on another corner?"  This question is very loaded.  It forces us as church planters to examine our motives and agendas for planting a new work.  The reality is, most of our communities don't need another church on another corner.  They aren't looking for a church that is simply going to be another location for people in the community to attend.


We have talked with so many church planters who have experienced great frustration when trying to find a location to rent.  The challenge is growing increasingly more difficult to find a school, place of business or theater that is open to renting their facility to a new church.  Pastors are forced to think creatively and out of the box in order to find a location that will meet their growing church's needs.


We have experienced the challenges of helping lead a baby church through the growing pains of existing as a "church in the box."  We hold fond memories of the days spent worshipping in a non-traditional setting.  We have experienced leading worship experiences in school gymnasiums, cafeterias, warehouses and performing arts centers.   We have also experienced the challenges of leading worship experiences in a church sanctuary.


We have discovered a common thread throughout the years between the people that experienced worship in very different atmospheres and locations.  The common thread is - people are hungry for connection!  The location can be great, but if the connection factor is missing, they feel as if their experience has somehow been cheated.


If a church's identity is wrapped around a location, efforts are spent on getting people to walk through the doors.   It's the, "Let's put a sign up and people will come," mentality.  Relying on location is dangerous.  We have the rare opportunity of planting our church in an existing building that is on a major 5 lane road across from an elementary school.  We know that we are blessed!  But we also know that we must keep our motivations and focus in check.  We constantly remind ourselves that people are hungry for connection, not buildings to meet in.  This doesn't mean we won't give our very best to make sure our building is relevant to our culture, however, our building isn't what makes us who we are.


We have walked in to the lobby of some beautifully decorated churches, and left 2 hours later feeling disconnected and unnoticed.  In the same respect, we have walked in to the lobby of some churches that were decorated comfortably and economically, and left 2 hours later feeling connected and noticed.
The point is, we can work to make our churches look beautiful inside and out, but if we miss the boat on connecting with our community and the people walking through our doors, we are just another church location for people to visit.  


When our church becomes a location, we open our doors to the community on our terms.  We open our doors when it is convenient for us.  We determine the hours of operation.  Our ministries are not developed out of the felt needs of our community, but rather, our ministries are driven by what we think will attract a crowd.


So the question becomes, "How do we turn our churches from being locations in our city to fixtures in our community?" We start by asking the same question Dino Rizzo asked in his book, "Servolution" -  "If our church closed down tomorrow, who would notice?"  If our church is a location in our community, the only people who will notice we have closed down are the people inside our four walls.  If our church is a fixture in our community, OUR COMMUNITY will notice we have closed down!

Matthew 5:14-16 puts it this way - "You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.  God is not a secret to be kept.  We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.  If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you?  I'm putting you on a light stand.  Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine!  Keep open house; be generous with your lives.  By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven." (The Message)


Keep open house!  Be generous with your lives!  Open up to others and prompt them to open up with God!  God is calling us to be the city on a hill to our communities.  If we aren't meeting the needs of our community, opening our doors when it isn't convenient, we are hiding under our buckets!  Every single week church goers all over this great country will carry their lights into their churches.  The reality is, we're not called to light up our church buildings, we are called to light up our communities!  Hope and healing happens when we become the city on the hill that is providing light to our community.  When this happens, we are transformed from being a church location to a church fixture.


Be encouraged today!