The name of my church is Pioneer Memorial Church.
In my thinking, having the word “church ” in the title somewhere is a part of how a church is identified. It helps people to know what it is.
Interestingly, a church nearby has recently announced that they’re removing “church” from its name. In other words, it used to be called Granger Community Church. They’re now changing their name to Granger Commons. I understand, of course, why they’re doing it: they’re wanting to communicate that the church is not a building. In this new approach, a church is part of what that space is used for, but they’re trying to create a space for the community to interact. You can eat there. Chill there. Work there.
I haven’t made up my mind, yet, whether this is a brilliant missional move, or whether this is an extreme form of pandering to culture. I suppose a part of me thinks that it comes across like that older parent who is desperately trying to look hip–skinny jeans and spiked up hair–with their children annoyingly embarrassed and hoping they will act like normal parents. But, maybe it will work amazingly well. I want it to work. I applaud them for trying.
To see the announcement see this video below.
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So what about you? Good idea? Silly idea? To leave a comment click here.
i don’t have a problem with leaving the word “church” off of the title. from just watching the clip, i do have a few thoughts.
i like the approach of seeking to make the building more than just what happens sunday morning, but in seeking to make it a place where people will come out during the week, it seems they’re reduplicating services already provided in the community (i.e., child care, coffe shop, book store, etc.)
so it makes me wonder how many non-church members really use the services they offer there? if i have the opportunity to drink coffee at starbucks or at granger, i guarantee you i’ll choose starbucks almost every time!
i also wonder about the location of granger. is it already situated near commercial sites where people normally do their shopping? or is it out of the way of regular shopping traffic patterns?
Granger is right by a Super Target. There are lots of things nearby. Yeah, I think in principle, that it communicates something pretty cool: an open posture towards society. We’ll see if it works.
Like you, I don’t think I would go there to hang or to drink a hot drink if there was something else nearby.
It has always been my dream to create a multipurpose building where we gather, serve, teach, play and worship. I think that having huge buildings that are only used twice a week is a misuse of resources. There is no more “Temple”, there is no more “Sanctuary”, that holy building was abandoned by God and destroyed in 70 AD. To continue with the mindset that we need to have a “Holy Place” is not biblical. We, the people are the Temple, my body is the Temple of the living God. I wish that our SDA tribe would start moving toward a more practical and Biblical perspective of church and building use. Interested to see how it will work for them.
I’m also very interested in seeing how it will work. In spite of how my post may have sounded, I actually applaud them for trying!