Are You Open Just On the Weekend?
I’m visiting several churches in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex this weekend and it’s good to be home! I spent three years here while in Seminary and working for the now defunct Dallas Times Herald and my now college sophmore son was born here.
Two large churches have a different view of their neighborhood that I want to illustrate. Fellowship Church in Grapevine is typical of most in that most of the church is off limits without an appointment. I had an appointment but entered the “wrong” door because it was inadvertently left open. The receptionist was less than thrilled. But here is a church with stunning decorations that basically go unused when the church is not in session. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is typical and really I expected as much since many of us don’t have the security staff to be entirely open.
But, when I went over to my good friend Gary Lindsay’s church, Irving Bible I was greeted not by security or a receptionist but by several families hanging out in the indoor two story play structure just eating lunch. That’s right. The community is welcome whenever! Presumably whenever the community doesn’t sleep! This was a wonderful reminder of the hidden messages a church communicates by what she does rather than what she says!
Totally cool! (and it’s 95 degrees)
While the 7×24 sounds like the ideal Christian community — a great thing to be a part of, I have what (in the Episcopal Church) we call a “safe church” issue with it.
When you have families — or kids — or singles — or elders — or whatever in a group for a planned activity, you can make sure that you aren’t inadvertently serving as an enabler for exploitative behavior that shouldn’t happen in a church. Yes, you have to plan and staff to ensure this, but, frankly, it’s the right thing to do.
As attractive as the 7×24 open door thing sounds, as much as radical hospitality like this seems like the right thing to offer, I have some real reservations about how freely a church can do so in today’s world. While the positive aspects are wonderful, the (possible) negatives are so devastating that I wonder if it’s even possible to do it.
I would love to know how Irving Bible addresses this — I’m assuming they do.
Geoff Brown
May 30, 2008 at 7:06 pm
DEFINITELY you’re right, there is a safe church issue but the problem is solved like a Library would solve it, adults supervise their children. I think it’s more of a 8 hour cycle though, certainly not a 24/7. And even Libraries have issues with unaccompanied children. I only saw parents with their children.
keithdj1
May 30, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Well – it’s not really 24X7 per se. The doors are locked at times and there is security on site after hours, but the facility is there for the community. The Tubes (the play area) is a part of that along with The Mosaic Coffee Shop. We also offer free wifi and hope that you come and visit.
Occasionally there are issues, sure. We’ve had video games stolen and a few other things that are unfortunate but the cost is worth it over all.
Bill Buchanan
May 31, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I am a member at IBC (10 1/2 years) and have now been on staff for the last 4 1/2 years. I would like to add to the picture of IBC. We not only have all of our common areas open every day of the week from 8:00am to 10:00p, free Wi-Fi, a coffee shop, and more, we also allow the community to use our facility for meetings, dinners, graduations, conference, etc.
This is my ministry at IBC. I help provide our facilities for outside use. We are like any other church in that there are many times that our facilities just sit empty. Having so much free space creates a unique opportunity to SERVE our community.
We have over 60 outside events on our campus every year. That’s over 1 a week. And, it really doesn’t take much. It just takes a church to look at their facilities as not just an opportunity to serve their members, regular attenders, or visitors but as venue for connection points to your neighbors. Every church has this service opportunity whether it’s High School graduations, MOPS, AA, PTA, Chamber of Commerce meetings, or a class room for continuing education classes. Oh, and did I mention that we don’t charge anything above personnel costs?
I could go on and on but more than anything it is my hope that more churches make their facilities more open to the public events. The opportunity is too great to miss.
Shawn
May 31, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Evaluating a church based on the accessibility of its building seems to be pretty superficial. While allowing a building to be used by the community, a church should be more than just its building. Fellowship has more going on than just its building.
Henry Zonio
June 1, 2008 at 1:12 am
Hi Henry
I agree with your comment completely and will even take it a step further and say that a church is not the building at all. Take a look at the IBC website and that’s the first thing you will read
Yet, we do have this investment and using it in every way possible is just good business sense – if not good “evangelism”.
For instance, we found out that we had to stay open on “snow days” as there were Moms with cars full of kids banging on the door looking to use the indoor playground since all the kids were home from school
Lots of these Moms and their kids don’t come to IBC to worship (they may attend elsewhere . . . or not attend anywhere) – they come to IBC because it’s part of their community.
And yes, Fellowship has a lot more going on than just it’s building. They are to be commended for their creativity in coming up with lots of ways to attract people who might never darken the door of a church.
Bill Buchanan
June 1, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I love it! The church I serve (since January) is just beginning to be serious about reaching out to the community. I’d love to know how IBC has made families in the community aware of the opportunity.
Debby Albrecht
June 6, 2008 at 11:23 pm