Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART I: D EVELOPING U RBAN C ONGREGATIONS • 73

Provide Facilities

There are two principles that guide the thinking about church facilities. First, “All congregations need a place (physical structure of some kind) that can serve as a tangible focal point, as well as provide a facility in which to gather and call new members.” 141 And second, “The building should not absorb all of the time, energies, and finances of the members.” 142 It is difficult to maintain a sense of congregational identity if there is no central meeting place. However, if financing and maintaining a facility become the focus of church life, it can stifle the church members’ zeal and vision. Maintaining proper balance in the area of facilities is essential to the healthy growth of the emerging church. 143 Temporary Facilities An initial step toward beginning Celebration is to locate a temporary meeting place. Redford says, The ideal process is for the mission chapel [Celebration] to start services in a temporary facility and remain there until sufficient stability and strength has been established. Mission congregations should have a minimum of a dozen families who are permanent residents and fully committed to the chapel before embarking on serious consideration of obtaining permanent facilities. 144 There are many options for temporary facilities, some of which were mentioned in the discussion of mission fellowships. Every year new churches start in schools, community centers, auditoriums, storefronts and even mortuaries. Almost any facility can be used to house an embryo congregation. Storefronts are used but often are criticized by persons who have little or no experience in church planting. Several hundred new churches are planted each year in America in store buildings. Many

________________________________________________________________________

141 Jones, p. 131

142 Redford, p. 95

143 See Roger Greenway, “The Pros and Cons of Church Buildings”, Cities: Mission’s New Frontier , pp. 234-245, for a list of guidelines that will insure balance in the area of facilities.

144 Redford, p. 89-90