Saturday, April 24, 2010

Things we could do in Church if we weren't religious

I was thinking of how many Church Buildings are empty mausoleums most of the week. Sure, there are Churchy meetings. But the big issue is getting people to come on one day a week. How about doing things every day of the week and sometimes other that are things that we all do anyway and do it there. Here's a list I ginned up this morning. This came out of a conversation about attractional versus missional church focus. I'm all about missional, but maybe the combination of the two would be even better. I know some of these are already being done. For instance, Pastor Al Fenner is having a HALO tournament at his church today. But, how about other ideas. Here's my list.
  • Eat - food for anyone who is hungry, like a restaurant. One meal a day. Maybe two. Contributions accepted not expected.
  • Sleep - not a homeless shelter, but a place where if you are homeless you can come for a brief time until your new place is ready. I was in this shape once.
  • Play video games like halo and wii in tournament as well as old fashioned pinball. ARCADE.
  • Coffee Shop in the Mornings
  • A library
  • Garden Plots for the community instead of lawn to mow.
  • 4 TV's tuned to sports and the markets in a sit down area.
  • Sports being played every day - B Ball and others, whatever is possible
  • Very High speed free wi fi in the building and public computers with access to the net instead of going to the library
  • A practice room and place for people to sit and listen for area musicians. Any kind of music. Just do it HERE
  • A place for very high fidelity Music to be played. CD's or Mp3's. The best sound system in the world.
  • A small movie theater area where blue ray videos of recent movies would be screened.
  • Vocational and other formal training on site.
  • Clothing for free from grandma's closet.
  • Kids after school drop off service until mom's done working instead of latch key.
  • A brokerage for those who trade stocks and commodities area with hot lines to brokers.
  • Free Concerts every week by up and coming bands.
  • Monthly Car Washes for five bucks in the parking lot
  • Health Check Screenings
  • Dental Screenings
  • Tutoring for Web Work Wannabes
  • Tutoring for children who need help
  • Men and a truck to help single mothers move
  • Free Legal advice monthly
  • Furniture and stuff exchange
  • Financial counseling, not training, specific to the crisis at hand
  • An informal in house bank. Maybe even formal. Checking, credit cards, loans, savings etc
  • Flea market in the Parking Lot during the summer months on Saturdays
  • A Salon monthly for those who want to be more beautiful.
  • Barber Shop for the men.

No comments: