Our church normally meet together in a school hall on a Sunday. In August, however, we are unable to hire the school so we have to try different things. Last year, we spent most of the summer having picnics together in local parks. This year, we tried something different. We split into a couple of groups and squeezed into houses to worship together. We hosted one group at our house. Here’s what we did.
People began arriving from about 10:30 onwards and we had tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits, etc ready as everyone chatted and caught up with one another. When most people arrived, we sang a few songs together. We used YouTube songs, cast to the TV via an Amazon Fire stick. There was also opportunity for people to pray and share.
I then told a story from the Bible, primarily aimed at the children but something that the adults would benefit from too. We have looked at the story of Ruth and of Esther. We had some word-searches and colouring for them to do after this. They could do this sat with their parents or using our dining table in the conservatory.
I’d then prompted a couple of people to share something from God’s Word that had been speaking to them recently. We’ve had devotions from Psalm 84, Habakuk and Revelation 4. People then responded in prayer and on one of the Sundays, someone shared a picture that had come into their mind as they were listening to the talk.
After this, we sang another song together and then we shared communion, where we were in the living room, passing plates of bread and cups of grape juice amongst us. We closed by saying a blessing to each other but people were free to stay and chat, to enjoy one another’s company. And yes, for those who are wondering, this meant that on one Sunday, they switched the TV channel over to BBC 1 to see how the Lionesses were doing in the World Cup final.
Now, in our case, for our circumstances, we will want to return to our normal pattern of meetings in the Autumn. There’s a place for a larger gathering at a public venue as we seek to be a light in the north of Birmingham. However, I wanted to highlight what we had done to show what is possible. There’s nothing wrong with having a building, a lot of people and a structured programme but we don’t actually need those things for church.
If you are thinking about planting a church and wondering how to go about it, perhaps realising that the cost of a venue is prohibitive right now, worried that you don’t have enough people to cover ministries and concerned about what to do with the children, well our experience, even for a few weeks in the summer is that it is possible!
I’m constantly encouraging people to consider the possibility of being part of a church plant. Perhaps, this is one way you could begin to plant where you are? Perhaps you could come over to the West Midlands, movie into a community and with a little help from us start something similar in your new neighbourhood? Feel free to use the contact form below to get in touch.
You can also check out our “Church in a Box” resources to help support you as you start out.
Faithroots 