On Sunday, I announced to our congregation and published to our church website the news of an interesting opportunity for us. If you haven’t had the chance to read that post, please head over there and read it now, and then come back here.
The quick synopsis is that after a year of praying, we have seen God open a door for us to purchase a building at an incredible price. We have the chance to get a 10,700 square foot building for $400,000.
That is truly an amazing thing in this town!
But there is a catch. This building is next door to a “Gentlemen’s” Club and an Adult Store.
For a church to move next door to a strip club is an uncommon thing indeed, and I am personally wrestling with the decision. There are three questions that are on my mind:
- What kind of impact will moving to this location have on our regular Sunday attendance? I’m not asking the question because I’m only concerned with attendance numbers. I’m asking the question because I’m concerned about the people who might come. We want to move to a larger space because the church is outgrowing our current location, and we want to be able to welcome more people into our family. However, there’s no way for us to know what impact this move will have on that. My biggest worry is that some mom who decided that it’s time for her family to find a church will see our website on the Internet, learn our location, and choose a different church because she is uncomfortable bringing her children to our place.
- What kind of impact will moving to this location have on our ability to provide a secure learning environment for our congregation? I’m not asking this question because I expect to have security problems from our neighbors, but I am asking this question because it is a different part of town with a lot of traffic and a good number of bars. All those factors together indicate that we might need to do something more to protect women leaving the church after an evening Bible Study and to protect children from leaving the church and running into the street on a Sunday morning. There are other things to be concerned with too, but the people who come to our fellowship need to have a sense that they have come home, and the feeling of “home” is intertwined with feelings of security.
- What kind of impact will moving to this location have on our ability to accomplish our mission? On the surface, you might say that our mission of helping people far from God find life in Christ is accelerated by moving to a location like this, but the truth of the matter is that we will have very little direct interaction with anyone who goes to the businesses in that area. We will have to do some intentional ministry to connect with people who go to those businesses. It won’t just magically happen.
But those are just my questions. I want to know your questions. I want to know your feedback. So would you mind taking a few minutes to share with me your honest feelings about this possible relocation? I have a couple ways you can respond:
- Fill out our Online Response Form.
- Send confidential, anonymous feedback to the church elders.
Please take the time to let me know what you are thinking about this opportunity for our church even if you aren’t part of LCC!
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