Mobile Church

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Reverand Branford Clark had a revolutionary idea. He took his chapel on the road, complete with a fold down steeple (so the port-a-church would fit in his garage - naturally). Apparently, in 1923 one could not do church sans steeple.

Ninetyish years later, my post-modern self cannot fathom why converting ones automobile into a pimped out ride for Jesus is a good idea. Maybe you had to be there...or maybe good ol' Rev. Clark was a nut case. Who can say?

Coincidentally, Clark and I have something in common. We both attend mobile churches. Today, Mobile Church is just code talk for super broke church. We cannot afford a building so we lease space in an middle school once a week. Our church "stuff" (i.e. sound system and baby toys for the nursery) is in storage most of the time. It gets hauled out in a gigantic white trailer every every week for a couple hours, and then, back into storage it goes. It's cheap; it's also a hassle.

Here are my thoughts on this issue of mobile church:

A) People are stingy. We, as Americans, living in a relatively affluent suburb should be able to afford to lease a permanent space. I can appreciate the need to keep overhead low - and truly, I appreciate our church's decision makers commitment to good financial stewardship. But still - if people were generous we could easily afford permanent space. We're stingy...and here's the hard part to swallow: where we spend our money is a pretty good indication of our values. If churches all over America are going broke (and they are) then we don't have a money problem, we have a faith problem.

B) I wonder if 100 years from now people will look at a picture of our gigantor white trailer parked outside of the middle school and think, "That's crazy. They missed the point of church ." Because that's what I thought what I saw 'ol Clark and his Model T. Those people, you know the ones who live in the future, will be half right about us and our white trailer. Sound equipment, LCD projectors, and washable baby toys are not the point of church. But they are the tools we use to reach our culture for Christ. They aren't a fold down steeple, but hey, it's what we've got.

But still...I wonder sometimes if all the stuff is superlative - unessential - a distraction from the Holy God and the people whom He made.

I wonder if, as our culture shifts more and more away from the Judeo-Christian roots of our past, the church in America will evolve into a more decentralized, organic community. Maybe pastors will be lay people. Maybe overhead will be eliminated almost entirely. Maybe we'll meet in each other's homes and their will be an underground movement engaged in Kingdom work. And maybe it'll be a good thing...