Recently, a church with which I have some connections experienced considerable financial difficulties and it looked like they would immediately lose their building. The crisis got me to thinking about how many churches seem to exist to support a building rather than the other way around, and I have wondered if most of us are not making minimal use out of facilities that cost us a fair amount in maintenance and such. A recent posting in "Words few and savory, seasoned with Grace" about Boise Friends sparked the idea of sharing good ways to use facilities: "Boise Friends Church (ID) has begun its Indoor Park, a parent-supervised program for preschool children. It runs November to March and provides indoor play space when the weather is too cold for the children to play outside. The program is run by Boise Friends Church volunteers." I think this concept is terrific and hope to hear a lot more about it. I also wonder if there are some other great ideas out there for us to share.
In His Love,
Nate Swift