One Life Church – Planting in PE.

In this series I will discuss some of the words that are “real” for us as we establish this church in Port Elizabeth. They are words that we believe God has spoken to us and my discussion of them here is an attempt to share how they might help to define us. If you have read other parts of the blog you might have already seen some of this content bleed into my previous posts.

1. Full access.

Church is church right? We maybe yes maybe no. The answer depends on what you’re asking and perhaps more importantly, what you understand church to be. By bible definition, The Church is people, people who have a restored relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. But some won’t have any idea what that even means let alone why it’s necessary or important. So its vital that in the context and community of church there is loads of space for people who are, by definition, not the church. Spaces where people can experience, test, and connect with people who are convicted and committed.  Space where the ground is VERY level and lines are blurred, where little concern is expressed for who is in and who is out. Not seeker sensitive but “OPEN”.

What can happen in church is that to those interested or curious encounter an environment and people so different that they feel “unwelcome”.  At One Life, we really hope this is never the case.  Whilst some differences might exist, the church is a community where Gods intent is on display where His redemptive work is clear and his creativity and grace is on show.

There are stereotypes of what church should look like and what it shouldn’t. We all seem to have them hardwired in. While these originate from somewhere and not all “wrong” they are often advanced to unhelpful and dare I say unbiblical extremes.  Everyday I see hundreds of people, who might have the sense that they could never be a part of the Church. They simply wouldn’t fit. It couldn’t relate to them and they couldn’t relate to it.

While its true that the church is the people who have already “accepted Jesus”, in practice we are a people “merged” with people who have not yet accepted Jesus and even with those who perhaps never will. We are a community of people who are all in different places, people who have different starting points and different finishing points, different passions and different expressions. We know who we are by internal work not external conformity. We celebrate our relationships and differences and are open, even expectant, that God might work through them to perfect us.

The church provides full access. No one can be excluded. Our church “culture” expresses that. We do not look down on the conservative family that dresses neatly for Sunday meetings mocking them as outwardly “religious”, just like we won’t exclude the guy (or girl) with the tattooed arms. We do not exclude those who prefer hymns to contemporary rock styles of worship, the girl with the dreads a pierced tongue and eyebrow ring, a black lady or an overweight guy.

A friend told me once that as a church going guy, he never considered praying for me to be in church, I was simply to far away. He was so wrong! We cannot afford to be wrong, we will not make the call. We will offer full access, it defines us, come and see what God is doing. If you havent already, come, join in, and see how we are doing.

Comment or email please.

Finding a house was awesome. We looked everywhere and then God did His thing.

Now we are doing the same for a venue. The ground here has been pretty well trodden. PE is NOT an “unreached people group”. Churches are meeting in custom auditoriums, warehouses, conference centers, school halls and some have even perfected the art of sharing.

So where to for us?

Firstly let me just say that the Gospel message and mission is our priority and that unless Jesus is building (and in-fact coming) we are pretty much wasting our time with buildings and anything else. We do know this. But this post is about a venue.

We really want to set up a place that works well as a gathering/sending/community building center. We are thinking about people. Some who are less convinced that Jesus is the way and who, we think, will appreciate a few things. Also people who have loved Jesus and perhaps know a little of “church” but are disconnected at the moment.

We like the idea that “the church” can be well represented and the Kingdom can be advanced by the stuff we have and the way we use it. So here is what we are looking for:

1. Space.

Room to operate in and room to grow into. Space for big meetings and small ones, for children to learn in and for children to play in. Space where we can freely and safely do everything that you think the church does.

2. Space.

This is the same as the first space but for different uses. Space to do some of the things you might not think the church does. Space to host “events”. Yes conferences … but more than that; Band nights, Markets, Art exhibitions, Old School movies, corporate functions, Poetry readings, Fashion shows, Classical music performances. The way we use our space will define a little of who we are and will represent a little of what we value and we are DIVERSE. This is Port Elizabeth not the outback! We are a city of people and we can engage a whole city if we have the SPACE.

3. Accessibility.

We feel we have heard God speak. Full access! That’s it. We will let God define exactly how that looks but we are thinking that it means we will have full access to the city, all parts, people, and communities. Gee I hope it means that! Also, that this city will have full access to us. They will know us, find us, feel welcomed by us, and feel at home with us. Gee I hope that’s true too. That will demand something of us as we define our church and community culture but it also has a practical side. Quite simply location is important.  We want to be central, in a “hub” area, not far off major daily routes.

4. Value.

It doesn’t have to be free or cheap but it needs to be worth it. We are trusting God for so much already so for the sake of a solid start, we are going to stay at full stretch. Value simply means we are not being ripped off (paying too much for too little) and we are not overextending on something we can’t or won’t use. We are trusting that when we find value we will “afford it”, but that’s another part of this journey, for now we are looking for value.

That’s pretty much it. Other variables and decisions relating to venue include:

1. Permanent  -  7 days a week occupation.
2. Temporary – Access on an “as we need it” arrangement.
3. Owned – Should we be looking to buy??
4. Rented – Does this make good sense?
5. One or many?

These are the thoughts that are filling our heads as we pray and drive the city. I say again that people and Jesus are our first priority as we build with Him and live in this city. Tools for the task is what this blog is about. It helps me to write it down, I hope it helps you as you read it. If you are involved in a future church plant, this will be your dilemma one day. If you are involved in this “One Life Church” plant, pray that God leads us and that He gives us the desires of our hearts. Oh and you are welcome to comment below.

People to Jesus – Life to the full.