How to use your church building the other 166 hours

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There are 168 hours in a week.  Most church services are under 2 hours long.  Most churches have a building.  They may even call the building the "house of God" or the "temple" or the "sanctuary"-- all fine.  Just not New Testament biblical.  But neither is McDonalds. Anyway, many of those buildings are not used very often at all other than on Sunday morning.  This results in loads of wasted kingdom resource.  This is not ok.

 

I will not use this blog post to expound upon why I think that we are moving away from church buildings being the primary gathering place for Christians.  What I would lke to suggest are some ways to use your church building that might glorify God the other 166 hours of the week that it sits empty. Here are some options:

  1. Transform it into a center to love and care for the poor and needy. (Isaiah 58:6-7)
  2. Convert some of the space into small apartments for singles or families with a serious calling for missional ministry so that they can quit working to pay a mortgage and start serving Jesus in their communities full time. 
  3. Start a missional training center.  Train people all week long to go make disciples and start churches. Stop all other programming and just do this. Just an idea. (Matt. 28: 18-20)
  4. Start a homeless shelter. (James 1:27)
  5. Have small groups meeting in every crack and crevis of your building all week long. 
  6. Start a prayer or worship center where your building is used for prayer and worship every day.
  7. Launch a world missions lab.  Encourage and invite people from around the world in to strategize about global possibities for mission.
  8. Start and orphanage. (James 1:27)
  9. Open your doors to handicapped and physically challenged in your area.
  10. Open a widow/widower care facility. (I Tim. 5:3)
  11. Do something to bless children all week long. (Matt. 19:14)
  12. Share your space with several other churches. 
  13. Sell the building, give the money away for the Kingdom and divide up into many small churches meeting all over your community.(Luke 12:33)
  14. Sign it over to another church or mission that will use the snot out of it. Give it away. (Luke 12:33)

 

Other ideas?  What are some ideas that you either carry or have heard of?  Please comment. I would like to start a long list to share with longing churches that I may work with in the future.