Is Church Important Enough To Close Its Doors?

20 posted on November 20, 2008

POSTED IN: Church, Social Justice

Does your church value outreach and service?

Does it value it enough to shut its doors to make it happen?

A couple of weeks ago Lisa and I were driving past Grace Community Church, a church we’ve visited before in the past. As we were driving by I saw a sign by the road the intrigued me. In bold letters it read, WEEKEND SERVICES CANCELED NOV. 2 (keep in mind that this is a church with about 3,000+ attenders).

I figured it would have to be something major for a church that size (or any size for that matter) to completely cancel services for one weekend. Below the “SERVICES CANCELED” headline on the sign I read why, “…for a weekend of service.” They were canceling their weekend services to go out into the community and serve.

“We wanted to engage in a different kind of service by sending Grace people out into the community to serve others in one of 80 projects. Over 3,000 people served on Saturday and Sunday and shared Christ’s love with our neighbors in Indianapolis and Hamilton county.” – Dave Rod – GraceCC.org

I can’t tell you how much I respect that Pastor and the church leadership for valuing service and outreach enough to put their money where their mouth was.

Here is a video re-cap from the Weekend of Service.

Watch it and be challenged.

(RSS Readers: click here if you can’t see video)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 10:59 am and is filed under Church, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

20 Comments

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November 20, 2008

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1 ryan guard said:

That’s a fantastic idea! Well done, Dave and crew.

ryan guards last blog post..the fires in Orange County
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November 20, 2008

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2 stephen lechner said:

Church should definitely be the leading force of service in the community. I can only imagine the preparation it took for a church of this size to pull this off on a Sunday. Kudos to them for stepping out and loving people!

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November 20, 2008

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3 Crystal Renaud said:

we’re closing our doors on December 28 (multi-campus church of 5000+). the reason is 2-fold. 1) because we’re having Christmas services during the week before on the 23rd and 24th and this gives us some time off as a staff and 2) to encourage our congregation to have church at home with their families. we’re going to be providing online tools and a DVD to make this happen. should be a good experience. praying it is, at least.

Crystal Renauds last blog post..Challenge from the Birthday Girl
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November 20, 2008

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4 Steve Murphy said:

One of those moments when I am so proud to be a part of the (C)hurch. What a great thing done to bring great glory to our God!

Steve Murphys last blog post..16 Things
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November 20, 2008

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5 pete said:

that’s AWESOME! I can only wish our church had 3000 people to go out and serve. our church has been doing something similar for the past 4 years running with smaller projects in and around a specific community — WE LOVE IT! It’s a great way to get out and be the face and hands of Christ to others and work towards building community.

http://transitionpete.org/?p=1910

petes last blog post..pete’s tweets (from the other day)…
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November 20, 2008

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6 Juli Jarvis said:

I think this is great! Thanks so much for sharing–

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November 21, 2008

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7 chad houck said:

Now that is what I’m talking about! Way to go for stepping up and stepping in. Thanks for pointing this out Brad. I think they’ve got the heart of Jesus figured out!

chad houcks last blog post..My Son, The Rockstar
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November 21, 2008

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8 Juli Jarvis said:

Love your new site! Well done!
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November 21, 2008

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9 Juli Jarvis said:

I can’t figure out why CommentLuv doesn’t appear for me here. Any ideas?
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November 22, 2008

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10 Juli Jarvis said:

You’re right — it’s working now. Thanks!

Juli Jarvis’s last blog post..No Arms or Legs, But Full of Courage
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November 23, 2008

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11 Nick said:

I’ve always wanted to do that. When everyone walks into church, have a table with sack lunches on it and tell everyone to grab a lunch and get ready to head out to “be the” church.

Nick’s last blog post..Adoption Rocks with Long Sleeves
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November 24, 2008

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12 Curtis Honeycutt said:

No way! This is such a touching blog entry. Brad, I am part of the Outreach team at Grace who planned this whole mammoth project, and it was quite an event. Thank you so much for writing about it. I found your blog via churchmarketingsucks.com.

Curtis Honeycutt’s last blog post..Staggering
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November 24, 2008

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13 Briana said:

WOW! This gave me chills!!! I don’t know much about the church besides driving by it but that is so inspiring!

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November 25, 2008

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14 Christ-Centered Dad » Blog Archive » A Xmas Manifesto said:

[...] Our church, Grace Community Church, just completed a sermon series called “Shake the System”. In the series, the pastors questioned the church’s role in helping the needy here in our own country and across the world. It was amazing to see the things ordinary people are doing to further God’s Kingdom and change our world at the same time. We examined the social injustices that prevail across the globe and places we can serve and make a difference. The church even closed for a Weekend of Service. See also Is Church Important Enough to Close Its Doors? [...]
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November 26, 2008

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15 Church Marketing Around the Web | blogs4God said:

[...] When churches close their doors. This big local church closed their doors for a weekend of service. Perhaps not having services for a better purpose will end up growing your church more than having services will. [...]
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November 29, 2008

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16 nate said:

I guess my reaction is a little different. It seems a bit sad to me that Church services were canceled for the purpose of community service, which is a form of giving. (doing to the least of these). It’s my opinion, as per the gospel suggests, that Christians should be doing this anyway. Is Sunday the ONLY day of the week that Christians will devote any of there time to God? Does the Leadership of the church know that if they didn’t cancel this already allotted ‘God time’ the majority of attendees would neglect any community service during the week?

I’m not knocking the church…I’ve never been there. It just rubs me the wrong way.

nate’s last blog post..Get in the Game.
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November 29, 2008

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17 Brad Ruggles said:

Nate, I can see your point but changing people’s perspective takes time.

Lisa and I actually attended Grace Community last Sunday for the last message of their “Shake The System – Be Brave Not Safe” series. We heard the Pastor encourage the congregation to move from an episode to a lifestyle.

There were many who shared testimonies that morning about how that day of service changed them and opened their eyes to the opportunities all around them.

I’m sure that weekend was a catalyst for change in many people’s lives to become more active in giving, volunteering, missions and social justice.

You’re right, we should be living a life of service to others all week long but even a lifestyle of service starts with a single episode.
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November 30, 2008

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18 nate said:

I doubt anyone disagree that change is incremental and that there has to be a starting point. I just don’t believe this was the right point of beginning, or that it was necessary to broadcast via an outdoor and public marque.

nate’s last blog post..Get in the Game.
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December 14, 2008

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19 Tim said:

Our similarly sized church did this exact thing last year. Being very new to the church as well as a businessman, I was impressed with (among other things) the amount of faith it must have taken the church to forgo the offering for a week. I was delighted to see that the next week’s offering was pretty much double the usual number, but distinctly remember my awe at the fact that the church so trusted God’s provision they were willing to do this.

Nate, I understand your concern about the idea, however I think you’ll agree that what Christians should be doing and what they are doing are often two different things. I think many Christians know they should be serving, but they really don’t know how to start. When our church did this, there was a lot of focus put on the different ways we can serve our community. And by doing it instead of church services as opposed to some random Tuesday, it eliminated another big excuse – I just don’t have the time. Hopefully, it eliminated that excuse just long enough to get people excited enough about serving to actually find the time to do so. As far as broadcasting it publicly – doing so generated quite a bit of interest in our community. It seemed to have served as a gentle reminder to other Christians of the need to serve. And I believe it may have caused some who viewed Christianity with a skeptical eye to take a closer look. I think publicly sending a few thousand people out to serve the community makes a pretty bold statement.
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December 16, 2008

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20 Kate Frances said:

Your site is inspring, and so are your reflections on going outside the church into the streets. Here’s my question: why can’t we leave the church doorsopen 24/7 so that those on the streets always have a place for rest and reflection and prayer.

Is this possible?