What Does “Church Campus” Communicate?
Yesterday I talked about our vision process. I was asked, “What are some of the changes you are considering?” Here’s something…
I wonder if our terminology sometimes makes it hard for us to accomplish our mission? For example, we tell our congregation, “You are the church…the church isn’t a building…the church is the people of God.” Then we say, “Invite your friend to church” or “Be sure you come to church this weekend.” So which is it? Am I the church, or is this building the church?
We call the property the “church campus” but then say it’s a place to offer help to the community. Wouldn’t that be like calling my home the “Stevens’ house” and then trying to convince people it is open to everyone? Sure doesn’t sound very open.
What if we turned all the terminology upside down. What if the “church campus” was called Harbor Ridge (just a pretend name, for a placeholder). But imagine if the entire community knew that Harbor Ridge was the place you go for hope and healing. You want groceries, people think of Krogers or Jewel. You want a mall, people think of University Park Mall. You need medical attention, people might think of the 24-Hour Medical Center. What if, in the same way, people thought of Harbor Ridge as they place they go for hope and healing, at their moments of greatest need.
Need help with your marriage? There are classes and counseling available at Harbor Ridge led by followers of Jesus. Need help figuring out how to be a great parent? There is coaching available at Harbor Ridge that is based on Scripture. You ask, “Why not just say those things are at the church?” Because many people have a mental block against going to a church for help. If it’s at the church—they won’t go. But if it’s at Harbor Ridge?
Need help with your kids because you both work? Bring them to the daycare or preschool at Harbor Ridge. Your finances a mess? Catch a Financial Peace University class at Harbor Ridge. Struggling with addictions? Recovering from the loss of a child? The first thought that would come to your mind, “I bet Harbor Ridge has something that could help me.”
The place you think of at the biggest moments of transition or crisis in your life—such as weddings or funerals – you think of The Chapel at Harbor Ridge.
And every function, every event, every interaction with every guest is filled with faith and love and spiritual intentionality. People who come to Harbor Ridge for anything walk away having been touched by the love and grace of a Jesus-follower.
Oh, and where does Granger Community Church meet? Lots of places, but in Granger, we meet at Harbor Ridge.
That’s just a glimpse into one of the ways we are thinking differently about Granger’s future and our impact in the community.
What are your thoughts?
Posted by Tim Stevens | 19 comments
Jim
The terminology change has to be backed up by substance. The moment someone comes to Harbor Ridge for whatever and the place feels like a church…..
Tim Stevens
Feeling like “a church” might be a problem. But feeling like “the church” would be best, wouldn’t it? What better way for a person to experience Jesus than by being around people full of grace and love and acceptance?
JamesBrett
my thinking is that if it’s called “harbor ridge,” it will sound like an uppity subdivision that only the wealthy will come to.
but also, these ideas are pretty intriguing. i at least like the direction the conversation is going.
Tim Stevens
Which is why it shouldn't be called Harbor Ridge. That's just a placeholder. People smarter than me will come up with something better.
Brad Zimmerman
Tim I totally agree, my only question is this: Why do all of these things need to be done at "our buildings"? Why not send out people as kingdom agents to provide that hope where they live and work instead of extracting people to come and work at our place?
Tim Stevens
I couldn't agree more. It's both/and. Not either/or.
matt esau
So I wonder what happens when you turn some other terminology on its head…if i think about "worship" and let my mind dream without boundries…wow. Or what about discipleship, fellowship…etc. If we're gonna dump the whole basket of "church" out and sort of start over I think there sort of has to be a renaissance in all aspects of the church…er…Harbor Ridge.
Darin Simms
In a semantic type of argument, words have usages more than meanings. The word "church" is used to describe both the people of God and the place those people gather for worship. The first usage is primarily a sacred usage known only to insiders. The second usage is the comon usage. Having said that, I think there is merit to what you say, but primarily for large or mega churches. The average congregation cannot provide all the services needed to benefit a community. Remember, most (by a HUGE percentage) churches are not the size of Granger and this idea may seem futile or far out of reach. For average size congregations, perhaps they should specialize in one thing…like a Starbucks rather than a Target that has a Starbucks among its many options.
Charles Barbour
Just drop the Church. If we are the Church. Where you meet is Granger Community. People being there make it the Church.
Your campus is Granger Community and it represents your focus. Community.
gluesticktheology
Charles…right on!
Tim Stevens
Good idea. Might work with some church names. However, Granger is actually the name of a community (or town). So many of us who attend Granger Community Church actually live in the community of Granger. Can it get anymore confusing?
westsidegathering
I like this discussion and appreciate the intentionality on trying to communicate who we really are – the church. We don't meet in our own building – so we can't say – GO HERE OR THERE for this or that. However, I believe we can grow a presence in our community that says 'those people' are the people to go to for discovering purpose and meaning for life OR wanting to find out more about God, etc.
We recently rented a small space to give us 7 days/week presence in our community while keeping an emphasis on homes and neighborhoods. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for the provoking thought.
gluesticktheology
Tim – This is great! As for the question Brad posed, I think in knowing the structure at Granger…they own nearly 50 acres of campus in one of the fastest growing areas of Mishiwaka. I would say they are trying to utilize the campus to their best ability, but also having Monroe CCC and Elkhart campus locations they could offer the same services at these locations. Just my observations.
Thanks Tim for being a great mentor!
Josh
Tim – love the conversation & it is a great thought. I think the cultural side will make it a little difficult – like trying to call "coke" in the south, "pop" or vice versa. Unfortunately, we have created a culture where the "church" is seen as a location by nonbelievers as well, not as a person or group of people. I hope you guys can lead the way in making the change.
david
Tim, good stuff.
A few years ago we started saying, "We don't want to be 'the big church by the highway'. We want to be the church West Michigan thanks God for". (it's a loose translation of 1 Peter 2:12)
Becky
The church is the people not the building. I love the idea of changing the terminology and the name of the building for the reasons you mentioned Tim.
I also like what you said David, that you guys "want to be the church West Michigan thanks God for." I think when the church goes to the people vs trying to get the people coming to the church building it helps them know us and look to the church and God for help rather than other things.
Rob Wallace
Great thoughts, Tim. When we adjusted out name two years ago from "Vineyard Community Church" to "The Vineyard Church" we do so knowing that we would be able to intentionally take the emphasis off the word "church". We absolutely– 100%– no doubt about it– are a church. But in many of our communications we leave it at "The Vineyard". Ex: Welcome to The Vineyard… New message series at The Vineyard… Log onto our website: thevineyard.org. All that said, we still use tons of "churchy" terminology, so this post is a great reminder!
Annoyed
Cut me a break. Jesus had no problem using the term church. Church of Ephesus, church of Smyrna, church of Pergamos… I think we get so caught up in trying to be so progressive and "user friendly" that we can be in danger of losing the distinctiveness we are supposed to have…which includes the place where we gather to worship and serve God…"the church."
Tim Stevens
I don't think you'll find Jesus referring to those churches in the gospels. I assume you are referring to Revelation 1. In that case, do you think he was referring to the people or the building?
I have absolutely no problem with the term church. It is a biblical term with a biblical meaning. I just don't think we should confuse the world by using the same term to describe two different things.