Church In
A Box

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(Locator: Batavia, Illinois)

Batavia United Methodist – an hour west of Chicago – is bursting at the seams.  Its landlocked historic building has little parking and little chance of expanding.  So, to solve its space problem, this growing congregation…

(Pastor greeting parishioners: “Hi, how are you?!”)

…thought outside the box…

(trailer pulling up)

…by using a church inside a box!

(Locator: Aurora, Illinois)

(nat sound unloading trailer)

One church in two locations, thanks to a portable house of worship named “Flowing Grace.”

Jeffry Bross/Pastor, Flowing Grace: “It’s our effort to reach out to the community. We want to be part of the community and to reach people in a new and exciting way.”

Its enthusiastic pastor is like a modern-day circuit rider.

(Pastor gives the high-5 to a teen member: ”You excited?!”)

But instead of arriving on horseback, he uses horsepower to bring a trailer carrying custom-made containers storing everything from hymnals…

(nat sound of hymnals placed on chairs)

…to sound equipment…

(nat sound of audio set-up) “We gotta pull it all out.”

…to a coffeemaker.

(Pastor gives sermon) “Truth leads to love, love is truth.”

In just minutes, volunteers convert a nearby school into a temporary church setting.

Hasana Sisco/Member, Batavia United Methodist Church: “I saw young people doing things that they’d never done before.”

Joanne Mendicino/Flowing Grace Volunteer & Member: “To me, it's just as much of a church community as going to that building that's been up and functioning for years."

Weekly attendance at “Flowing Grace” already tops 100. Members call it a blessing in a box.

Jeffry Bross/Pastor, Flowing Grace: “Some people ask, ‘When will you know if you’re successful, when will you know you’re right? Will it be 100 people, 200 people?’ I say, ‘No, when the community is impacted.”

TAG:

Batavia’s “church in a box” cost about 85,000 dollars. It came from a Troy, Michigan-based company called “Portable Church Industries.” The company’s Web site boasts dozens of churches as customers.

You can contact Batavia United Methodist Church at 630-879-7060.