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Church In
A Box
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Imagine a Sunday where, instead of going to church, the church comes to you! Reed Galin shows us how a unique outreach concept has one crowded congregation on the move. |
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SCRIPT:
(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.
Also, see:
'Church in a box' concept expands ministry