Ironically perhaps, this is a major tenet of the digital church I pastor. It was planted with the goal of providing a parish for the digital natives... not another 'connecting point' with a local church. We intentionally built to not be an extension ministry, but a thoughtful parish online.
What would happen if several people who followed different Christian "influencers" met each other through, say, their children's soccer games or in the workplace, and started discussing what they've been learning on their own. It's not necessarily a permanent community, but it certainly could form into a type of Christian fellowship that approximates "church."
I love this concept every time I hear it. I’d be intrigued to hear about community-serving churches located in stable suburbs — yes, read ‘wealthy and entitled’ — as my church is. ‘What does this community need?’ we ask. ‘Nothing!’ is the resounding answer.
The justification for having a building (and most church buildings are infinite money-sucking black holes) is to be a blessing to the local community. In my last parish we asked the Assessor's office to calculate what our property taxes would be and then determined we would need to offer at least that much in value to the community to justify our tax exempt status. As part of that effort we stopped charging for outside groups to use our facilities. (We did ask for a small donation to cover our janitorial/utility costs). The community took us at our word and soon the church building was a community center for all sorts of groups. And the loss of income from not charging rent? It never happened.
Ironically perhaps, this is a major tenet of the digital church I pastor. It was planted with the goal of providing a parish for the digital natives... not another 'connecting point' with a local church. We intentionally built to not be an extension ministry, but a thoughtful parish online.
What would happen if several people who followed different Christian "influencers" met each other through, say, their children's soccer games or in the workplace, and started discussing what they've been learning on their own. It's not necessarily a permanent community, but it certainly could form into a type of Christian fellowship that approximates "church."
It certainly could.
I love this concept every time I hear it. I’d be intrigued to hear about community-serving churches located in stable suburbs — yes, read ‘wealthy and entitled’ — as my church is. ‘What does this community need?’ we ask. ‘Nothing!’ is the resounding answer.
The justification for having a building (and most church buildings are infinite money-sucking black holes) is to be a blessing to the local community. In my last parish we asked the Assessor's office to calculate what our property taxes would be and then determined we would need to offer at least that much in value to the community to justify our tax exempt status. As part of that effort we stopped charging for outside groups to use our facilities. (We did ask for a small donation to cover our janitorial/utility costs). The community took us at our word and soon the church building was a community center for all sorts of groups. And the loss of income from not charging rent? It never happened.