2nd attempt to send +++ > John Halford commented� I answer:
> I thought a Church was people! See the answer below. > Church buildings on the other hand can come in a wide variety of forms. That�s why I said, �Should a church look like a church? No, a church can look like a warehouse, or a row of shop-fronts, or a house, or anything. Hence, I feel, what it needs is an identity (as in being identified, or being identifiable) and that is obtained by engaging the community such that it will identify with the church.� Notice the word �engaging�, that I intended and thought would be taken to mean that the people of the church/place have to get involved. > How often do community groups use your church buildings? Daily, actually many more than an average of daily. > Are your church buildings used for outreach? Yes, See answer above. > How do you tell the community about the Gospel? Off the top of my head� # Through he engagement of the children and their care-givers by the congregational members who attend the 12 playgroups that use our facility each day except Sunday (and we�re probably working on that, too.); # through the YMCA exercise classes that use the hall several times a week (Note: the C is for Christian!); # through the childrens programs run weekly during holidays; # through the one-on-one counselling given to community people by our Pastoral Care Worker; # through the witness of the food hamper program; # through community �festivals� run about 4 times a year; # through the Christmas Carol service in the shopping centre over the road from the church centre; # through the example of charity and philanthropy given during 4-5 �giant garage sales� run each year that circulate quality second-hand goods and clothing through the community at inexpensive prices; # through providing a community-access hall and meeting rooms AT THE CHURCH that were (pointedly) not provided by the government or local clubs; # and I should be able to think of another few but what we do is so �obvious� to us at Kippax that they simply slide into the background of my consciousness. > Or is it just a god box for use for an hour on Sunday? See answers above, and our web site http://www.kippax.org.au > http://vic.uca.org.au/presbyteries/maroondah/community_festival/index.htm for > something else for the Church (people) to do on Sundays Well done! Regards Peter -- Peter R. Ellis ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
