Why we're moving to a school hall

25th July 2003

This is the last Sunday we'll be meeting in Bar Rocca. For the next two Sundays (3rd and 10th August), instead of a formal church meeting, we'll meet at someone's house for breakfast, read the Sunday newspapers and chat. The next two Sundays after that (17th and 24th August) there's no meeting at all, since so many people will be on holiday.

Then on the last Sunday of August (31st), we're going to re-launch, and from then on we'll be meeting at Highgate Woods school. That was a hard decision to make, because there are real disadvantages as well as advantages. We want to be up front about that, so that everyone can understand why we're doing what we're doing.

Disadvantages of meeting in a school hall compared with Bar Rocca:

We won't be so visible to people walking past. That's a shame, but our intention to bring people in off the street has never really worked as we'd hoped it would, so we won't be missing as much as we'd have thought.
We won't have such a good range of coffee (though we'll make sure we get proper coffee machines and good croissants in the school).
Our style will become less overtly appealing. It just won't be such a nice space to sit and chat. So far as possible, we're planning to keep the North Central style that we all know and love: accessible worship and preaching, open to questions, etc. But still, it won't be the same.
We will lose anyone who's been coming because they like the way we've been doing things rather than liking the substance of what we've been doing. We hope no-one will fall into that category, but only time will tell.

But we feel those disadvantages are more than outweighed by the advantages:

The first one is that, because there are so many rooms, we'll be able to choose a good, separate location for the kids' work. That will mean less noise in the main meeting, better insulation for parents from their kids, and the opportunity for the kids'-work leaders to do more things.
Some people have commented that they feel restricted in worship because we're meeting in such a public place. We should feel freer to express ourselves, to respond to the Holy Spirit and to use spiritual gifts when we're less ``on display''.
Some people who would not come to a church in a bar will probably come to a school. This may include families with children. Another example: Fiona knows a recovering alcoholic who came once but not again, because it was hard for him to cope with all the bottles. In other words, we'll attract a different set of visitors, but not necessarily a smaller set.
The school will be slightly cheaper than Bar Rocca, even once we're providing all our own coffee and croissants.
The school will provide storage space, so there will be much less fetching and carrying for Nick.

We recognise that in some respects, this is a backwards step. We've been very keen in the last two years on making everything we do accessible to visitors, maybe sometimes at the expense of our own core members. We feel that now is the time to redress that balance while still remaining as visitor-friendly as we possibly can.

This move also represents a breaking away from maybe having been a little too image-conscious over the last few years. We do want to do things in a way that appeals to people, but we need to avoid getting into a mindset where we think that what will ultimately attract people to the church is our slick presentation rather than the power of God. Meeting in a school should cure us of any such tendency!

There's another way to see this move, and that's as ``fishing on the other side of the boat''. See Luke 5:4-6:

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ``Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.'' Simon answered, ``Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.'' When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

This church has ``worked hard all night'' for three years without catching a lot of fish; now we feel it's a good time to try something different, and hope we land where God's blessing is.

Finally, in moving away from an externally attractive venue like Bar Rocca, the church as a whole is humbling itself. And that's a key part of the successful-prayer equation in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We want to be absolutely clear in our minds that we are ultimately depending not on nice venues and well-designed publicity to draw people into the church, and to make them stick; but we are depending on the power of God.

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If you're reading a paper copy of this document, the soft-copy can be found at www.miketaylor.org.uk/xian/school.html

Feedback to <mike@miketaylor.org.uk> is welcome!