If You Build It, They Will Come
An important resource for the sponsoring judicatory
By Bob Armstrong, Director of Partnership for Missional Church®

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“If you build it, they will come”is a phrase that typically makes me shake my head and grimace. So I was quite surprised to find myself nodding and thinking, “that’s right!”, when a pastor uttered those words in a recent gathering.

There is a “Field of Dreams” mentality that believes the key to success in ministry is finding the right architecture, program, worship style or technology to attract the throngs of people who are just waiting for the perfect church to arrive in town. It is amazing to find this mentality infects even those who acknowledge we live in a post-Christendom era. From this viewpoint ‘missional church’ can become just another approach to fashioning the perfect church to attract the crowds. Members of the congregation are dispersed into the community with such compassion and faith that their witness inspires others to come join the church.

What if the real question was how to develop mechanisms, habits, practices that will attract both the Church and the community to be part of what God is doing in the world? What if we build that? Will ‘they’ come?

John was describing what occurred at Glenolden Presbyterian Church near the conclusion of the three-year journey known as the Partnership for Missional Church®. The Glenolden congregation had been providing a Thanksgiving Meal program for hundreds of people each year before they entered PMC. They had a passion for sharing their care and faith. As one member put it, “At every event, we pray together while holding hands with strangers, thanking God for our time together and to bless the food we are to partake together.” There was a great sense that God was using them to care for others.

During their time in PMC they began to wonder together what it would mean for them if they really believed that Christ was calling them to become part of what God is doing in the community outside the church building. The Session and team discerned a concern for deployed military personnel. When they launched their “Support Our Troops” event in a local park, they found members of the community jumped on board and together they were able to send 62 care packages to men and women overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. More importantly they discovered, “God's work was already being started with other groups. They were praying for partners.” The team from Glenolden learned they were the answer to others’ prayers and God was drawing them into something much bigger than they could ever have imagined on their own.

So when they heard about the upcoming Community Day, they knew right away they had to be part of this if only to be out in the community meeting their neighbors, because that is where God is at work. So they put together some simple activities to share with the children and a letter of introduction to share with their neighbors. It said,

Dear Neighbor,

Although we’ve been in the community since 1840, you may not know us very well, if at all. We are your Presbyterian neighbors at the corner of Ashland Ave. and Chester Pike.

We believe that God is doing a transforming work in our community and in the lives of people!

After describing various aspects of the church’s life and service they closed this way:

Are there other opportunities to serve this community together?

We are striving to answer Christ’s call in this neighborhood, by developing new opportunities, building partnerships and nurturing relationships.

We look forward to getting to know you. Please call us for more information, to offer suggestions, or better yet to talk with you. You are always welcome to just drop by.

See you in the neighborhood!

So when the church received a phone call from a local funeral home asking to use the church parking lot for overflow parking following the tragic deaths of two teens in the community they immediately wondered, “What is God doing here and how can we be part of it?” What started as an idea to open the church building for students to hang out, visit and have a cup of hot chocolate each evening there was a visitation at the funeral home, turned into something much bigger. The relationships of trust and partnership between the church and the community suddenly provided the bridge for members of the church as well as teachers, counselors, bakers and concerned citizens to converge at the church building each of those evenings to walk with the grieving students and families through this tragic time. They were all able to be part of something that had the fingerprints of God all over it. It was bigger and deeper and more spontaneous than anything anyone could have orchestrated or conceived except God.

So when John said, “If you build it, they will come!” he was referring to the relational bridges that bring together the church and community to be part of what God is doing. On those evenings in the midst of tragedy, he saw people coming together to be part of something that could only be God and isn’t that what we all believe Church is ultimately about?

Bob Armstrong is director of Partnership for Missional Church in North America.