Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

I ran into a neighbor who owns a piece of property near Ebenezers. He's a well-known political pundit. He was singing the praises of the coffeehouse! Earlier this week I bumped into another neighbor who wields some influence in local politics. He was telling me that everyone in his social circle is talking about the coffeehouse.

Ebenezers is all the buzz right now.

I think the coffeehouse is an expression of and validation of one of our core convictions: the church belongs in the middle of the marketplace.

If we had tried to build a church building on the corner of 2nd and F Street our neighbors would have opposed us every step of the way. We would have killed our reputation on the hill. And people would have only walked into the building for church services!

But everybody loves us because we're building a coffeehouse where we'll have church services on Saturday nights. We'll have hundreds of people walking into, having conversations, and hanging out in our "church."

Too many churches feel trapped behind the four walls of their church building. The church building becomes a barrier to entry. But marketplace environments like a coffeehouse or club or movie theater makes a church more accesible.

I'm not anti-church buildings. I just think we need a paradigm shift. Our church buildings ought to be multi-purpose buildings that meet the needs of a community. Instead of building a "church building," why not build a coffeehouse, community center, concert hall, or theater?

Just a thought.