Commuter or Community?

a Jesus thought...
They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (Luke 2:46-47)

a Godly thought...
"Every ten minutes of commuting reduces social capital by 10 per cent." (Sociologist Robert Putman) The re-discovery of neighbourhood is the essential application to discovering a common place. It is really the only option. Why? Because it's the only way we can attain the characteristics that produce authentic community, such as spontaneity, availability and frequency. (Randy Freeze)

a leading thought...
Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. (Samuel Johnson)

a Dave thought...
It has been said that the average Australian will drive up to 40 minutes to attend a church that meets their needs. This move from community churches in the 60's - 70's to todays commuter churches has changed our attractional church facilities. Instead of worrying about seating capacity as we used to, many of churches are now half full but our carparks are overflowing. So as the number of churches decrease in our culture the carparks increase and community is no longer benefiting from the presence of the real church - us. As we drive in for our 1 hour community church experience I sometimes wonder if my local community will ever experience God without his people present?

So my suggestion is that we no longer build car parks attached to our churches, because if we can't walk to it, it is probably not where God would prefer us to meet.

Just a thought.