I was walking along the street today and passed a church building. It was locked up tighter than a bank after hours, with nothing inside but an empty room. How hollow, I thought. How useless. Why pay for a building and use it only twice a week?
Many churches follow this same principle. They claim that they are “open” for everybody that needs them… but neglect to add that it is only during the hours of their convenience. Some churches go the “extra mile” (refering to a teaching of Jesus in the gospels) and place a contact phone number on the door should people need them. Now I don’t know about you, but unless it was my only choice between life and death, I would prefer to find an alternative source of help than call some unknown person on a phone number at what almost always turns out to be an inconvenient time.
So what is the solution here? What could happen instead?