Sunday, July 13, 2014

Opportunity even more lost!


A few weeks ago we worshipped in a room where the small congregation had been turned out of their church because of the earthquake code. I noted that the chairs were all arranged in rigid "railway carriage" layout. On 6th June 2014 I suggested that arranging the chairs in rows was a lost opportunity to create a more intimate, interactive fellowship than would have been achieved in the church.

This week we went to a weekday meeting on church premises and discovered a another room set up to serve the same purpose. This wasn't an earthquake refugee congregation but it seemed to be doing just what I have suggested many times for small congregations:  move out of the great big old building and set yourselves up in a smaller room. It was even called the "Chapel".

They had found a pleasant compact space, carpet on the floor and there were plenty of comfortable chairs stacked up against the wall for use. But instead of the flexible layout the chairs would have enabled, there were four pews! We had to move them for our meeting of about thirty. I helped put the pews back again afterwards with a heavy heart....


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