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A Building for ‘Outsiders’

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by | 29 October, 2012 | 1 comment

By Patrick Furgerson

The prophets of the missional church movement tell us it”s a great thing to get out of our buildings and quit spending money to build new ones. “Brick and mortar””bad. Spend your money serving people””good.”

Is this a legitimate dichotomy? What if a building serves people? Not your people, but people who are far from God.

Imagine a church of 1,000 completing an $11 million building that doesn”t even include an auditorium for worship. New Life Christian Church in Chantilly, Virginia, did.

Here”s how. Here”s why. Here”s what has happened as a result.

“We wanted to create a space where people outside the church would feel comfortable coming long before they would show up on Sunday morning,” says Brett Andrews, lead minister with New Life Christian Church, Chantilly, Virginia. “At the nZone, everybody is an insider.”

Last year New Life Christian Church converted an 83,000-square-foot Anheuser-Busch distribution plant into a sports complex called the nZone that is designed to meet the needs of its community. The complex boasts three indoor soccer fields, two wooden courts (for basketball, volleyball, etc.), a fitness center, community meeting rooms, and a multipurpose fitness room affectionately known as “the keg room” (that”s where the kegs used to be stored). Mike Fewster, the Chantilly campus pastor at the nZone, is fond of saying, “People come in with a keg and leave with a six pack.” It”s this sort of fun culture that leads to many conversations about why the nZone exists.

Brett Andrews, lead minster and church planter of New Life, realized that one of our big struggles as Christians is acting in the way we say we believe. “We often say we want to reach lost people, but then we construct buildings designed to serve insiders.” New Life”s heart was revealed when it committed to building a sports complex, which focuses much more on the community than the church itself. Andrews continued, “The biggest resistance we got was churched people protesting being asked to sacrifice for a building designed to reach the community.”

 

Community Support

While some attenders of New Life were skeptical, the local community itself was strongly supportive. “The people and government of Northern Virginia are both very skeptical, and in fact, hostile toward churches,” Andrews noted. Many churches struggle for years trying to get plans approved and community buy-in for their projects. This was not the struggle for New Life.

Local politicians, as well as other community leaders, quickly got excited about New Life”s plans. Local sports hero and Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrell Green frequents the nZone to play basketball or work out with his son. When asked why, Green said, “You feel welcome and you feel God”s spirit here. People can experience health and life, relationships and God, all within the context of a natural, easy place. It”s unique and special. It went from a beer house to God”s house; the product now isn”t beer, it”s people.”

 

God”s Leading

So how did the church do it? Andrews”s answer is simple, “God builds the church. The best thing we can do is listen to what he”s saying and follow. We take Proverbs 3:5, 6 to heart knowing they aren”t our plans, but his.” So since Jesus commanded us to be the light of the world, New Life sought out what would be light in its community.

To discover God”s leading, New Life leaders asked three primary questions. First, “What does our community say it needs?” New Life started with a community needs assessment in which it spoke with hundreds of community members ranging from schoolteachers and principals to politicians and people on the street. What were the results? “Nobody said they wanted a new church building in our community. But lots of people said they wanted a place for family activities. A safe place for their kids to be after school,” said Fewster.

In addition to what the community said it needed, New Life asked itself two additional questions. “What is the best stewardship of the resources God has given us?” and, “What”s the best way to build a bridge to our community?”

For New Life, being good stewards means a building bustling with churched and nonchurched people seven days a week. A sports-focused facility was one way to do that. Said Andrews: “Church buildings create insiders and outsiders. In Northern Virginia, unchurched people tend to be hostile toward the church. We wanted to create a space where people outside the church would feel comfortable coming long before they would show up on Sunday morning. At the nZone, everybody is an insider.”

 

Every Day, Every Week

The nZone now serves the community seven days a week, meeting both the physical demands and spiritual needs of the people. During the week it hosts summer camps, sports leagues, fitness classes, and more. Then, on Sunday morning, a team lays carpet over the basketball courts and sets out hundreds of chairs. A state-of-the-art audio/video system supports the worship services. When the lights of the nZone are turned low, everyone forgets they are in a gym.

Preschool worship is held in the “keg room” while elementary-age children meet on a turn field. “We”ve recently added a third service where our programming has a sports theme very similar to Upward Sports,” said Cindy O”Connor, New Life”s children”s minister. “In fact, we have new kids coming just for this service.”

“It”s interesting,” Fewster observed, “many people who had been part of New Life for a long time left when they came to understand the building wasn”t built for them. Now some of them are coming back because they get it now. They”ve seen the changed lives, the baptisms, the growth of the kingdom, and now they are ready to be a part of it.”

So is it really working? In the community, word is getting out. Usage for the nZone is exceeding expectations.

“¢Â  A local cheerleading group is hosting a camp and expects 500 cheerleaders to come, many of whom have no connection to church.

“¢ Disney has contacted the nZone about hosting an event.

“¢ A Friday night teen open gym time has drawn dozens of kids from an under-resourced community. They”re now part of nZone”s summer program that provides free lunches and teaches them life skills, reading, and biblical lessons.

And new people are coming to the church every Sunday, driving attendance up 20 percent in the past six months. People who started coming to New Life after a visit to the nZone are now getting baptized. And the people of New Life have learned important lessons about sacrifice and living consistently with their beliefs. Volunteerism is up, and there”s a renewed desire among the congregation to share Christ as they share about their church.

And what about the community? Recently a teen who is not a part of New Life commented to a teammate while at nZone, “The cool thing is it”s a church. It”s not just a rec center.”

“No, it can”t be a church,” his friend responded. But it is. And when these teens are ready, they”ll know where they can meet God.

“That”s our desire,” said Andrews, “that we”ll become people”s church before they even know they need church.”

Attendance at New Life”s 101 class is at an all-time high. Every month people who have come to nZone to play, or coach, or drop their kids off are attending to find out about the church that built the nZone.

So is Andrews proud? “I could be proud, but I know we didn”t do it. This was way more than we had imagined. Every time I look around and see people in God”s house, I”m reminded that it”s not about the building, but what the building enables us to do.”

 

Patrick Furgerson is executive associate minister with New Life Christian Church in Chantilly, Virginia. He served as the construction liaison and communications director for the church throughout the project.

1 Comment

  1. PastorMason

    What an amazing vision! Praise God!

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