Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2014 Issue | Page 7

Jump Start

Rethinking and repurposing our buildings
Looking to breathe new life into your church’s
ministries? That’s exactly what participants
did at September’s Jump Start Conference,
co-sponsored by Church of the Resurrection,
Alexandria, the Episcopal Church Building Fund
and the Diocese of Virginia.

“We’re exploring how we serve God through
the Church in the world today,” said the Rt. Rev. Susan
E. Goff, bishop suffragan of Virginia, in her opening
remarks to the crowd of 80. “Many people today in our
churches are experiencing fear and loss and pain as the
Church changes, as society changes, as we worry about our
church buildings,” said Goff.

Participants spent time in conversation, sharing
creative ideas of how their own congregations use facilities
in unique ways, from free clinics to providing parking space
for a local high school. Julia Groom, president of ECBF,
challenged those gathered to take risks. “I believe that
God is doing a new thing in our Church,” said Groom, who
offered suggestions on how to identify that movement in
our own congregations. Most notably, perhaps, was her
suggestion for churches to ask themselves, “How are we
being relevant to our communities today?”

We invited Groom to share her thoughts and tips with
our readers.

What advice would
you give to churches
that are hesitant about
thinking outside of the
box with how they use
their church buildings?

I believe it basically comes
down to this: What do you
want your legacy to be
regarding your church? If you
want things to remain the
same and keep the course
steady, then know that your legacy will eventually be one
of closure. Personally, if I were a clergy person or lay leader,
I would rather take some risks, and know that I had done
everything possible to follow God’s call to be a new church,
rather than be the person to drop the keys to the church on
the bishop’s desk and say “I’m the last one standing.”

Gian Carlo Menotti said, “Hell begins on the day when
God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have
achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we
might have done which we did not do.” Change is difficult.
We all know that. But the alternative is failure and death.
I sometimes wonder what we are all so afraid of.

There are several issues congregations should
consider when evaluating the use of their space. First, what
percentage of time is the space being used? Church buildings

have the largest carbon footprint of any building in the
United States because they are used so little. If your main
usage is worship on Sunday morning, that leaves six-and-ahalf days a week that your building sits primarily empty and
unused. I would encourage congregations to consider their
space usage in light of God’s calling us to be good stewards
of the earth. We see congregations who suffer from
“sticky-handprint-syndrome.” In other words, they have a
pristine building and don’t want children’s sticky handprints
on the fresh paint. Or there is an unspoken battle going on
about moving the Oriental rugs in the library. The day is long
gone when we can afford to allow our buildings to be static
icons. They should be living, breathing, invaluable parts of
our community.

When churches are
examining how to
breathe new life into
their ministries and
think outside of the box
with their properties,
how does community
engagement factor into
this work?

The question for me is,
“How can God touch more
lives?” We spend a lot of
time counting things inside
the church: how many in the
pews on Sunday morning,
how many communion wafers
we use, how many stayed for
the rector’s forum. Instead,
we should be looking at how many lives we can reach and
make better with God’s love outside the Church. The needs
are many. We suggest congregations invite their community
leaders – mayors, police chiefs, community organizers – into
the church and ask them how they, as a congregation, can
Jump Start continued on page 6

Winter 2014 / Virginia Episcopalian

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