The Church is found in buildings, mainly on Sundays; but it does not belong there. The Church belongs outdoors — that is, all over the city.

This paradigm represents a shift in thinking of a more modern vintage. These recent paradigms, which are only now beginning to take hold throughout the Church, bring home a most refreshing point: The Church does not belong in a building but is to be found all over the city.

Kites do not fly in attics, but in the sky. They may be stored in attics, but that does not make the attic their natural habitat. Boats do not sail on a trailer that is pulled along the road; they sail on the water. Boats may sometimes be seen being hauled on a trailer, but that is not their defining locale. Likewise, the Church is found in buildings, mainly on Sundays, but it does not belong there. The Church belongs outdoors — that is, all over the city. Let me tell you a story that will illustrate this more clearly.

The church picnic had been planned expertly. Workers had been assigned to every age group, and the finest specialists were put in charge of logistics, games, ministry and sports. The right equipment was secured and transported to the picnic site. The entire congregation showed up on time and with great expectation. Everything was in place, and everyone was looking forward to a great time. But 30 minutes into the picnic it began to rain torrentially, and everybody and everything had to be moved in a hurry to a nearby barn.

Making the best of a bad situation, the leaders divided the barn into sectors. They put the barbecue pits and the serving tables towards the back of the barn. In the center of the barn they set up the table games. To the right they created a children's area. Next to the children, they positioned the youth and their overpowering worship band. The adult section was placed closer to the exit, with a subsection reserved for the intercessors; and between them and the main door, a sports area was hastily set up with improvised volleyball and mini soccer fields.

Unfortunately, no one was happy. Most of the games and all of the sports had been designed to be played outdoors rather than indoors. The smoke from the barbecue pits stung the people's eyes. What to the youth was exciting music was a disgusting clang to most adults in such close quarters. Things reached the boiling point when a deflected soccer ball hit the dessert table, unleashing a cascade of meringue and whipped cream with plenty of mousse as flotsam. Tempers flared, unkind words were exchanged and what could have been a memorable day became an infamous one. Why? Because what went on inside the barn was meant to take place outdoors.

This is true of the Church today. Many of the problems that plague her would not be problems at all if the Church were to operate more outdoors than indoors. The latter exemplifies the erroneous notion that the city should come to the church. It is the other way around: The Church must go to the city.

This tendency toward self-centeredness was present in the Church from the very beginning. When Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had come upon them, they immediately asked the wrong question: “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). The disciples' interest in the restoration of the Kingdom had to do with the ancient days, especially Solomon's time, when Jerusalem was the center of the world. If such a restoration were to take place, they reasoned, the entire world would come to Jerusalem, where the disciples would have a platform to tell the world about Christ. It seems the disciples were hoping for something to catch the attention of the world to make the world come to them.

Jesus had something different in mind: His disciples would instead go to the world. They were to reach Jerusalem first, and from there to move outwardly to Judea and Samaria and to keep on moving until they had reached the ends of the earth. Jesus never intended for the Church to be a monument to be gazed at but, rather, a movement that would sweep up everything in its path. He was definitely not thinking of a barn picnic!

In spite of Jesus' clear admonition, it still took 14 years for the disciples to leave Jerusalem for good, and then not voluntarily but as the result of persecution. It seems they liked living in a city that had seen its share of the power of God over the centuries. Nevertheless, the most dramatic power encounters recorded in the book of Acts happened after they left Jerusalem; hence the wisdom of going to the lost rather than waiting for them (see Acts Chapters 8-12).

Until recently the Church has been stuck in the rut of Acts 1:6, working hard to produce the nearest, best-organized, most appealing barn picnics. We have consistently applied divine power to make our presentations bigger and better, hoping that the lost will take notice and come into our tidy little barns. Praise God, this is another paradigm that is beginning to change. The Church is finally making its way out of the barn.

Prayer Evangelism written by Ed Silvoso. Copyright 2000 Gospel Light/Regal Books, Ventura, CA 93003.  Used by permission.  Content distributed by WorkLife.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.