“Where do you meet?” Is a question we get all the time and it is something we are constantly praying about. Our desire isn’t to put money into a building but to find a place to meet that is affordable and also meets our needs for a Sunday gathering. The above picture is one of the locations we are looking it. We met with the owner today and discussed the possibility of using his space on a Sunday morning for an affordable price. We are still thinking through the details but this is a possibility.

There have been a number of articles I have read recently:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/09/daily9.html?ana=e_du_pub

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/01/state-of-church-planting.html

It seems to be a common conclusion that the spiritual landscape in the United States is changing. There is a thought that Christianity is moving from majority to minority, settlers to sojourners, and maintenance to mission.

Often times when I talk to people about Jesus they refer to the church and when they reference the church they perceive it as an institution. They seem to perceive the church as over organized, impersonal, hierarchy that is more focused on promoting a common mantra or doctrine than genuinely exploring spiritual discussion.

As a result, people are stepping away from church and sometimes Jesus and looking for spiritual insight in other measures. Today it isn’t difficult to find other avenues for spiritual insight. There are blogs, podcasts, books, sermons, translations, commentaries, and other forms of content that provide enough fodder for anyone to spend years sifting through. Therefore, what is the purpose of the church? Is it possible to still gather as a church body without becoming an institution? When does a church become an institution?