Kendall Harmon: A Plea for Parishes with Porches
September 4, 2008Try a mental exercise with me. Imagine you were not a person of faith and you came to the parish where you worship — would there be a way for you to find a safe place there where you felt free to explore your questions, struggles and doubts?
I bet you answered no; I know I have in most parishes in which I have served.
Yet it was William Temple who said that the church is the only organization in the world which exists primarily for those who are not yet her members. If that is the case, then why do people who do not have faith but who wish for faith or have questions about the gospel find most churches so unwelcoming in their quest?
To do better, churches need to provide porches. Although disappearing in many American homes recently, porches play a vital function. They are an intermediate ground in which people who live in the house come out of the house and can be seen, and indeed talked to, by passers by on the sidewalk.
It is a big risk to go into someone’s house, but not to talk to them on their porch. Indeed, most people when invited will go onto a porch and speak with people who ask them to come. the rest image
posted by Pat Dague @ 6:01 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Why do churches not have porches?
Possible answers:
1. Homeless people might sleep there, smoke, hang out etc, and we musn't have that.
2. The "Sanctuary Defense" works only if you are inside the building.
3. Porches accumulate old furniture, and some cities have ordinances against that sort of thing.
4. The Historical Building review board would have a holy cow if we submit an application for such a thing.
5. Porch swings are a liability issue.
6. Once you have a porch, the next thing that happens is someone will want to screen it in to keep away the bugs, and then in a few years someone will put permanent walls and windows in, then someone will propose knocking out the interior walls to expand the sanctuary into the "new" space.
7. After step 6, someone will propose building a porch.
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