Leave-Taking as a Church

The local church I attend and serve as pastor--The Shepherd's House Church of the Nazarene--has gone through quite a month of transition. The congregation had met in the same space--1500 sq ft in three rooms of a small commercial building-- for eight years of the twelve they'd been in existence. Everyone we talked to said we were paying way too  much for the size of the space and the location. So, we'd been looking for other options for about four months. 

The options were all very much in flux: a great location but not move-in ready, move-in ready but occupied for a few months, another site was being considered for purchase by a large out of town church to plant a congregation in Knox County.  On Sunday, we decided to stay where we were because of an additional small room added at no extra charge. Besides, who has time for a move? Well, a bivocational pastor of a lot of busy people. We called the landlord and agreed verbally to a new lease. The next day, Monday, the landlord called and said one of the rooms (1/3 of the space and our sole water supply) was rented to another party at the end of our current lease, but he'd be glad to take 15% off the rent. 

As a board we planned on an emergency meeting fpr Thursday, August 25. So, all day Tuesday, I drove around to the various possible locations, praying. I drove around Knox County, praying. All the time, I drove by this location near the entrance to Apply Valley, and sensed we should be close to where we were.  

On the way to the board meeting on Thursday, I stopped at the location that has been on my mind for a while--The Bad Apple Pub, just a couple of hundred yards from where we'd been meeting at the entrance to Apple Valley. I went into the pub, asked the owner if he thought it would be possible for a church to meet there before they open at noon on Sundays. He said, Sure. After I picked up my lower jaw from the floor, I got around to asking how much it would cost--about two dimes for every dollar we'd been spending.

The Bad Apple Pub in Apple Valley (click photo for website)

So, today was our first day of worship in our new meeting place, third space as sacred space.

A new place of meeting @theshephousenaz

A video posted by Matt Price (@jamaprice) on Sep 25, 2016 at 9:27am PDT

Here is our ​Liturgy of Transit used for today's service to move from one space into the next.