Where is your church at?

One of the first questions that come up in conversations when meeting new people is the "what do you do?" question. Anyone who is a pastor knows that when answering this question a myriad of responses will now occur. Some good and some not so good.

We get responses like we haven't been to church in years or we get to hear about the large, happening church that everyone is going to. Or maybe it is the opposite. The word pastor to some is a complete turn-off. It just might conjure images of judgment and condemnation. The label pastor might come off as someone who is trying to instill religion in any and everyone.

Now I am not only a pastor. I am now a church planter, which adds another layer of complexities to a conversation.

I get this line all the time, "Where is your church at?" Wait? Am I supposed to have an answer for this? I officially started this work yesterday?!?! Should I know the location? Should I make something up? And if so... would that make the church legitimate.

And most of all... why does this question irk me so much?

The church has become synonymous with the institutionalized building. A structure somewhere that people attend once a week if that and who give money to maintain.

A building that often times occupies land tax-free that a local business could utilize and add revenue to the city.

Yet the church that is in my dreams... that wakes me up in the middle of the night is not a building.
It is everywhere I go.

I imagine people at the park gathering around a picnic table to feast and celebrate the Eucharist. Or the coffee shop being transformed for a moment into a worship space where we feast over each other's stories and celebrate the story that breathes life into our story.

Where is the church at? It is here. Right now. In this place. It is not something I create but that God is creating, forming, breathing life into the community.