TheBurg

02.19 | theburgnews.com | 13 at's what happened for Harrisburg's Brethren in Christ Church, which, in 2005, moved from a church building in Bellevue Park to a converted car dealership on Derry Street. e church's new facility was four times larger than the previous one, opening up new possibilities for worship and outreach. "Our ministry just went on steroids," said senior Pastor Hank Johnson. "We were doing a lot at the old church, but our capabilities just shot up—not just because of [space], but because new people came in with new ideas." to the PeoPLe Johnson said that divorcing a church from its physical home can help a congregation ask tough questions about belief and religious belonging. After all, what makes a church a church when all the physical trappings of its sanctuary are gone? For BIC members, the answer to that question lay in helping their underserved neighbors, Johnson said. e move to Derry Street helped them interrogate their priorities and led to a new wave of outreach programs. For instance, BIC had long dreamed of providing free medical care to impoverished Harrisburg residents, according to Lynda Gephart, the church's pastor of congregational life. at never came to fruition at their old space on Chestnut Street. But the energy that came from their new location, she said, bred a partnership with a mobile medical clinic. To this day, it visits the church once a month to offer patrons free medical and dental care. Gephart pointed to another, more mundane factor that drove BIC's real estate hunt: parking. Many inner city churches struggle to provide patrons with enough of it, she said, but a commercial property or strip mall storefront often comes with acres of surface parking. Indeed, it's hard for a church to grow if its congregants can't find a convenient way to get there. But other religious leaders say that traditional church buildings also can stifle a congregation by alienating non-believers or skeptics. When e Bridge first launched its Midtown campus in 2016, it held services in an old church building at Green and Cumberland streets. e space met the congregation's needs well enough, but leaders said they wanted to be in a multi-purpose space familiar to a larger segment of the community. ey scouted locations in Midtown, including the Broad Street Market, Midtown Scholar Bookstore and empty storefronts. In the end, they landed in HMAC, where they can host services either in the Capitol Room or Stage on Herr. Pastor Justin Douglas said that church leaders didn't blink at the prospect of worshipping in a bar, which, on any other night of the week, may host a death metal band or drag show. If anything, Douglas said, the unconventional location is a natural fit for a church that prides itself on questioning many long-held Christian rituals. e Bridge doesn't offer communion every week, for example, and its leaders don't operate in a strong hierarchy. ey don't accept monetary offerings during services, for fear of alienating members who can't afford to give (those who wish to support the church can give online instead.) But as Douglas sees it, the reimagining of church spaces is part of a broader reconfiguration of Christianity— one that's taking place as religious leaders try to attract younger, more socially conscious congregants who, for personal or political reasons, may be skeptical of Christian institutions. He said that many churches today have alienated younger members by taking hardline stances on issues like LGBT rights or abortion. Removing a church from a physical church building, Douglas said, can signal to current and prospective members that a congregation is ready to meet its members where they are—physically, politically and spiritually. If that means setting up shop in a neighborhood watering hole or dance hall, he said, so be it. "I don't care if you have an alcoholic beverage in your hand in the Stage on Herr instead of a pew in a church with a stained-glass window," Douglas said. "e destination for us and other churches is the same. But the vehicle can look very different." As the UMC Conference starts to scout new locations this spring, its leadership team will try to follow the same method of meeting people in places that are familiar to them, including ones primarily secular. e goal, according to Gilgore, is to make a day of worship feel like a seamless part of a person's busy routine—not a disruptive chore on a Sunday morning. "I think people nowadays are looking for new ways to do things they've always done," Gilgore said. "We're saying, 'You can still do church this way, but here's a less intimidating, more welcoming, more community-driven way that's more like what you do on the other six days of the week.' We're taking the church out to the people, in whatever way that takes place." In 2005, Harrisburg's Brethren in Christ Church moved to a former car dealership on Derry Street. It renovated basement space for a sanctuary and also converted garage space for its youth center (both pictured above.) Pastor Hank Johnson (below) said the new location helped the church expand its community ministry programs.

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