Buildings - time for a rethink?

I've always been a little bit anti-church buildings, not burn them down anti mind you, just I think our priorities as God's people should be people not places.  I would always rather invest money in people rather than in bricks and mortar.  But I have been having a bit of a rethink recently, because whilst there are cons to having a church building there are also pros.  Whilst I think traditional 'churchy' buildings can have negative connotations I think having a base to work from, a location with which people associate you is helpful.  And many of the other spaces we hire can have negative connotations for people too; school for the person who hated it or was badly bullied, and so on...

We as a church have been meeting for nearly 5 years and we have always met in the same school hall.  But there are times when it is painfully apparent that it is a hired space.  There are other times when we have to make compromises in what we do because of when the space is available and so on.  There is also always the hard work of lugging all the equipment (PA, Creche toys, refreshments paraphernalia etc...) to the school every week and then taking it all down and back again.  As well as just teh sheer expense of hiring space.  Those things have never worried me that much, though it can become wearying for people to have to keep on doing that.

It isn't those things that are causing me to have a rethink but rather the sense of never being part of the community.  If you have a building that is yours then you have a permanent presence in the area, people drive past and see you, people come in and out of your doors.  Your toddler groups, D of E groups all use that space, your holiday clubs take place there, your quiz nights and so on.  I think as well people just associate you with an area and having a building provides a sense of permanence and commitment.  If you hire a space then the only time you have a visible presence is for those few hours on a Sunday morning or whenever you meet.

I'm not advocating having a traditional church building which is only open for church activities and only used by church members, but a building the church uses to reach the community.  It may be in a shopping or leisure venue, it may even be a house or pub you convert in a local estate, but a base of operations.

I've always been anti-church buildings and I think in some ways I still am, I guess what I am increasingly for is the church as people meeting in a building it owns but which it uses to love and serve the community as it looks to introduce them to Jesus.