Dirty Church

[Michael Trent]

Dirty Church is about recognizing that God is pleased when we use what He gives us. It is important that we don't work so hard to keep our church facilities clean that we don't allow them to get Dirty and used.

The Dirty Church Awards are being created in collaboration with The Idea Camp to bring awareness and conversation to the use of the buildings / facilities that churches have in their hands.

We are building criteria or characteristics of a Dirty Church right now and would like for you to contribute and help us develop that; what makes a church a Dirty Church?

Then, we will begin to create a few catagories and open the discussion across social media to allow for nomination for the Dirty Church Awards.

Michael Trent
@churchbartender

[JesseGiglio]

I was having some TokBox issues today but love the concept.
A friend of mineʻs church up here in Ventura, Ca has over the past year taken their space from generally vacant to becoming a full service daily mission. Day services, case working, food, clothes etc. for our under-resourced and homeless population. Definitely an example of dirty incarnational ministry. Theyʻre now in the process (w/ the help of the broader church community) of moving into a motel in our downtown area and running the church along side a transitional living center. theharbor.us.

Another category worth considering would be most creative or innovative use.

Or maybe the non-church dirtychurch like a New Hope Hawaii that goes homeless and does more mission ministry.

[Michael Trent]

Jesse,

Great ideas. I was just in Honolulu working with a new client (cuz God loves me like that) -

I didn't get a chance to see New Hope HI, but man did I fall in love with the culture there -

Michael

[JesseGiglio]

Nice. I lived there for 7 years, going back in August for a week with my fam. Itʻs been a couple years and we miss it! Any recommendations while Iʻm there in the progressive faith genre? Maybe some dirty leads?
Cheers.

[Derek Turner]

Love the idea of Dirty Church. I think we are one. Consider that it's not just about creative 24/7 building use, but also creative $$$$$ use. We still rent a county facility that had no AC, but they do now! Check the following segment of a story taken from an article about the Branch...

Sunday morning services in the gym continued to expand. The facility was cavernous so space was no problem, but as summer approached Derek wondered what to do. The gym had no air conditioning and the North Carolina heat would turn it into an oven by June. He checked into renting another, comparable meeting site. The cost was $15,000 a month—$12,000 more than the rec center cost them!

Derek had long believed in the principle of seed-time and harvest. He knew Jesus meant it in a literal way when He said, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38). He had put financial seed in the ground for this church before he ever started it. Now he needed a harvest.

That spring, the financial miracles began.

A member of the Branch congregation came up with an idea. What if he donated the $60,000 it would cost to install air conditioning in the community recreation center—on behalf of The Branch Family Church? Derek presented the idea to the community. They were thrilled with the plan. So thrilled, they offered to allow the church to continue using the facility for two years.

Rent free.

Derek gladly accepted. “That’s when I started looking for win/win situations in which we could be blessed and be a blessing to the community.”

If someone had just handed me a check for $60K I would have tried to find another place to rent. But the idea came from someone else. I think that is another aspect of Dirty Church that needs to be considered. Do you let the wisdom of God be shaped by the community of people around you? A lot of pastors I know have to have the plan and ideas come from just them. I'm not that smart!

d
@BranchPastor

[Michael Trent]

Derek,

Wow br o - thanks so much for sharing that story and for your insight about "....pastors have to have ideas that come just from them......." I'll be honest and say that I see that way too often.

How would you recommend that Dirty Church and the Dirty Church Awards bring awareness and conversation to this? How do you think we engage pastors and churches with this message in a way that they will join us?

Michael

[Derek Turner]

Promote the Dirty Church award at the DIRT conference... http://www.dirtconference.com/

Then make it a part of every ARC conference.

Eventually it will be bigger than the Grammys!

d

[Kevin Dobruck]

Michael,

I work in publications at The Salvation Army Western Territorial Headquarters in Long Beach, CA. This morning in our staff meeting I tossed the whole dirty church concept out to see what everyone thought. First everyone really liked the name. Then as the idea of the dirty church sunk in everyone started buzzing. Our highest visibility is with Salvation Army facilities so that's where most of the discussion centered. The Army is amazing in their use of space, take for instatnce the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers being built throughout the country. Kroc Centers are designed to meet the needs of specific communities and in addition to functioning chapels (sometimes also used as a performing arts venue) they include sports courts and fields, swimming pools, fitness centers and even ice rinks. Don't know if this fits the criteria. The Coeur d'Alene Kroc Center opened in May and after the first week has over 30% of the cities population signed on for membership.

The Army also has many smaller facilities known as Corps. Many of these are multifunction. Our staff has been tasked with seeking out innovative facility use among these corps. I'll let you know what we find.

One thing mentioned in our meeting was that the Army Founder William Booth didn't like the use of pews. Found them too limiting. "In the old days" the Army would hold outdoor services that would ultimately conclude at an Army Corps building—usually in an urban area. Often, after worship services, chairs were moved away to provide room for soup lines. Once serving was complete cots were set up for those that had nowhere else to go. Seems like back in 1865 they were even considering what a dirty church was.

Thanks for starting this discussion.

Kevin Dobruck
Art Director
New Frontier Publications
The Salvation Army
USA Western Territory

[Michael Trent]

Kevin,

Would love to talk with you about Salvation Army, Dirty Church, etc... Let's connect up soon.

Maybe we create a catagory for Dirtiest Non-Profit Building / or Dirties Para-church Building ?????

Michael Trent
twitter:: @churchbartender