Pop-Up Church (in the Park)
Have you heard of Pop-up Shops? Here’s a snap shot description of a pop-up shop from Wikipedia:
A pop-up retail space is a venue that is temporary: the space could be a sample sale one day and host a private cocktail party the next evening. The trend involves "popping up" one day, then disappearing anywhere from one day to several weeks later. These shops, while small and temporary, are used by companies to build interest in their product or service, and seed their product with cultural influencers.
Pop-up shops have been a trend in recent years. Pop-up shops have been used to successfully introduce products and the companies selling them. Pop-ups are attractive because they reach potential new “shoppers” and do so at a low overhead when compared to major marketing campaigns and opening new stores.
So if pop-up shops are successful at reaching people, why not a Pop-Up Church?
I’ve been asking this question for well over a year! Why couldn’t we do church this way? What is there to stop us from trying to reach people who don’t attend New City by going where they are and holding a pop-up church service?
The answer? NOTHING.
There is nothing to keep us from trying!
So, we are going to try a pop-up church in the park!
What Are We Doing and When?
May 19,
5:00 pm
Tattnall Square Park,
Coleman Ave side of the Fountain
Our service will start at 5:00 - but come early! Play in the park. Meet park goers and invite them. Bring a picnic! At 5:00 We’ll have acoustic music and a shortened, gospel-centered message. Our goal is to introduce people to Jesus and invite them into His Kingdom. Since we are His Kingdom present, your role in the afternoon is super important! We want them to see His goodness, grace and kindness in us. We want them to see and hear us as we enjoy one another, enjoy the park, and enjoy God’s goodness to us. They should get a small taste of what the Kingdom is like because we are in the park!
What Should I Do?
Here’s what we are asking you to do:
Pray - Pray for great weather. Pray for a park full of people. Pray they are drawn to join us. Pray that the Spirit would go before us to do the work that only He can do. Pray for a great response from our own people.
Put in on Your Calendar - Go ahead and mark the date and plan to be there! We need you.
Invite an Unchurched/Unsaved Friend - Use this personally as a time to reach out to someone you care about and invite them to join you! The park is far less scary to most people than going into a “holy” church building.
Come and Be the Kingdom Present - Join us there and be the joyful Kingdom of God present! Be there to welcome others as Christ has welcomed you! Be there ready to fill the park with joyful praise as we sing.
What Should We Expect?
I have no idea! That’s partly what makes this fun!
I don’t know what people will think or how they will respond if we do this.
BUT
I do know what to expect if we don’t… NOTHING.
So we will try! And as we pray and try, we’ll dream of reaching those who don’t know Jesus and helping them meet Him! We’ll imagine what it would be like to grow the Kingdom through afternoons in the park! We’ll look forward to baptisms and baby dedications and new MC Leaders and church elders coming because we tried.
Then… we’ll plan the next one, and we’ll plan a month of Sundays, and we’ll plan pop-ups all over Macon, and why stop in Macon when there are people in places all around us who need the same thing!?
And from them, maybe we’ll plant new churches who do new pop-ups that reach new people and raise new leaders who also plant new churches, that also do new pop-ups… you get it.
We’ll never know if we don’t try!
