Get God & Go!

In our microwave world, we all tend to be in a hurry. This involves the church, too. When I was a kid, before we became Christians, my folks, probably through guilt, packed us kids in the station wagon and headed a few miles away to the Garden Grove Community Church.

Robert Schuller constructed the unconventional church building on 10 acres of land, completing it in 1961. Not only did the church have traditional sanctuary seating, there was also a large window that opened up to the parking area so Dr. Schuller could preach to both the folks in the pews and those in the drive-in. Several speaker boxes were installed in the parking area so families like as ours could drive up, listen to the sermon and leave without ever getting out of the car. As the sanctuary window dramatically opened with the start of each service (photo at right), Schuller would raise his robed arms into the air and greet everyone, including us lazy folks listening from the drive-in. Ushers were positioned in the parking area to keep an eye on us and to gather the offering--kind of like car hops with suits and no skates!

Even though drive-ins have fallen out of fashion, we professional religious types still try to make the pathway to church as easy and convenient as possible. In my house of worship, we have a second sanctuary (or venue) providing a full band and a video feed of the sermon. It has tables and a casual environment that supports drinking coffee during the service (scandalous still to many today!). We even have an indoor garage where baby strollers are stored during the service, a fully stocked bookstore, and a friendly bevy of greeters and ushers to lead you where you need to go.

We must do all we can, in and outside of the church, to reach the lost. Schuller had remarkable, innovative vision when he led the designing of the original Garden Grove Community Church back in the 60s. In today's world, we must continue to be creative but also design a pathway where people make can move into the nucleus of the church body through small groups and opportunities to serve. Otherwise, church activity will be reduced to the drive-in concept of "get God and go!"

Photos: (top left) view of the GGCC Drive-In;
(lower right) view of the sactuary and the big winow opened to the Drive-In