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7 Benefits of Being a Mobile Church

Benefit #3—More room for volunteerism.

If you’re pastoring a mobile church, you know that it takes a lot more people to get things done. In the case of our church, about 70 percent of the congregation is involved in some kind of volunteer service based on gifts, abilities and needs. I met with another mobile church pastor this morning who shared that 90 percent of the adults in his congregation were volunteering in some way.

Our volunteer teams are a primary way that people learn to hang out together, work together and develop friendships that transcend church volunteerism. This benefit of mobility also gives people who would otherwise never serve (or be asked to serve) a chance to feel like a part of the family.

Benefit #4—The church in your house.

If you don’t have a nice Christian education wing, or access to a church facility mid-week, but you still want your people involved in community, there is only one solution: You have to open your homes. 

Mobile churches are typically better at mobilizing community groups (e.g., home groups/care groups, or whatever you call them at your church). For mobile churches, these groups are a matter of life or death. But they are also a huge benefit to congregations that are looking for relational discipleship. 

I jokingly tell our church that we have more kitchens and bathrooms than any other church in town because so many of our people open their homes for ministry. In my experience, churches that have facility-oriented approaches to ministry have a much more difficult time starting small groups because many of the members will simply want everything to be done at the church’s facility.

Benefit #5—Strategic partnership with your host.

 In three of the four locations where we have met over the years, we have been able to be a huge blessing to our hosts. 

When we were at the high school, we donated chairs (which we used on Sundays) and lots of cool stuff to the teachers whose classrooms we used for children’s ministry. At the YMCA, we actually painted several rooms, put new air conditioners on the roof and regularly did grounds-keeping work for them because they didn’t have the staff or funds to do it themselves (and we wanted the place to look nice on Sundays).

At our current location, we have donated equipment and resources that benefit the school and create good will toward our church (which doesn’t hurt our witness).