I recently caught word of a Church in Scottsdale, AZ. I heard that it was based off of drive-in movies. The Church is called Glass & Garden Drive In Church, and was founded by a man named Floyd Goulooze. Goulooze came to Arizona in 1963 and based on the expectation that the Phoenix area would be growing at a exponential rate, bought 7 acres of land. With the land he built a church and an adjacent drive in facility, complete with drive in movie speakers. He had a vision of preaching from the pulpit and having listeners drive up to the speaker and hear the message from they're AM radio.
The idea of a drive in church makes me want to vomit. If this does not reflect our individualized consumer culture I don't know what does. The idea of a drive in church seems cool for about a second, but once you realize how you are treating the Church and how that is not truly the Church, it is one of the most absurd thoughts I've come across. This idea of a drive in church is so far off the mark of what Jesus and Paul teach the church ought to be.
There is a line that many churches tip toe around. It's the line of how to be in the world but not of it. It's commonly become known as being 'relevant'. There are certain churches that take this too far, and others that do not give it a thought. I believe there needs to be a balance. Paul preaches heavily on how to be in the world but not of it. Christians make it into a ministry vision and another way to have meetings and delay actual missional ministry.
Churches like Willow Creek try hard to bring people in to the Church through having a comfortable environment. While this may not be inherently wrong, there needs to be a balance of how to draw people to Church. The same is true for the Glass & Garden Drive In Church; they have tried to create an environment that makes it easy for people to consume the Gospel; but has this effort to create a comfortable place gone too far? I think so; like I said earlier there needs to be a balance of reaching people and having a comfortable place. What if comfortable meant nice and welcoming people instead of letting the comfy chairs or drive in speakers to all the work?
One major problem I have with this idea is that when people drive up in their cars and listen to a sermon through their radio, there is no community. A person could drive up and drive out without saying a word to anybody. Like I said earlier, it feeds our culture in believing that consumerism and individualism are good things, when the Bible says otherwise.
I am going out to Phoenix in a month and am going to try to experience this "church". I want to drive in, get out of the car and knock on peoples windows and get to know them. Why not give it a try? Make people uncomfortable, and make them question. Maybe pull out some lawn chairs and grill food for people and reveal a glimpse of community to them.
