28 Jan We’re Not Portable – But Sometimes It Feels Like It!
In 2008, I took a six-month leave of absence from my work at Community Christian Church to go help another church plant get started. I served as the Children’s Ministry Director for Mosaic Christian Church in Hanover, MD.
Mosaic launched its first service in September of that year in the Cinemark Egyptian Movie Theaters. Being a part of that church plant was an incredible experience that taught me so much. It was the first time I was part of a portable church. For those of you who serve in portable churches/temporary locations… GOD BLESS YOU! I know that the week-in/week-out set up and break down can be exhausting and mundane, but what a great work you are doing. Keep it up!
Portable requires a different way of thinking
As I said, I loved my experience at Mosaic. While it was tiring at times, it taught me so much and helped me think in a completely different way. Yes, I had to think about the best way to store resources and props (most church leaders need to do that), but I also had to find a way to fit everything we created for our environment decor into those portable carts on wheels! On some levels this limited what we could do, but I was still committed to doing what we could to create engaging, irresistible environments. The team I worked with did a great job of doing just that.
Sharing space
At Community Christian Church, we are not portable. We have a permanent space that we lease, but the rooms that are used for our elementary environment are multi-purpose. We share the space primarily with our student ministry each week. Elementary aged kids meet in our environment on Sunday mornings during the main service times, but students take over that space in the afternoon/evening. Their environment intentionally looks very different from ours. In addition, the space is used on Sundays and throughout the week for various things; everything from meetings to small group gatherings and often larger events like baby showers, birthday parties and even weddings!
As a result, everything we create needs to be taken down and stored behind our stage each week.
Having worked in a portable church setting, I would never try to say we are in the same boat, however, I do find that I need to think about things the same way I did while I was at Mosaic. No, we are not setting up and breaking down sound equipment every Sunday morning, and our storage space is a bit larger than the black carts on wheels; but since everything that has to do with our theme (stage set design, room elements, etc.) needs to be taken down and stored somewhere each week. This has forced us to think about how to create sets that can be “portable.”
“Systemized”
We’ve found the best way to create portable sets is to use specific products and specific systems that allow for portability. For example, we’ve created a “system” for how to hang things up and take them down each week. We’ve also created a sheet metal structure, permanently affixed to our backdrop, that enables us to remove our entire set each and every week.
All of this has been a progression that has happened over time. It began with one stage, one set, and very little external decor each week.
It’s definitely evolved and things are quite different now, as we create a different set for each month.
In addition, as we’ve grown, we’ve had to learn to share our elementary space. The combination of theme-oriented decor each month and sharing space definitely led us to think differently about how we create our sets and environments. It’s led us to use certain systems, tools, and supplies on a regular basis. Check out this list of our “top five favorite tools.” For a complete list of our tools we use regularly, check out our Resource Tab on our Home Page.
I’ve learned since the creation of this blog, that many of you are in the same boat. You are either portable or share a space, so I’ve created a series of posts that will hopefully give some practical tips about this subject. Be sure to join the conversation!
Until then, let us know what you’re doing to create your sets each month.
What systems do you have in place to keep the work load manageable?
