SCL

My church is just a good ol church looking building, you cant mistake it.

But once a year we, the youth group, go away to what is called Farm Stay, as in we stay a weekend on a farm, sleeping in the old wool shed.
Thats a pretty awesome church/youth service each morning/night around the bonfire.

My church used to be a military complex of some kind.

i worked with a church this past summer that held a lakeside service on gorgeous lake anna, virginia. the area was open to the water, complete with docks so that people on the lake could float up in their boats and listen to the sermon.

My current church was a motorcycle shop prior to our moving in last year. When I was a kid we went to church in an old fire station.

Maybe my favorite “church location” is the “Tabernacle” at Ponca Bible Camp. It’s like the pavilions at many church camps, just a roof over a concrete slab (there is a wall at the stage end, with closets bookending the stage), except it is smaller, and it’s in the woods, and it’s most of the way up a really steep hill, and bats roost in the rafters. Other outdoor “churches” up there on my list too.

Really, every house where somebody hosts a bible study is a church building, probably the most biblical (New Testament) kind in fact.

I’ve been to and/or worked at churches that met 1) at the beach (rain or shine) 2) next to a duck pond at a park in the epicenter of the worst gang activity in the city. After a rocky start where the gang guys tried to steal some of the women’s purses, we eventually won them over and when the bus of another church drove by they were throwing rocks at it… they said they were invading our turf… we had to explain we didn’t work that way. I also met at parks / schools / rec rooms at boys and girls clubs / hotel meeting rooms / night clubs / people’s houses / camps complete with camp residents who were recovering addicts and borrowed church buildings… Ok that made me tired just thinking about it.

as a child i went to church in a room at the gas station. we would drive over the trip-bell-cord on the way in! ding-ding!

that’s all i’ve got.

We just built a new church but before that we met in an old feed store(they had built a new store so at least we didn’t have to share), although sitting around on 50# bags of dog food, cattle feed, or chicken maize would be a pretty sweet deal!

At the long-term care facility where I work, we have church every Sunday for the residents that are unable to go to a “regular” church[for whatever reason]. It is a blessing to see how happy it makes them. Plus, they do all the old school hymns which I [secretly] love, so it’s a blessing to me too! =]

I just had to comment because you said that a movie theater showing Batman + a discussion after would bump it up to a 6. I personally feel that’s in the 7-9 range (depending on the quality of the discussion… but at least a 7).

My church meets in the storefront of a home/basement in Taiwan.

Enjoying the posts,
-Chase

Hahaha, my church does meet in an old movie theater. Nothing beats the comfy seats…

In a coffee shop during regular hours on Saturdays once a month. It had a center isle with the band on one side and the crowd on the other. Sometimes unsuspecting customers would walk straight through the sermon to order their mochas. I thought that was cool and weird at the same time. I miss it.

Proud to be meeting in what used to be a Wal-mart

My family used to attend a church that met in an old barn that had been converted into a church. The coat closet used to be a horse’s stall. The floorboards were worn and uneven, and children’s church met in the cellar.

It was actually quite lovely–they cut a huge hole in one of the sides of the main room of the barn and put in a stained-glass window.

-Mary Katherine

My church met in a movie theater for close to two years. We recently moved out, only a few storefronts away, into a more permanent location in the mall!

It was actually a really neat experience meeting in a movie theater… Comfy chairs and dim lighting… Yes please! It was strange, though, when you’d walk in and notice that a horror movie or something was set to play only minutes after we had packed everything up.

Of course, my church put a twist on meeting in a movie theater… Part of the idea was that it was one church, in two locations – one on each side of the river, with an actual church building on one side. Thus, they would actually play the video of the pastor on the theater screen.

I kind of miss it… But it’s awesome not having to set up!

Our church is currently located in an old seafood processing plant (that’s Alaska for you!). We bought it from the State of Alaska after they shut down the facility. And NO it does not smell like fish.

Before that we were a “church on the move” we had outgrown our current facility, and basically had a portable church loaded in the back of 2 semi trailers that would set up and tear down at a local high school gym every week.

(comment #115 — if anyone reads this it will be a miracle!)

When I was ministering in Bucharest,Romania a few years after the fall of communism, our church met in the Sala Palatului (the People’s Palace), the building where the dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu used to hold all his rallies. It was awesome to hear one lady say, with tears in her eyes, “I once used to be here praising Ceaucescu. Now I am here praising Jesus.”

kaybee, that is super awesome!

The strangest place I’ve had church was in a bar. Strange because it was so laid back and real! The strangest places I’ve attended mini-worship services are: a tent (while it poured rain outside), on a mountain, by the ocean, around a campfire, in an African village (while sitting on a mat), in a chicken coop, on a bus.

Our church in Athens, GA met in so many different locales. Above a restaurant, in a carpet store front, in other churches (at different times)—but BY FAR the most entertaining was the bar we met in. We all smelled like stale smoke and the nursery was across from the main bar. We had to cover the naked lady lamps with pillow cases. HOWEVER, we were the only church in town who could boast that we had an ELECTRIC BULL in the nursery!! Yee Haw! A little ride on the electric bull and some Benedryl Jell-O shooters and we had those babied sleeping like angels!

Pre-school/Day Care Center … complete with toilets that are 18″ tall, coat hook that jab you in the hips, Sunday School chairs that fit 3-year olds and a ‘sanctuary’ with a toy kitchen and hula-hoops.

I visited a church a few years back that was meeting in a brewery in Huntsville AL. The brewery caught fire and burned down a little over a year ago and the church obviously had to move, but it did survive.

Our church used to be a hardware store. I remember going there with my dad when I was little to get wood from the lumber department. I think Jesus would approve of a church where carpenters hang out.

Church for Men meets in a gym. Watch Fox News Channel and NBC coverage at youtube links below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML12GOZgejE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlhMoTnkpwk

Church in a brothel story at my blog.

http://churchformenflorida.blogspot.com/2008/10/church-for-prostitutes.html

My favorite church is located in a funeral home. That’s right, a funeral home. If there is a funeral later that day, the body is moved out and then back in for the service. Betcha didn’t see that one coming, huh? The church is a wonderful group of people, however, and I only wish that I lived closer.

A bathroom -
A hotel room -
because church is anywhere that I’ve worshiped God passionately, even if by myself!

Love that one about the funeral home. How many of us have felt we might as well have been worshiping in a funeral home, that we’re in church with the living dead?

Our church brought new life to an old funeral home

I didn’t join in this blog earlier because we are not a church, we are a ministry. We have a clothing ministry, food & hot meals, children’s ministry, teen ministry & adult ministry. We have jail ministry, skateboarders & cowboy breakfast.

We are very careful not to look like a church, no where use the word church, and don’t dress like a church. For years I would say, "We are not a church, we are a ministry". Still we have people say “We’re going to your church!”

After 14 years we are in our 8th & final location.

1. We begin in our home.
2. We moved to an abandoned house much like a barn no windows, no kitchen, we cooked & hauled food from our home 12 miles out, when we were not having fish fries.
3. We moved to the fellowship hall of the church we were attending at the time.
4. We moved to a house turned restaurant, we rented it until the owner decided to turn it back into a house, it is now a beauty salon.
5. We moved to the kitchen of a hot meals program, we were allowed to meet in the building but not use the kitchen equipment, so hauled food from our home 12 miles out. Later we were able to use some of the equipment.
6. We met at the City Park, hauling food from our home 12 miles out.
7. God moved on our behalf & the funds were donated to buy an old elementary school that had been abandoned for 20 years, with 3 buildings & almost 7 acres! Praise God! We met in a donated trailer house while working on the buildings
8. We are now in our 8th & final location!
The 1st building now has rec room, huge kitchen & media area. 2nd building 339 seat auditorium & we now have 2 bands. The 3rd building still needs a roof, electricity & water. We also have outdoor concerts & have a vision for a “Party Bus” complete with a band & food.

Our church just bought a bank. We use the old vault to store music equipment.

Can’t complain about the security system.

We meet in the gym of the YMCA. For 10 years we’ve been setting up and taking down our church each week–which suddenly seemed a lot nicer once our pastor made the comparison to the Israelites moving the tabernacle around the desert for 40 years.

I went to a church that was held in a pizza parlor. It was very difficult to concentrate as the musician at altar time because the owner came in to make pizzas to serve the congregation while we were praying with people responding to the message. For some reason the pizza seemed so much more inviting at the time. — I REPENT OK!

My church meets under a bridge. It was started as a bible study with five homeless men and now it has grown to over 300 regular attendees since it was started fifteen years ago. If anyone wants to visit, just come under I-35 in Waco, TX.

in college i went to church at a closed planet hollywood. a giant car hung from the celing and the room i was in had zebra print carpet.

The first church we helped plant met in the local Masonic temple because nobody else would rent to us. We met in the basement with the Coke machine right behind the pulpit…along with both the men's room & ladies' rooms. The light switches were outside the facilities. One of the funniest things was a lady walking up and into the "ladies", then sticking her hand out and flicking the switch on. Oh, and then there was the time a little tyke went in and came out with his pants down. Really can't remember the sermon, but the look on his mommy's face was priceless.
From there we purchased a former liqour store and remodeled that.
Those were the days!

When I went on an inner-city mission trip to New Orleans (pre-Hurricane insanity), our base church building had been converted from an old disco. As in, the disco floor was still there under the industrial strength berber carpeting. And the walls had gold flecks in the paint that showed up in all of our photos as weird blobs of bling. It was pretty sweet and congregants were cool too.

I still think the car wash is pretty cool. My church meets in the Skinny Improv, a local comedy club downtown. You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty sexy.

the “oddest’ place i ever went to a church service was on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in the middle of the meditteranean sea on easter sunday in 2003…it was a sunrise service.

My church used to meet in an Public Elementary School Gym (talk about an acoustical NIGHTMARE). We now have a building that we built, and ironically, we now share it with a private Christian Elementary School. When we first started though, our church offices were in a funeral parlor. I don’t know how many times I would come to work and have to walk around cadavers on carts outside the embalming room to get to my office. We then moved to office space above a florist, where we would have to sometimes store extra floral stuff in our offices, because the florist gave us the space for free.

The church I grew up in met for most of my childhood in our town’s one-screen theater. So just under the marquee was unfurled a banner across the thick wooden pillars on main street “(our church’s name) meeting here”

They had some pictures in the church offices of some of the classics. Revenge of the Nerds
and Bachelor Party were among those shots.

Your dad has yet to mention the possibility of a car wash location for his new church. So long as I could get my car washed during the service, I’m in! You can follow the progress of Mark Acuff’s new church at http://www.churchinchapelhill.com

Our church is in a former off-track betting joint.

I remember someone buying out an old soda bottling factory and setting up a church there. Thought that was pretty cool.

My church has been meeting between a Theater (musicals and plays, formerly a movie theater), and an old school building. In two weeks we will finally be moving to our newly constructed home where the church will have one place as the home.

Movie theatre! they used to roll jaffas down the aisles…now it is in an old Toyota factory. pretty cool

My dad would “seed” churches. He would start them and when God told him to move on he would. One of the churches he started with my granddad was in a chicken coop. The house was smaller. Real life IS stranger than fiction.

My brother was involved in starting a church in a mango grove: http://blog.ywammadison.org/archives/555