How Wal-Mart Doubles as Church

So, after nearly three days of snowed-in-ness, my family was dying to get out of the house. To do something. To go anywhere. So we loaded up for an outing to the local neighborhood Wal-Mart. It quickly became apparent that everyone else in town had the exact same idea at the exact same time.

Now I will say that since I work for a church and our town is small, I never go to Wal-Mart without visiting with at least three people. But today's outing was unprecedented! We had good conversations with at least fifteen people about deep heart-felt things. There were also several head-nods, "hey, hiya"s and distant waves. It was truly a community event. And, as we missed Wednesday services this week due to weather, it really felt like our mid-week "church" experience.

Which leads me to today's pondering: what does it take to make a "church"? Since the church is to be a grouping of people who are trying to be supportive and redemptive in people's lives, our community, our culture, and our world, why couldn't my Wal-Mart trip be classified as "church". And since some of the people I talked to may have a hard time walking into a traditional sanctuary, maybe this is even more "church" than church.

So how do we start looking for these opportunities to have "church" where we live? Let me know your thoughts, experiences, and whether this messes with you like it does me.