Ron Williams is the pastor of Church at the GYM in Sanford, Fla. As the Baptist church’s name implies, Williams’s congregation meets, well, in a gym.
Williams said the goal is to remove the “stained-glass barriers” for people who might not be comfortable in traditional church settings. “I think all the trappings of traditional religion can make it difficult for people to start coming,” he said. “You can invite someone, and they will say, ‘I don’t have any clothes to wear to church.’ ”
To make people feel more comfortable, Williams wears jeans. In the warm Florida climate, some members wear shorts. Other clothing types, from urban wear to biker gear, also are welcome.
Comfortable is becoming common as churches take advantage of new, nontraditional spaces in movie theaters, skating rinks, strip malls and old warehouses, among others.
Aaron Coe, vice president for mobilization for the Southern Baptist Convention’s North America Mission Board, cited several factors for the shift, including a move away from traditionalism and the economic advantages of leasing space instead of building a church.
They may not have steeples or stained glass, but the nontraditional churches say they are finding success tapping into a segment of society that may otherwise have been lost.
The Bridge in Flint, Mich., set up in a strip mall anchored by a grocery store. “We do a lot of things that are really different,” Pastor Steve Bentley said. Perhaps the most different: The interdenominational church recently opened a tattoo parlor. “We want to be relevant to people's lives,” Bentley said. “We break with tradition, but we don’t break with Scripture.”