When people think of a church, what often comes to mind is a building or a worship service. While this is not wrong, the church is so much more than driving to a location, listening to someone at a pulpit, and singing some songs.
Airbnb is a business model that reshaped the way we think about accommodation. In 2015 Hyatt had 97,000 employees but at the same time, Airbnb had just 2,300. However, globally Airbnb has far more rooms available than Hyatt. The way they did this was by making the ability to be a hotel with what you already own, accessible to the ordinary person. By doing this, Airbnb hosts millions around the world without owning a single building.
The structure of Avenue is similar to Airbnb, our intent is to put church back into the hands of the ordinary person. We don't depend on a single pastor or leader to drive the church forward, it is our micro-communities of faith, meeting in homes each week, spurring each other in their walk with Jesus that is the backbone of our church. Our church is mobile, adaptable and flexible, it is not tied down to a building or a single time slot.
Our intent is to put church back into the hands of the ordinary person.
Just as the model of Airbnb led to a complete shift in the hotel industry, our prayer is that our model of church will lead to a shift in the Kingdom of God. We want to take the church into people's spheres of influence as everyone realises that they can touch the world in a way that no one else can. So that's what we want to do, to do everything we can to unleash God-given potential by empowering people to be the church rather than telling them to go to church.
While models and structures are important, what is an even more important marker of a church is that it is dependent on the Holy Spirit as her guide. Multiplication is our mission, however, that's not possible unless we surrender and open ourselves up to the Spirit's move in our life and church. Jesus said to the first disciples:
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - Acts 1:8
We believe that God has been guiding us with the implementation of our church model and that he will continue to lead us and empower us to take the gospel into ordinary people's missional fields.