Karl Vaters: It’s a Cold World – We Need Warm Churches More than Cool Churches

There’s a lot of talk about how the church can be more relevant to our ever-changing communities. More up-to-date. More cool.

The photo attached to this post, from @TayMoss, may be the best answer to that question that I’ve seen in a long time.

Toronto, Canada was hit with an ice storm this weekend, which has left thousands of people without power, probably through Christmas and beyond.

So, what does a church do? Shut everything down because people won’t be able to make it for your Christmas Eve services? Not if you’re the Church of the Messiah, you don’t.

Remembering that hospitality is a spiritual gift, Incumbent Tay Moss (their term for Rector or Pastor) has opened the doors of the church to meet the needs of the people in downtown Toronto. They’re offering their building as a “Warming Centre” where people can get out of the cold, grab a hot beverage, charge up their phones and log on to wifi.

The latest word is that a local theater company has heard about what they’re doing and will be crashing the place tonight to offer a free show. Keep reading