Yesterday, we received news of two good brothers from area congregations who passed away on Sunday. Both were too young and active in their congregations. One died unexpectedly from a heart attack. The other died after battling cancer.
Please pray for the Cubas Family and the Samuels Family.
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I have a question and would like some advice. We (as a church) are trying to figure out how to handle it. It’s an inane kind of problem that usually isn’t discussed in Ministry training.
Our property is located at a busy intersection at the edge of town, which is great. Many people have visited just because they have passed by and noticed the building. It is a good location.
The problem is, it is a good location at a busy intersection. There are two entrances to our parking lot, so that our parking area is an arc going from one road to the other around the church building located in the corner. Because of this we constantly have people cutting through (trespassing) to avoid the light or avoid traffic. They often drive fast. They cut through when our parking lot is full. They throw gravel.
That’s one problem. Also, because of our location, any contractor or city works crew decide to use our property any time work is done nearby. Whether tree cutting crews, road construction, pipe layers, etc. No one ever asks or lets us know. They just assume they can set up. We had one contractor laying gas-line pipes just dump a large stack of 30 foot long yellow pipes in my yard and put piles of gravel and dirt in our parking lot. We fussed and he was annoyed (had an attitude) and left pipes and trash bags on our property when left.
We purchased a plastic movable barricade that has cut down some of the people cutting through. But the tree-cutting crew just moved it out of their way. Cops park at the entrance to watch traffic and move the barricade but don’t put it back. There is actually a sign that says, “No Through Traffic–Police Enforced,” which is apparently a lie. I don’t know when the sign was placed there and if we had at some point an agreement with the police. The other entrance had a sign from the previous preacher that says, “Children at Play 7 days a week” because they had two older boys.
That’s the background. Here is the question. How much do we stand up for our rights and make our property “less friendly.” We don’t to be like the church that had two signs, one saying “A Friendly Church” and the other saying, “Trespassers will be prosecuted.” To what extent should we be good stewards of our property–the wear and tear affects our gravel and occasionally the grass?. To what extent do we “turn the other cheek?” Of course, safety for our kids and others is a major part of the issue.
We are considering making a more permanent, but movable gate at one entrance that even has a lock. People can still enter our property easily on the other side.
Have any of you dealt with a similar situation? What did you do? What would you do?
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Both of yesterday’s sermons are now available online HERE.
AM–Jesus’ power over Satan and spiritual forces of evil
PM–Intro to Christian Hedonism
February 11, 2008 at 12:37 pm
We had a similar issue in Memphis at Holmes Road. We put up a gate on one entrance that was only opened on Sunday and Wednesday. It was locked throughout the rest of the week. It took only a couple of weeks before our traffice died down quickly.
February 11, 2008 at 12:41 pm
[1] Heavy Metal gates (just make sure they are inside your property line).
[2] Speed bumps
[3] Armed Guards
February 11, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Put up “Thanks for Passing Through” signs or “Stop and Visit Some Time” signs.
The real question has to do with safety. If they are damaging property, it isn’t good stewardship to let them pass through. If they aren’t, I side on using it to bless them.
In Arlington, I would often take water or coffee out to people using our parking lot. It was another way to show God’s love to people in our ministry area. One time the fire department used the lot to demonstrate some equipment and damaged our lot. Our reputation for openly opening our lot to people worked to our advantage. The county sent the public works department out and had the damaged repaired within 48 hours.
February 11, 2008 at 5:01 pm
sounds like a problem, better solved by the Elders. oops if you have Elders, if not I guess the two of you will have to solve it.
I think you know who I.m talking about.
February 11, 2008 at 5:43 pm
We decided last night to put up a fence around around property. A nice friendly “open air” fence that will stop all vehicle traffic.
February 11, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Set up a portable baptismal in the middle of the drive with a sign that reads trespassers will be baptized on site!
February 13, 2008 at 10:46 am
Several thougths. There have been some good suggestions to consider. The first thing that come to my mind is where is your property line? In more than one church I have seen property lines that I would not have thouhgt to be in certain places. In one situation, the city had a right of way right through the middle of the property. If you are talking about the corner of an intersection some of the palces people are putting things may be public property.
As was mentioned, the honey vs. vinegar idea had large tree limbs from ice stormes removed from our property by the county just becasue of good relations.
But, there is a time to put up gates. I would just suggest using something like that cautiously.
Thre biggrest question in this to me is a cultural thing. What is the expectation there. Where we were in Oklahoma was very different than where I was in Phoenix. We had gates that were locked and controled the flow of traffic all the time in Phoenix. If I had put a gate on the drive in Oklahoma I would have been stoned. Just some thoughts.
James