Who wouldn’t want to spend a nice Sunday morning in Arizona at the golf course?  Any takers?  What if you could attend church service at the course and even bring your dog?!

ONE Community Church in the area of Santan, Arizona is taking a new non-traditional approach to Sunday service, hosting it at local golf course.  But the unique spin doesn’t stop at an appealing outdoor location.  ONE’s also adapted their service style to be more relaxed and shorter in length, just 37 minutes.

The idea for this outdoor, 37-minute service came out of the desire to create a simple first step to get people to church, said Pastor Mark Krenz.  Realizing a traditional church service can be intimidating to a non-believer, ONE’s goal is to host an inviting, relaxed service in a familiar setting.  With casual worship, appealing setting, and a manageable time length, many want to give it a chance.

ONE launched their new outdoor service this Easter; 175 people attended.  It was like a re launch.  We had a new venue, new location, and style to the service. The trial run for the outdoor service is set for six weeks.  They have been excited about the turn out.  The size of the outdoor service has leveled off since Easter, but this doesn’t concern Krenz too much.  He believes, The combination of the outdoor setting and smaller venue creates an intimate relaxed setting.  Through this service we’re drawing in many new visitors who might not otherwise consider coming.

At the end of the six-week period, ONE has several ideas for the future of their outdoor service.  If weather allows they may continue for another month.  Or they may take a break during the summer and resume outdoor services in the fall.  Another option is to use the outdoor service to transition into a traditional style second service.  Still another idea is taking the service to other community location on different weeknights. We aren’t exactly sure where this will go.  But we’re excited about the opportunities and response by the community, exclaimed Krenz.

Krenz’s advice to other planters who want to give this idea a try, Why not try it?   He says, This type of service is low risk, low investment, but offers high potential.  Their facility use is free, worship and set up only require a few volunteers, and it doesn’t take much additional effort on his part.  For ONE, it’s been worth the payoff.  Krenz stated, This service has created community buzz, attracted new people, and has even drawn more into our traditional service.  We’re glad we gave this idea a try.

For more information on ONE Community church, check out their website. 
Read the article about ONE Community Church in the Arizona Republic.