Boutique Church

There are many models of church - Tesco Church is certainly not the only one. Gerard Kelly (Senior Pastor - Crossroads International Church, Amsterdam) names his version of my Tesco Express Church as "Boutique Church". A "Boutique Church" is one that offers "an experience of worship that appeals directly to a particular niche or people-group". Kelly makes the point that this model "offers hope to the more traditional denominations" and also that churches on this model "have a significant role to play". I think we need to take this model very seriously. One of the problems that many churches have is trying to be all things to all people. Why panic about having no children if God is calling you to a ministry among senior citizens? Further, there is a lot of evidence that bigger churches are likely to be most successful if they are broken down into smaller units. We all need to look to what God is calling us to - and realise it won't be everything!