christianity in the On Demand era

If you want any amount of television, you've probably seen the IBM commercials that advocate their On Demand philosophy towards technology and IT services. The basic premise is that businesses need to be poised to take advantage of opportunities at a moment's notice, and often the traditional models for doing so are too slow and cumbersome to act quickly enough. In IBM's commercials the businesses overcome that obstacle by taking advantage of "On Demand" services that give them what they need right away - their needs demand it, and thus it is delivered instantly. That kind of mentality is quite prevalent in US society; when we want something, we want it as fast as possible. I mean look at the shipping business alone - I could order something online at 4:00pm Monday and have it in hand by 10:00am the next morning if I paid enough. No trips to local stores in the hopes that they carry it at all or if they do, that it is in stock. A few clicks of the mouse and it's taken care of. This sort of "on demand" thinking is also behind the move of many businesses to continue outsourcing more of their IT services to other companies better outfitted to handle them. Your business is not responsible for maintaining those skills, but if they are ever needed, an army of skilled people are just a phone call away.

I wonder if church could ever adapt to an "on demand" mode of operation. Just like computing slowly moved away from large centralized systems to more distributed environments or even new grid technologies, could Christianity move away from its current centralized brick and mortar fellowship? You may say, "But there are lots of small group studies at our church!" I would reply, then why does a large building who's primary purpose is Sunday morning preaching need to be used? Could not we move to a model where the building owned by a church is a multi-purpose environment suitable for reaching out to the local community? (Paul - this was a great discussion!) Could we not gather together at a local Starbucks, drink coffee, and discuss with our brethren? Couldn't communion be had a local Italian restaurant among friends as long as time was taken to remember and pray? Certainly regular worship service at the Christian community center (a.k.a the church's building) would continue to be a blessing as the community of believers would need to have time to gather as one. We could become the On Demand Christians, wherever one is needed, they'll be there. Whenever the local community has needs, the Church is ready to respond and offer its services. The building becomes a tool for outreach and integration with the community, open to all and available for any number of uses (some obvious restrictions would apply). Come to think of it, wasn't Jesus an "on demand" kind of guy. Not in the sense that you could demand he do something and have him do it. Rather, someone truly in need was never turned away, and he chastised his disciples when they tried to limit anyone's access. I'm ready to be an On Demand Christian, are you?