By contrast, we use patios for privacy and intimate gatherings. It communicates leisure, space, and hospitality. Assorted chairs, hammocks, tables, and plants create an inviting environment that offers people a place to wonder, tell stories, and share questions. On the porch, visitors can share without going inside. Between the steps and the door, the porch offers people a place to be.
Porches allow for discovery and for the testing of relationships.
A porch is a place where seekers can experience unhurried time and relationships with the faith community, participate in prayer and worship, and connect their story to the gospel story. They can test the reign of God in a faith community context. Without a porch, steps lead immediately to the door of the house. It initiates relationship without pushing intimacy. Like steps, evangelization represents all the ways God invites and offers access to the reign of God and the life of faith.