The Long Hallway

When we first visited the church we now call home, I found it interesting that the announcement time often included remarks such as, "You can find more information on the table in The Long Hallway." 

The Long Hallway is indeed long.  It goes from the gym (which is the main parking lot entrance/exit) to the sanctuary, with the classroom space situated on one side of The Long Hallway. One side of The Long Hallway is lined with windows, and the other with narrow tables covered in floor-length black tablecloths like one might see used in an exhibit hall. 

The Long Hallway includes tables for Women's Ministry, Children's Ministry, Evangelistic Materials, Adopt-a-School, and whatever other special events are coming up, e.g., sign-ups for Summer Book Discussion, tags for Angel Tree, drop-off for Foster Child Backpacks, etc.

Once in a great while, the Adult Bible Fellowship (Sunday School) class I attend has a time when each person introduces himself.  Many of us said things like, "I'm so-and-so, and my husband (or wife) is with the 3rd graders (or pre-schoolers) this hour."  One man said, "... and my wife is doing her Hallway Ministry."  Indeed, The Long Hallway is the place to run into people!

The nursery area is on the opposite side of the sanctuary from The Long Hallway.  In the name of efficiency, we often exit through the door right by the nursery, thereby skipping The (crowded) Long Hallway.  But efficiency has a cost, and so recently, in order to take every opportunity for community, we have been exiting via The Long Hallway. 

To be sure, it takes time, but Little Guy loves The Long Hallway because: one - it's like a runway where he literally RUNS to the gym, and two - it leads to the gym where he can run around with the big kids and call out, "Ball!  Ball!  Ball!"  I like exiting via The Long Hallway because it's the only time that our church family (other than nursery workers) sees Little Guy & thus sees us as a threesome. 

Just yesterday, while Jim was speaking for The Gideons at another church, Little Guy and I walked/ran down The Long Hallway.  We had snippets of conversation with various people, and one young grandpa stopped to play games with him like he does with his grandkids.  As I stood in the middle of the gym, while he ran circles around me, I mentioned to another parent who was doing the same thing, "We're running off energy."  He totally understood.