Thursday, March 17, 2016
Are Church Buildings Helping or Hurting Kingdom Growth?
It has become increasingly difficult for me to justify the money Christians spend on buildings. I grew up in a time where churches had Bible class, worship, Sunday night services, and Wednesday night services. Some churches even had two Sunday morning services. But even then it seemed that a lot of money was spent for for somewhere to do so little activity.
And now most churches do not do Sunday night at the building. Give it 10 more years and I doubt many do Wednesday night at the building. Some would argue that our churches are much healthier spiritually away from the building. So there may be a number of great reasons to have fewer activities at our buildings. But at the same time, that just makes it harder to justify the incredible expense.
Thousands upon thousands (if not millions) spent for auditoriums used at most 2 or 3 hours per week. Classrooms used maybe one hour per week.
I acknowledge that many churches try to be good stewards with their physical resources but it seems harder and harder to justify. So I have been trying really hard to come up with some reasons why we should continue building buildings in the name of Jesus.
Warning: It is possible that I can sometimes be a little sarcastic. So this may be a little tongue-in-cheek.
Buildings help people find the church. Makes it easier for them to come to us. If we did not have buildings, we might have to go out among the lost and hurting of this world. After all, build it and they will come.
Some people will only give -- or will only give generously -- to buildings. There is something special about real, tangible evidence of what we have done. It is harder to see what you are building when you are trying to build people. Hard to put a name on a person. But we can look with pride at the buildings we erect.
It is hard to make the worship assembly the focal point of our Christianity without a big building. It is hard to explain how much your church is growing without a building program to point to. It is really hard to "take roll" if you don't have everyone together at least once a week.
If you shift to a bunch of smaller assemblies, it will be very intimidating to have to make eye contact, visit with people, and actually get involved. We might even all be expected to sing in smaller assemblies.
How can you justify paying for a premium staff of ministers without preaching, big worship, large programs, etc.? If not careful, the members would actually have to do most of the ministry. Do you really want a bunch of ordinary, uneducated people doing important ministry? The next thing you know the only way to justify paying ministers would be for them to spend more time reaching lost people instead of taking care of us.
Who is going to teach the children if we do not have big, nice classrooms for our Bible school program. Parents? Smaller assemblies mean young people right in the middle of everyone. Listening to old people, hearing those endless questions from little ones. Auditoriums were made to keep everyone quiet. Well, except for one guy up front actually working.
What would you do with the money you save? You would have smaller budgets everywhere. And if people do not have to meet budgets, what happens to your tax deduction?
How will the world know we have arrived if not for our buildings? After all, we have an image to keep up. Successful churches surely have to look successful. People notice.
OK. Maybe I am too hard. And I know lots of people that have given sacrificially to building programs because their leadership asked. And I know lots of churches striving to make good Kingdom use of their buildings. I know ministers who are desperate to reach to lost. And even some who do not think it is their mission to pacify or entertain the saved. Some that do not believe everything revolves around one hour and fifteen minutes on Sunday morning in an auditorium.
But I just cannot help but wonder if we are chasing a flawed model. So for now, I don't vote for building programs. I usually just abstain from those votes. They might be right. I might be wrong. And we will not give sacrificially to building programs.
Yet... rather than just complain and point out things that trouble me, I must do what I think church is called to do. After all, you would have to be pretty arrogant to tell everyone what they do is wrong if you are not doing something different.
We will have people in our home. Conversation with a couple wanting to know about Jesus last night. Group of elder couples and a troubled marriage tonight. We will use our resources to serve people and reach people. We will try to live in spiritual community outside the walls of our building.
I don't need a building for that. Nor can a building stop me from doing that.
Because the real building is what God is doing with people.
And now most churches do not do Sunday night at the building. Give it 10 more years and I doubt many do Wednesday night at the building. Some would argue that our churches are much healthier spiritually away from the building. So there may be a number of great reasons to have fewer activities at our buildings. But at the same time, that just makes it harder to justify the incredible expense.
Thousands upon thousands (if not millions) spent for auditoriums used at most 2 or 3 hours per week. Classrooms used maybe one hour per week.
I acknowledge that many churches try to be good stewards with their physical resources but it seems harder and harder to justify. So I have been trying really hard to come up with some reasons why we should continue building buildings in the name of Jesus.
Warning: It is possible that I can sometimes be a little sarcastic. So this may be a little tongue-in-cheek.
Buildings help people find the church. Makes it easier for them to come to us. If we did not have buildings, we might have to go out among the lost and hurting of this world. After all, build it and they will come.
Some people will only give -- or will only give generously -- to buildings. There is something special about real, tangible evidence of what we have done. It is harder to see what you are building when you are trying to build people. Hard to put a name on a person. But we can look with pride at the buildings we erect.
It is hard to make the worship assembly the focal point of our Christianity without a big building. It is hard to explain how much your church is growing without a building program to point to. It is really hard to "take roll" if you don't have everyone together at least once a week.
If you shift to a bunch of smaller assemblies, it will be very intimidating to have to make eye contact, visit with people, and actually get involved. We might even all be expected to sing in smaller assemblies.
How can you justify paying for a premium staff of ministers without preaching, big worship, large programs, etc.? If not careful, the members would actually have to do most of the ministry. Do you really want a bunch of ordinary, uneducated people doing important ministry? The next thing you know the only way to justify paying ministers would be for them to spend more time reaching lost people instead of taking care of us.
Who is going to teach the children if we do not have big, nice classrooms for our Bible school program. Parents? Smaller assemblies mean young people right in the middle of everyone. Listening to old people, hearing those endless questions from little ones. Auditoriums were made to keep everyone quiet. Well, except for one guy up front actually working.
What would you do with the money you save? You would have smaller budgets everywhere. And if people do not have to meet budgets, what happens to your tax deduction?
How will the world know we have arrived if not for our buildings? After all, we have an image to keep up. Successful churches surely have to look successful. People notice.
OK. Maybe I am too hard. And I know lots of people that have given sacrificially to building programs because their leadership asked. And I know lots of churches striving to make good Kingdom use of their buildings. I know ministers who are desperate to reach to lost. And even some who do not think it is their mission to pacify or entertain the saved. Some that do not believe everything revolves around one hour and fifteen minutes on Sunday morning in an auditorium.
But I just cannot help but wonder if we are chasing a flawed model. So for now, I don't vote for building programs. I usually just abstain from those votes. They might be right. I might be wrong. And we will not give sacrificially to building programs.
Yet... rather than just complain and point out things that trouble me, I must do what I think church is called to do. After all, you would have to be pretty arrogant to tell everyone what they do is wrong if you are not doing something different.
We will have people in our home. Conversation with a couple wanting to know about Jesus last night. Group of elder couples and a troubled marriage tonight. We will use our resources to serve people and reach people. We will try to live in spiritual community outside the walls of our building.
I don't need a building for that. Nor can a building stop me from doing that.
Because the real building is what God is doing with people.
