Wednesday, April 17, 2019
When Your Church Building Burns Down...
Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burned up and immediately speculation turned to the rebuilding. Which of course got me to thinking. Maybe you thought about it also. What would your church do if the church building burned to the ground?
Most churches would immediately commit to the rebuild. Insurance settlement, savings, a bond program and get back to normal as soon as possible.
But what if we decided to really think outside the box about what is best for Kingdom growth?
This is not about the building is not the church. Not about would the community even miss the building if it was not there. I would hope we all understand the building is not the church and that the most important ministry churches do does not happen at the building.
But I dreamed about what could we do with that money if we did not build again. No buildings. Or utility bills. Or insurance. Or janitorial staff.
So what if we took the rebuild money and ...
Decide no more than 20% could go to any kind of Admin or church support. Rent for a Sunday morning assembly space. Or whatever support cost deemed necessary. Maybe house churches would be the answer. Members would have to be way more engaged, but...
How about 20% to missions? Find places where Christians are planting churches where Christians are few and far between. Maybe that would be right here in the U.S. I can think of 1/2 dozen efforts right now in our country that could use support.
20% for the poor in our community. Feed the hungry once a week. Have it in a fund where members could draw on it to help people they know who are in need. What a statement to our community. And if you need some structure, find some smart guys full of the Holy Spirit and put them in charge.
20% support of full-time elders. Have them work for their faith community as teachers, counselors, and shepherds. Spend their time studying Scripture to teach, correct, and instruct. Work with marriages, addictions, and spiritual growth. Hire some of your widows to work in a dynamic women's ministry, especially with younger women.
And the rest to hire evangelists. Tell your preachers they are freed from building and program responsibilities. Don't have to teach the members. Elders will. Don't have to pastor everyone. Elders are. So free them to be evangelists. Tell the Jesus story to the poor you are helping. Equip members to teach their family and friends. Grow the Kingdom. Change the world. Not change the church. Change the world.
So is this a realistic plan? Of course not. It is not even a plan. I wouldn't even know what a "if your church burns up" program would look like.
But how interesting would it be if as a church...
Everyone knew the money was not going mostly to buildings, staff, and programs.
That members knew their money was making a difference in places where real growth happened because we gave.
What would our community think if they knew that we were putting our money where our mouth is about caring for each other and for the poor in our communities?
Would members grow spiritually if Godly men and their wives committed to real teaching, praying, and shepherding?
And how much would the Kingdom grow if we supported evangelists?
And even more outside the box...
What if we decided to do these things even before our buildings burnt up?
Most churches would immediately commit to the rebuild. Insurance settlement, savings, a bond program and get back to normal as soon as possible.
But what if we decided to really think outside the box about what is best for Kingdom growth?
This is not about the building is not the church. Not about would the community even miss the building if it was not there. I would hope we all understand the building is not the church and that the most important ministry churches do does not happen at the building.
But I dreamed about what could we do with that money if we did not build again. No buildings. Or utility bills. Or insurance. Or janitorial staff.
So what if we took the rebuild money and ...
Decide no more than 20% could go to any kind of Admin or church support. Rent for a Sunday morning assembly space. Or whatever support cost deemed necessary. Maybe house churches would be the answer. Members would have to be way more engaged, but...
How about 20% to missions? Find places where Christians are planting churches where Christians are few and far between. Maybe that would be right here in the U.S. I can think of 1/2 dozen efforts right now in our country that could use support.
20% for the poor in our community. Feed the hungry once a week. Have it in a fund where members could draw on it to help people they know who are in need. What a statement to our community. And if you need some structure, find some smart guys full of the Holy Spirit and put them in charge.
20% support of full-time elders. Have them work for their faith community as teachers, counselors, and shepherds. Spend their time studying Scripture to teach, correct, and instruct. Work with marriages, addictions, and spiritual growth. Hire some of your widows to work in a dynamic women's ministry, especially with younger women.
And the rest to hire evangelists. Tell your preachers they are freed from building and program responsibilities. Don't have to teach the members. Elders will. Don't have to pastor everyone. Elders are. So free them to be evangelists. Tell the Jesus story to the poor you are helping. Equip members to teach their family and friends. Grow the Kingdom. Change the world. Not change the church. Change the world.
So is this a realistic plan? Of course not. It is not even a plan. I wouldn't even know what a "if your church burns up" program would look like.
But how interesting would it be if as a church...
Everyone knew the money was not going mostly to buildings, staff, and programs.
That members knew their money was making a difference in places where real growth happened because we gave.
What would our community think if they knew that we were putting our money where our mouth is about caring for each other and for the poor in our communities?
Would members grow spiritually if Godly men and their wives committed to real teaching, praying, and shepherding?
And how much would the Kingdom grow if we supported evangelists?
And even more outside the box...
What if we decided to do these things even before our buildings burnt up?
