Building Programs Before Ministry
Ok, so I’ve been thinking about this one for a while. My job gives me the opportunity to talk to many different churches and help them with their needs. Honestly, I really enjoy it. What I do not understand at times though is how many churches put building before ministry.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think these churches just sit around a round table (or square one if you prefer) and decide that they are just going to put building and growing before ministry…. I think it comes under disguise. Not their disguise or that they try to hide it but instead I believe it’s more of a spiritual attack type of thing… with a good mix of pride.
Now, you might be asking… where is all this coming from. What’s the source of my frustration with this issue. Well, like I said… I talk to a lot of churches. Most of the time about a product that I offer. I can not tell you how many times I have heard this response, “Well, I know this would help us so much (this being whatever they see as being a direct need of ministry) but our church just started a building program and we have absolutely no budget. We are having to cut costs and stop spending so we can make this happen.”
This kills me, not that they didn’t buy my product or that I was even put on hold, no, what gets me is that I see this so much in the church today. A church starts to get excited and sees some growth and in response to that they leverage everything they have to go the route of building a new facility with what they see as the blessing of God. But most of the time THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO BUILD!
Now, I know that there are cases where building is necessary and is in order to perform. I’m not questioning that. What I do question though is when building becomes everything. When it requires the church to cut back on ministry to save money for a building, when it gets to a place where the ministry can not function with the resources it needs because of budget crunches, and when ultimately it becomes the desire of the church to build the new building more than it is to change a community by showing them Jesus. By the way, Jesus is not shown through a building, he is shown through people.
A building will never change a life… Some might argue this that a beautiful building creates an atmosphere to experience God, but I believe that is a bunch of Hoakie… A building houses people and is a tool available for the most part to accommodate our desire for comfort. Again, don’t get me wrong. I do not believe buildings are bad, I question the motives and timing for building at times. I like air conditioning and padded seats… come on if I had the choice between that and a rock I would choose the padded seat. But building can not become the desire of the church. If that happens the church essentially sets up a new idol that they desire more than God.
I’ve seen too many churches split over silly things like buildings, carpet color, stained glass or not, pew name plates, hymnals, and fill in the blank, I’ve seen too many churches screech to a halt in their reaching of their communities because they believe “if they build it they will come”, I’ve seen too many people leave the church because opinions and pride went way too far over things that did not matter.
There will come a time when building is right… when it fits into place and does not crush the church in order to accomplish it. The most important thing we can do as the church is show people Jesus. I don’t want to see the church become like a Pharisee and neglect the more important matters like Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness by focusing too much on the less important things.
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