Years ago, I was having a weekly breakfast with a group of pastors who led downtown churches in my city (that is what pastors do, right? Eat!). One of them I became exceptionally fond of. He was nearing retirement and I found his insights particularly insightful. On one occasion, I asked him if he had any wisdom he’d like to pass on to me (I was one of the young ones then). He said if he were to do it all over again he’d sell the church buildings. Firm, resolute…unflinching…sell em all! He felt like they stole focus from the “main
thing” he was trying to accomplish.
That was years ago now and in my nearly 30 years of pastoring I have
heard his words echo in the back of my mind at many crossroads. In those years, I have rarely pastored a community with a “church building.” We’ve rented a few, but to truly occupy, none…until now. God has graciously seen fit to loan us one. I say graciously because it was not what we were looking for. We simply were seeking to embed our community in a specific location. For us, it was the north central part of Spokane. We all sensed this was where we were to put down roots.
Some people in the missional conversation eschew the idea of having
a building. It conjures up the “evil” word: Attractional. In some circles, it is viewed with the same derison as the name “Voldemort.” However, for us having a building (or being loaned one) gives us a taproot into a particular geographical area. In a word, it contextualizes this for us. It gives us a parish. I was talking with a friend of mine who has a small building in a very cool “niche” community here in our city. He was commenting about how helpful it is for them to have a building because it moves them into a “participant relationship” in the commercial area where they are. They’re looked upon as a group that is stable and permanent rather then remote and transient. They are seen as vested members of the community, rather than outsiders or intruders.
A quick aside – a building doesn’t provide success or failure per
say. The last church I pastored grew quite large, all while being in rented spaces. It really depends on what God is doing in your community.
We will guard against having our focus captured by having space (I know, you are thinking that is what everyone says), but for us at this time and place, a building gives an element of stability in a world of “rent the box” churches…and we are grateful.
r
Man, well put. I don’t think I could articulate it that well.
Just in case it wasn’t clear in the blog, we have no ownership in the brick and mortar. It is a pure and simple “loaner.” We could be out bouncing around by this time next year. That, however, is up to the Head of our Church. 🙂
Congrats in advance.
Hey Rob, it’s great that y’all have been blessed with a building! Two things. First, I think the problem, and dissenchantment, with churches and buildings is that the church building becomes the investment instead of the people. Buildings become the literal cornerstone of the church. Thus, budget meetings and congregational meetings revolve around “the building”, or, what many would conflate with the Church. Church buildings are just buildings until the foundation of the people inside the building, that is, Jesus, breaches the walls of the building and penetrates its community. So, if people think we should get rid of buildings then maybe it’s because their focus, even if unintentional, was the building. Second, I was recently in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. There, a pastor who we worked with continually called the church “building” a “temple”. We asked him why he kept calling the church a “temple”? He responded by saying that “we call it a temple because the “church” is the people. Without a building we still have the “church”.
Church buildings are only buildings because we have cast them as vesicles and not vehicles. And, a church building will remain a church building as long as the Church continues to make reference to such buildings only in regards to its brick and mortar status. When we look at church buildings as vehicles we see them in a new light; a light that casts a vision that this blob of brick and mortar can actually be a vehicle of fellowship, love, and the mission of God out in the community in which it stands.
Hey Jonny, you are missed. We are doing well. Send me an update – ok?
Uh oh, I’ve got some FOMO going on (fear-of-missing-out). Hope you guys are doing well!