This
past weekend it was garage sale time in our neighborhood and the
Peeples family sold some stuff in the driveway-mainly at the instigation
of the boys who quickly lost interest once the temperature rose. Among
the shoppers were a group of people who were very chatty, so chatty
that I figured something was up. I was right. They are members of a new
church that meets in our local elementary school and they were out
"shopping" the garage sales and meeting the neighbors to invite them to
church. I quickly played the minister card before the evangelism went
too far, but I still had to assure them I was "saved." Although their
theology isn't a match with my own, I did find out something interesting
about their church--they are planning on never buying a church
building.
Their
philosophy of church involves not buying a building but rather renting
one and using the money, time and energy that would be spent on a
building to do ministry and evangelism. I have to admit that I see a lot
of wisdom in this way of thinking. (Don't worry I'm not advocating that
we sell our church building.) I've spent a lot of time in meetings
where church folks agonized over how to pay for building repairs and
maintenance. I've done a capital campaign for major capital expenses.
I've mediated battles over renovations. I've watched missions budgets
shrink in order to pay for repairs. I've watched people devote
themselves to church buildings in a way they would never devote
themselves to serving the poor or worshiping God. I am grateful for the
servants of the churches I have served and the one I currently serve who
do the hard grunt work around the church building, but at times I've
seen care for the building turn into an end in itself or even an idol to
be worshiped.
A
church building is a tool for ministry and nothing else. It can provide
a sense of place and belonging that enables one to experience God's
presence. (Indeed, I've heard from members of new churches without
buildings that they struggle with a sense of rootlessness.) It can be a
place to worship God with one's faith community. It can be a place to
celebrate and to mourn. It can be a place to send out servants into the
world to share God's love with those dying for it. Yet, because of our
vocabulary it can also be confused with the church itself. We call the
building "church," but the church is the community not a building. A
church building is not an end but a means.
Our
church building located at 205 West 65th Street in the Armor Hills
neighborhood of Brookside in Kansas City, MO happens to be a
particularly beautiful one. It's placement in the neighborhood and on
its property along with its federal architecture make it a pleasure to
behold. Routinely we have visitors who remark that they always wanted to
visit the church because the building was so attractive and one day
they finally walked in the door. It is a great asset to have an
attractive church building, because many church buildings are god-awful
ugly examples of the worst in 1950's and 1960's architecture.
In
my nine months as minister of our church, I have sensed regular anxiety
about the maintenance our building and how we will pay for the work.
(Most of this anxiety is borne by the dedicated few who are willing to
work on church finances and the building.) We do have a lot of
maintenance to do and it adds up financially, but I can assure you that
things could be so much worse. We have no major structural issues and
what we do need to work on falls under the category of owning a
building--stuff wears out and falls apart, so you have to fix stuff. Our
church has not fallen for the temptation to allow our building
anxieties to overcome our devotion to ministry--at least not yet. That
temptation remains, however, for our church and every church that owns a
building.
This
Sunday our church will do something new. After an abbreviated worship
service (at the regular time) and a quick lunch we will head downtown to United Inner City Services
for a few hours to help their service to their community. UICS serves
its high-need community by providing childcare, a clothes closet, a food
pantry, literacy classes and more. We will do some work that their
staff simply does not have time to do--touch up painting throughout the
building, gardening, building new shelves for the food pantry, sorting
child clothes in the clothes closet and sharing information about UICS
with the neighborhood.
We
are leaving the church building for many reasons. We will serve a
worthy organization with which we already have a connection (church
members have served on their board and we provide Christmas presents to
the children in their preschool). We will carry out our mission as
disciples of Jesus Christ to care for those who do not share the same
blessings we enjoy. We will remember that the Christian life by its very
nature involves service to others not merely our own self-interest. We
will rediscover that the church is not a building but rather a community
of people who seek to live as followers of Jesus.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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