Saw a church sign the other day at a very large building that said "bake sale for missions."
The thought occurred to me that we may have it backwards. Instead of having fundraisers to cover the cost of our mission work shouldn't we have fundraisers to cover the cost of our buildings? I think it would probably to be a very successful bake sale AND we would already have all the mission work we could handle worked into our budget (thus, not necessitating special events to cover things we "don't" have the money for).
I think I remember Shane Claiborne saying churches need public space for congregating when the private space of members becomes unavailable. In other words, you could say the church has PLENTY of space. In the homes of church members. It's just, well, honestly, they don't want anyone in their home.
I also remember Mike Slaughter saying that bricks and mortar should always enable ministry outside the church - not hamper it. When you build, it can stop you from being able to do what you need to do because you become worried about maintaining the facility.
Then there is is something in the Bible about the People of God being the Body of Christ, or something like that. (sarcasm by the way)
Granted, I don't know that church and I'm sure they are doing lots of great things to reach out to those in need. Even have it in their budget too.
Granted, I work in a big church working through these very theological questions.
But you get my point. Let's keep first priorities first.
The thought occurred to me that we may have it backwards. Instead of having fundraisers to cover the cost of our mission work shouldn't we have fundraisers to cover the cost of our buildings? I think it would probably to be a very successful bake sale AND we would already have all the mission work we could handle worked into our budget (thus, not necessitating special events to cover things we "don't" have the money for).
I think I remember Shane Claiborne saying churches need public space for congregating when the private space of members becomes unavailable. In other words, you could say the church has PLENTY of space. In the homes of church members. It's just, well, honestly, they don't want anyone in their home.
I also remember Mike Slaughter saying that bricks and mortar should always enable ministry outside the church - not hamper it. When you build, it can stop you from being able to do what you need to do because you become worried about maintaining the facility.
Then there is is something in the Bible about the People of God being the Body of Christ, or something like that. (sarcasm by the way)
Granted, I don't know that church and I'm sure they are doing lots of great things to reach out to those in need. Even have it in their budget too.
Granted, I work in a big church working through these very theological questions.
But you get my point. Let's keep first priorities first.
honestly, that's one of my biggest problems with "big" churches. Think what those millions of dollars could do for the needy, the hurting.
ReplyDeleteInstead we spend it on a big place where we go on Sundays (and maybe a few other days) to feel like we're doing what God wants. Meanwhile the building is empty most of the week and people are in need.
So this brings up a couple of questions. What would it actually look like to do this from scratch? How do we actually transition churches into this frame of thinking while at the same time keeping them viable?
ReplyDeleteI think this is my big issue with making churches bigger and bigger. What if...
ReplyDeletewe used that money on needs and hurts instead of our own comfort?
we looked outside ourselves and our issues and... do something about it?
we quit worrying about our own comfort and thought about the comfort of others?
"Thy kingdom come" (to the here and now through us) and all that jazz.