Buildings

Yesterday I attended the dedication of a new fellowship building in one of my Area churches. The people were so excited, and they had a right to be. This building had been discussed for years and frequently voted down. Obviously, when God's timing was right the church decided to move forward with the new facility. Another reason they had a right to be excited was that the new building is debt-free. A layman in the church told me a story of how God provided the final money they needed to complete the building. It was a true miracle how God worked to enable them to build their facility without borrowing any money.

As I left the service I wondered how excited they will be a year from now. They spoke much during the service how this building will be used to the glory of God and to better reach their community, and I pray that happens. However, I've been around long enough now to know that sometimes the completion of a new building can also be the beginning of a major let-down in ministry in many churches.

During the planning and building phases there is so much excitement. People pour their financial, physical, and emotional resources behind the building project. Most people are working with a common vision to see the new facility completed. However, when the building is finished so is that vision, and too often a new vision does not rise up to challenge the people. Everything in the church stops. Suddenly, the people become very protective of the new building. A facility that is dedicated to minister to people outside the family of God suddenly has to be protected from those people. After all, we can't let our new building get dirty. Those people wouldn't know how to act in a church building, their children would probably damage it, and we don't want to get any stains on the carpet. I've seen this happen too many times in too many churches.

These churches forget that their new building is just a tool. If it is used to reach out to people and provide for better ministry, then praise the Lord! If not, it might as well be used to store hay. Such churches need to ask themselves if God would be more concerned about dirty carpet or lost souls. What happened to the vision of reaching new people with improved facilities? Too often, we say the right words but we fail to follow them up with right actions.

Are you in a building program? That's great, but just remember that when the building is completed that is when real ministry should begin to happen. In a smaller church it is often hard to be involved in both a building program and ministry because there are just so many resources available. But even before the building is completed the leadership of the church needs to be praying about the future ministry of the church. The vision of building a new facility will end with the building is completed, and it's essential that the church have a new vision for ministry to take its place. Otherwise, you will likely find you have a very expensive facility that you really didn't need.