Church Buildings

I recently had a chance to speak with a person, who is a relative of a person, who is a member of the congregation of JESUS CHRIST that I am currently the pastor of. She was visiting from a ways away and she spoke of how their church was at a point of getting ready to build a building. Being as this is one of the places GOD has impressed upon me HIS displeasure, I shared with her a simple thought.

Instead of building another big building to have church in (which no community needs) why not put their money and effort into building something the community does need and then have church there.

What does it say to a community when a church spends millions of dollars to build a building to have church in, that is seldom used for anything other than having church, while the people who live around it go without basic needs and are loosing their homes and jobs? Do you think it reflects the love and concern of JESUS? Is GOD impressed?

The LORD used me to build 2 youth centers with indoor skateboard parks and concert stages and games. I held church services in the second one. If I had started a church in the first one, it would have thrived. I learned.

Recently I read an article about a church that build a fitness center. The fitness center is for the community. The gospel is shared there. This is a good thing. Sinners do not seek out a church, but many different kinds of people seek out a fitness center.

A group of Christians in a town in MI. have built a youth center in one place, an after school learning center in another building and a clothing store in another. In another town, I have seen a thrift store with a food bank and they run a restaurant where you choose what to pay. The homeless and poor are encouraged to come and eat for free.

All I am saying is this;

If you are involved in a new church or are in some way considering building a new facility, build a movie theater or youth center or any of a number of facilities that can serve the community, and not just your church.

I realize that there are churches that have clothes closets and food banks and do events for the community. In the end, they really are a church building doing stuff that is seen as being for the church. A facility that is seen as being for the community, however, has a different impact altogether.