The following quote was taken from the book that I am currently reading (Organic Church):
The Gospel says, “Go,” but our church buildings say, “Stay.” The gospel says, “Seek the lost,” but our churches say, “Let the lost seek the church.” - Howard Snyder
Within the same book, author Neil Cole shared this little slice of humble pie:
“Someone once said that we shape our buildings and then they shape us. It is not just the fact that buildings hold back our growth; they also hold back our understanding of the Kingdom of God. Our minds can be held captive behind four walls as easily as our actions are.”
Okay, let me begin by repenting. I have been very, VERY, guilty of this mentality. I have read books, magazines, and attended seminars in an effort to find out the next big “thing” I could do to make my ministry more appealing. All of it so that people from the outside would look at my ministry and become convinced it was THE place to be. Too often I have wasted hours sitting in my office contemplating what I could change that would bring more people into my church. It scares me to think about the countless people I might have influenced had I invested those hours into people rather than programs.
Think about a church building for a moment. I am going to risk pointing out the obvious here…we can only be as big as our building. If we build a building that only seats 600 people in a community of over 6,000, what does that say exactly? I almost wonder if that is not what actually cripples the church? Let me explain. If we focus on the building and the programs, then all we have to do is sit back and wait for the building to fill up. The problem here is that the longer we sit back the more comfortable we become, and when outsiders actually do come in we become restless because it messes with our structure and makes us uncomfortable. What if we took church to the people rather than expecting the people to come to the church? The gospel says, “Go!” The gospel says, “Seek the lost!”
I believe that the church is caged behind the walls of the building. I fear that we have come to believe that the only place we can worship God, talk about God, and celebrate God is behind these four walls. It is almost like we have convinced ourselves that this is the only “safe” place to be Christian anymore. We want people to want what we have, but if they want it, they are going to have to come and get it. I agree with Mr. Cole. In that case, these four walls have completely crippled our understanding of the kingdom of God. We are equipped with spiritual gifts, we carry within us Christ’s Holy Spirit, and we are armed with the sword of the Spirit. Let me ask you…knowing that we have been given these things, does it make sense for us to sit behind four walls and wait for the masses to come to us? We have been equipped for battle, and we should be on the front lines! We should release ourselves from this prison and experience what God is truly capable of through us. You see, outside these four walls we no longer have the safety and comfort of our building…we must depend completely on God and one another. That ought to redefine “church” for us, shouldn’t it? Out there we get to see God’s real power, but we also get to be a part of the experience.
I am beginning to believe that we don’t get off of our pews and out of our building enough. I can’t help but think about that old saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Do people in this community really believe we care about them if our inactivity in their lives implies otherwise; “If you want to get to know us, YOU are going to have to come to us.”? Jesus always went where the people were. Interestingly enough, the more he went, the more popular he became, and the more popular he became, the more people began to seek him out. Does anyone else see a pattern developing here?
Penny for your thoughts…
The Gospel says, “Go,” but our church buildings say, “Stay.” The gospel says, “Seek the lost,” but our churches say, “Let the lost seek the church.” - Howard Snyder
Within the same book, author Neil Cole shared this little slice of humble pie:
“Someone once said that we shape our buildings and then they shape us. It is not just the fact that buildings hold back our growth; they also hold back our understanding of the Kingdom of God. Our minds can be held captive behind four walls as easily as our actions are.”
Okay, let me begin by repenting. I have been very, VERY, guilty of this mentality. I have read books, magazines, and attended seminars in an effort to find out the next big “thing” I could do to make my ministry more appealing. All of it so that people from the outside would look at my ministry and become convinced it was THE place to be. Too often I have wasted hours sitting in my office contemplating what I could change that would bring more people into my church. It scares me to think about the countless people I might have influenced had I invested those hours into people rather than programs.
Think about a church building for a moment. I am going to risk pointing out the obvious here…we can only be as big as our building. If we build a building that only seats 600 people in a community of over 6,000, what does that say exactly? I almost wonder if that is not what actually cripples the church? Let me explain. If we focus on the building and the programs, then all we have to do is sit back and wait for the building to fill up. The problem here is that the longer we sit back the more comfortable we become, and when outsiders actually do come in we become restless because it messes with our structure and makes us uncomfortable. What if we took church to the people rather than expecting the people to come to the church? The gospel says, “Go!” The gospel says, “Seek the lost!”
I believe that the church is caged behind the walls of the building. I fear that we have come to believe that the only place we can worship God, talk about God, and celebrate God is behind these four walls. It is almost like we have convinced ourselves that this is the only “safe” place to be Christian anymore. We want people to want what we have, but if they want it, they are going to have to come and get it. I agree with Mr. Cole. In that case, these four walls have completely crippled our understanding of the kingdom of God. We are equipped with spiritual gifts, we carry within us Christ’s Holy Spirit, and we are armed with the sword of the Spirit. Let me ask you…knowing that we have been given these things, does it make sense for us to sit behind four walls and wait for the masses to come to us? We have been equipped for battle, and we should be on the front lines! We should release ourselves from this prison and experience what God is truly capable of through us. You see, outside these four walls we no longer have the safety and comfort of our building…we must depend completely on God and one another. That ought to redefine “church” for us, shouldn’t it? Out there we get to see God’s real power, but we also get to be a part of the experience.
I am beginning to believe that we don’t get off of our pews and out of our building enough. I can’t help but think about that old saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Do people in this community really believe we care about them if our inactivity in their lives implies otherwise; “If you want to get to know us, YOU are going to have to come to us.”? Jesus always went where the people were. Interestingly enough, the more he went, the more popular he became, and the more popular he became, the more people began to seek him out. Does anyone else see a pattern developing here?
Penny for your thoughts…
2 comments:
Cory - great thoughts! You know, our focus at New River is to go and "MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE" thus we haven't bought property, building, etc. New River is MOBILE! When we were still in "training", we saw a video of a Church in Hawaii that has 10,000 "members" yet they do not own a building at all! We have to be OUTWARD focused and the problem is that when we get too big we tend to be forced to be INWARD focused!
chrisf
Cory,
I love what you said at the small group leaders meeting about the man that went out to the park each week to meet with the people. The "church" he started just met there instead of asking them to come to a building. I'm wondering if this man also got involved in their lives.
You're right though about following Jesus' example. He met them, healed them, walked with them, went to homes and they followed him. I think they saw someone who was really concerned about them and so they were willing to listen. I believe that we can ask God to put a love for the lost in our hearts and take away the fears and you have been challenging me the last few weeks to do this.
Last night at Camp Kidz I held a young sobbing girl in my arms who came forward to pray about something that was on her heart. She was in such distress she almost couldn't speak. It was a very specific need she had and she trusted that I would care. Not only did she need me to open myself up to pray for her but she needed to be in my arms and be comforted and reassured. I believe that given time, as she sees we really care, she will hear the gospel that is being taught each week.
I wonder if we really looked in our community, how many people like her we would find that weren't lucky enough to happened into our building. Thank you Cory, you are challenging me to step up and out.
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