Thursday
Oct212004
Buildings and money
Thursday, October 21, 2004 at 6:34PM This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"
We've tried to ignore it, but it's getting harder every year. Richview's church building is now over twenty years old. We've never had to put a lot of money into it, so it hasn't been too much of a problem. We don't have any debt. The building has just been there. Yesterday, we received a report that outlines the amount of money it will take to maintain our building over the next thirty years. The numbers are staggering. It is going to take a third of our current budget to adequately fund this facility - not to add to it, but just to maintain it. That is a lot of money, six figures every year. I still don't know what we're going to do, but the numbers don't make sense. With 1.3 billion people living on less than a dollar a day and 3 billion people living on less than two dollars a day, we (and many other churches) will have some tough questions. Can we justify that money with for how we currently use our facility? Is this investing in the Kingdom? Lots of questions, not as many answers.
Reader Comments (9)
The way that I try to face questions like this is to ask the question, "what is the best way that I can use this money" instead of asking, "is this a good use of money". As others have said in the past, the good is often the enemy of the best. Churches and individuals often fall prey to this deception when they make decisions. We recognize that our choice is not by its nature evil and so we justify to ourselves doing less then what we are capable of. Churches (and individuals) will also use the excuse that they have been "called" to reach a certain group and so need to spend money in order to appropriatly serve that group. I think that the calling of scripture to serve the poor, to love our neighbour, and to be generous is a whole lot more clear then the idea that God wants us to spend money in order to acheive a certain lifestyle so that we can sell people on the gospel. I feel strongly that we are all called by scripture to live on as little as possible in order to help those that have less then we do. I think that this is the only way that we can truely be able to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. The issue of church expenditures is simply a corporate expression of the same issue. My husband has writen an essay on this topic which you can read online if you are interested. You can find it at http://joel.mawhorter.org//loveyourneighbor.html" rel="nofollow">http://joel.mawhorter.org//loveyourneighbor.html
Sorry but the correct address for the essay is: http://joel.mawhorter.org/loveyourneighbor.html" rel="nofollow">http://joel.mawhorter.org/loveyourneighbor.html
Rose: I love the article. Thanks for the link, and for your insights.
Hi Darryl...I think if we we're all totally honest with each other...most churches are in that same dilema. So much of our " church " identity is tied up in buildings. Are we willing to strip ourselves of the identity...and sure there is going to be alot of fear that goes along with this more naked identity. I think if we can talk about, especially the reality of still retaining the identity as living stones ( a living vibrant community ) we can maybe move ahead into something much more missional, free up assets to better impact our local communities. Anyway, my prayers are with you as your community struggles searching for discernment, wisdom and a greater purpose for the future. Ron Cole
I have another perspective about this financial situation. I am a tither and believe that if all church members tithed there would not be a shortage in any church. The Christian viewpoint is "me first..God last"
Yeah it's all relative, like there's always going to be the cost of doing business and to compare our Canadian cost of living with the 3rd world is problematic. If all us Christians give sacrificially, which includes feeling some pain, there would be a superabundance and for instance world starvation would be nullified. A functional building is a wonderful tool for doing people ministry.
I'm not sure the question has an easy answer. Buildings are expensive, and I think we need to look at new, decentralized models of doing church. Some churches buy office space but rent worship space weekly or monthly. There are all kinds of options. Even if everyone tithed, is the money we spend on our buildings really giving us the payback we should expect? I'm not saying they're wrong, but is there a better way? Can we really justify spending millions on sound systems and facilities when other members of the body of Christ don't have food?
I think Trent's rather simplistic approach of Tithing...will yes bring in more money, but...it does not address the bigger issue. We were really struggling,not being a big church ( maybe 200+ ) we were bring in enough money to cover costs, with a little left over. So we started to search for ways to be more cost effective and be missional at the same time. So we found believers who were involved in restaraunts and cafe's and starting doing plants in them. There was no rent involved...most places sold coffee,tea, beverages and desserts and all the profit from sales went to local outreach ( food banks, aboriginal health centre ). We also didn't need sound systems...most times we could be accoustic or use small amps. And I love the last paragraph of your comments post Darryl...it's a great starting point at thinking of ways of really looking at Kingdom building, rather than institution building. Good Luck...Ron
There are lots of good points here to consider. Since I'm pretty new to your blog, I haven't taken much time to go back and see where you're coming from. Our church is facing the same thing. I think very few people in my church are asking the questions that are being posed here. Trent's point is extremely important, even if the big question is still not answered. It becomes easier to cover the cost of maintaining the building and also be effective in reaching outside of the building if your people are giving an actual tithe. When a church reaches the size that yours apparently is (which seems to be similar to mine), some of the alternative approaches mentioned aren't very practical. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be explored, but it often means breaking up into smaller congregations. Your final questions are very important ones. It's easy to pay for the cost of maintenance if you know that your facility justifies it in kingdom terms. You may very well be investing in the kingdom, but you also may not be. I think this gets to the crux of why many people in my church won't ask these questions. They're afraid of the answers.