Ideas from the Edge –
Building a Kingdom
Take a look at these
numbers:
135 new church
bodies, instead of 13 new buildings.
Building
a Kingdom
3.4 million. 3.7 million. 11 million. 1.7 million. 6.4 million. 2.3
million. 5.6 million. 11.8 million. 4.6 million. 700,000. 5 million. 6.1
million. 5 million.
What are these numbers?
Every year I have been an ordained minister (which is one year) I have
received a calendar that displays 12 pictures of church buildings that a
certain company helped finance to be built. They are beautiful
buildings- one has a prominently featured outdoor fireplace attached to
it. One was even built to exactly replicate the movie theatre that the
congregation originally met in. Nice buildings.
And
listed at the bottom of the calendar page for each one is the price tag
for that particular building, proudly displayed there. And those are the
numbers I began this article with.
Here's an experiment- add those numbers up real quick. Use a calculator
if you would like. Take your time; this article will still be here...
Did you get about 67.3 million dollars? What do you
suppose the universal church could do with 67 million dollars? I
mean, besides build buildings...
Do we really need these elaborate structures? How necessary is an
outdoor fireplace that I would estimate cost in the tens of thousands of
dollars? Does it make sense to replicate the exact same building you
were already meeting in for 6.4 million dollars?
Is it really necessary to spend a few extra thousand dollars to ensure
the pumps on your baptismal operate without sound? Does a congregation
really need all of those 20 acres? All of that 50,000 square foot
building?
And if they do, does it really all have to be brand new, or would that
old high school or shopping center just a few blocks away have sufficed
for a third of the price? Or maybe that other church building that the
Baptists had to move out of last year?
What could Christians have done with 67.3 million dollars instead? Well,
here are just a few ideas:
World Vision could have fed 184,384 children for an entire year.
At an average micro-loan of 200 dollars a piece, that money could have
helped 336,500 people start a small business in their villages so they
could feed and care for their families.
At around 10 dollars a piece, 6.73 million mosquito nets could have been
distributed in Africa, where 3,000 children a day die from malaria.
And if you aren't convinced about that, and you think some money should
go into church development, should go back into "us," well, for you
then, 67.3 million dollars could have planted, for 500,000 a piece (a
lot more than most church plants need) 135 churches, all over the world.
184,384 lives saved from starvation, instead of 13 new buildings.
336,500 new businesses started to feed 336,500 families, instead of 13
new buildings
6.73 million children not contracting malaria, instead of 13 new
buildings.
Yeah, I know, God deserves nice places to be worshiped at. I know that
people will say that a place should reflect the Glory of God, and that
we should build buildings that bring honor to God.
But if I remember right, didn't God already make
something that is supposed to carry God's image, and thus God's Glory?
When those things that he created are over looked and neglected,
abused and oppressed, I wonder what brings him more glory and honor-
making sure that what he created isn't being stepped on and abused, or
pouring resources into things like a man made waterfall at the entrance
to a church building?
When a congregation sees fit to spend that kind of money on ornate
structures and, to put it truthfully, unnecessary details like million
dollar stage lighting, I can't help but wonder- whose
kingdom are they really building?