Does your church building match your mission goals? Are you able to honour your central calling as a congregation in your present facility? How we love our buildings! How we cherish the memories, history and experiences that linger in the pews, walls and very fabric of the place! Perhaps our children were baptized and married there. Some were confirmed, and said farewell to loved ones within those beloved walls.
Where I minister at St. Andrew’s, Orillia, Ont., our building’s architecture is stunning and of historical value to the community. It would be irreplaceable. The rich wood, the 95-year-old Casavant organ, the beautiful balconies; these would not be built today. And they share the building generously with the community. On any given day there are AA groups, community seniors, hospital teams, mayor’s events, transitional housing programs, etc., helping to meet our goals of partnership with community care providers and specifically, helpful work with seniors. Down the road we may even venture into a phase of seniors’ ministry by providing affordable housing. Our buildings should never become an end in themselves.
Buildings can hollow out congregations. When all their time is spent fundraising for upkeep and insurance and no energy remains for sharing the gospel, then the tail is wagging the dog.
I had the privilege to travel to British Columbia to see a variety of new buildings designed to better serve the goals of sharing the gospel specific to each context. I participated in the dedication of Calvin Church in Abbotsford, a beautiful, large building erected by a worshipping congregation of 130. I was not able to attend the ground-breaking at Central Church in Vancouver, but I heard all about their exciting project of building a 22-unit condo that will include their new church on lower floors. I was delighted to see the transformation of St. Andrew’s Hall at the Vancouver School of Theology after the sale of the “castle,” its original home. And St. Andrew’s Church in Nanaimo, now 26 years old, is still a testament to a congregation who risked designing a new, open, inviting sanctuary which they share with a Korean congregation.
All of these ventures have in common a willingness to let go of a cherished building to more effectively do ministry. Consistently, it took key people with specialized gifts plus plenty of volunteers to make the project work. It took tenacity and patience to reach completion. In Abbotsford, the build happened 20 years after the dream.
A successful build requires participants to have a shared vision and be wisely courageous and fiscally responsible. These buildings declare a theology of availability. Plenty of windows look out to the world. Multipurpose in design, the spaces are used in numerous ways. Most involve partnerships where the church is used by more than one worshipping community, and in Abbotsford’s case, at the same time. The buildings speak to the interrelationship of worship, service and community. The sanctuary’s layout and the building itself speaks volumes about the types of worship that can be celebrated.
Now I am not suggesting that everyone build a new building. What I am suggesting is we all reflect on our congregation’s ability to reinvent itself to honour the gospel and to do ministry, not housekeeping. New or old, our buildings are a blessing when they serve kingdom purposes. They become a mixed blessing when they begin to own us.
Take time to reflect on how your building helps or hinders your kingdom goals. (Try reading 1 Kings 6:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 3:16.)
