Those churches and Christian ministries which devote the vast majority of their resources to taking care of their own needs grow into comfortable groups but lack the fire of outreach and the ability to manifest compassion when needed. They remind me of the typical suburban family which is so busy going to soccer games and school activities they never have time to find out how their next door neighbor is doing in his/her fight with cancer.
Providing classes, seminars, dinners and other social activities are NOT the main objective of the church as for as the Bible is concerned. Honest concern about the well being of others MUST be present in a church or, being totally honest, the assembly will be either stagnant or lifeless. Whether talking about an individual or a body of believers, there has to be the willingness and concern to reach out to those in need or the result is selfishness.
I am constantly amazed at the callused attitude manifested by good and solid Christians in regard to giving outside their church. “I pay my tithes, so leave me alone” is the favorite line from most Christians regardless of denomination or other designation. Yes, the tithe could be looked upon as the way Christians fulfill their financial obligations concerning giving. And, if the majority of churches used a fair amount of the money they brought in for “missions” (charitable giving) then there would be no need for this post.
The sad reality is that most churches use most of their income to support internal programs and salaries. Many churches also give a large amount to their parent denomination. Many churches take up special offerings for things such as “World Hunger Day” or when a disaster strikes. I have been to some of these churches on those days and the amount in the collection plate would maybe feed ten people. The attitude of the members is that which they show a beggar on the street corner asking for alms. They find loose change at best or usually walk on by.
If most churches got off their “got to keep up with the Jones’” mentality about building bigger, more ornate and flashier buildings; there would be plenty of funds available for charity. But, when all excess funds go to the building fund (either pre or post construction), that leaves very little for work outside the church.
There are some churches which actually outgrow their buildings or their buildings have structural flaws which cannot be fixed. But, the vast majority of churches act in the same way most American families did until the recent mortgage crisis. Whenever the desire to move to a bigger, better and newer house; they sold their current house and moved. This was the 1990’s and first half of the 2000’s version of the American Dream. Only people’s grandparents and maybe parents lived in the same house most of their lives.
In my travels all over this country, I have seen my share of majestic old churches which have downtown areas since the community was formed. I have seen many of these churches falling into a state of disarray due to dwindling membership. The younger generation simply does not want to go downtown to an old church with no air conditioning or parking. They would rather switch denominations and join a church with a new building in the suburbs than go to an old church.
The amount of money it takes now days to build a brand new church complete with basketball court and café is astonishing. In many cases, these niceties seem like wonderful ideas at first, but then with time they lose their uniqueness and many times cease to operate. Huge churches end up sitting vacant 4 or 5 days and nights a week. All I can think of when I would drive by one of these huge edifices is “what a waste of the Lord’s money”.
I was attending a church fairly regularly a couple of years ago. I had no intention of actually “joining” this church, but when I was in town I attending one of their services if I could. The church was perhaps twenty five years old but it had a flaw, according to the people. The “sanctuary” was a combination basketball court with a stage on one side. This set up had served the church well for many years, but suddenly it was not good enough.
The church decided to divert a sizeable amount of its discretionary offerings to the building fund to construct an edifice that was totally unneeded and way more expensive than it should be. One of the compelling reasons for the new building was to “give back” the gymnasium to the athletes. Holy basketball batman, what kind of stuff are the leaders on anyway?
I left the church soon after this was announced because it was quickly becoming the only thing everyone was interested in. There was no longer any spark for outreach. All the spark was internal as were the resources of the church and its congregation. I miss that church at times, because for a season I thought I had actually found a place more interested in doing the right thing than the “cool” thing.
Any church or ministry willing to invest the majority of its resources into what is commonly called “missions” will surely prosper and grow. This has been shown over and over again. The church that freely gives will most certainly freely receive. The church which seeks only to glorify itself and hoard its resources to use only for buildings, salaries and programs will in due time stagnate and slowly fade away. Let us pray this is not what our church ever becomes.
