Hey Element Church! Grant’s been in the office one week now. Here is a pic I grabbed of him in Terri’s office. From stocking chips to pastoring people. What do I do now? He’s been a HUGE blessing to me already. I can’t tell you how much weight has been lifted off my shoulders by adding that dude. Crazy! He’s a natural.
Hey Element Church! This is my last installment of these posts that have been brewing in my mind. You can read them HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. I’m sick and tired of Christians thinking you’re not a “real” church until you have a building. I’m equally tired of people thinking you MUST have a building in order to be effective. I think you can make a case for being able to do more in a portable setting. When portable you’re not pouring resources into a facility. You typically will have more money. When portable you don’t as easily fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people therefore you more effectively use your time and volunteers. I really think you can do more by being portable. But I know that you also have times where you must move into a permanent location. We’ve looked at some questions to ask when doing that. Here is my last one.
5. Where will you be going? If you really find that it’s time to go to a permanent location you’ve GOT to ask this question. I think it is absolutely vital. Where are you building? Will you still be in the city? Will you be too far of a drive from the people you’re currently reaching? What kind of exposure will you get? Does the facility allow you to be the church you’re called to be? And MANY MANY others! This question was HUGE for us in our decision making process. The WHERE to me was just as important as the WHAT. I felt SO STRONGLY that we were to still be in the city that buying land was out of the question. I felt so strongly in the type of experience we do that the building had to allow us to do that. Where we’ll go has got to be asked.
We’re already talking about our next location. This move for Element Church is not “our building”, it is our next location. I don’t plan on us being here forever. If we are, so be it. BUT, we MUST be ready to move if we need to move and these questions MUST be asked. We’re already talking about what is next if God so chooses to bless Element Church with filling it up again. To be honest, I think the next logical step is to buy land and build.
I think there comes a time when there are no more options but to purchase land and build a building that will serve as a permanent campus for the ministry. Church planting I think is definitely in our future, but being the rural setting we are, I’m not sure that alleviates space issues very much. Having a building isn’t bad, it just needs to be at the right time. A church eventually reaches a size where having a building outside of it’s city limits won’t necessarily be a hindrance. The church, it’s staff and leaders however MUST STAY INTENTIONAL about serving in their community in practical ways. Being about what got them to the church they are today. If we build a building and fail to be the church that got us to that building WHAT IS THE STINKIN’ POINT?
To build or not to build…that is the question. WHEW, got that off my mind now.
Jeff
