A Better Approach Than $115 Million For My New Church Building
May 28
A few posts ago, I linked to an article from christianpost.com about First Baptist Church’s (Dallas, TX) mega-building campaign. In contrast, read this other article from the same site, spotlighting the Church At Brook Hills here in Birmingham, AL.
I especially like what David Platt had to say about measuring the effectiveness/success of a local church. Isn’t this a better approach for measuring success vs. how great of a building you can build or how many people attend worship? Sadly, too many churches tend to evaluate success based on how much money comes in, how many people attend, and how cool the building is. All of a church’s energy goes into increasing the Three B’s: Building, Bucks, and Butts.
I’m afraid that so many church leaders today (I’m referring to pastors in particular) are lost on this one. Rather than try to convince them otherwise, maybe a better approach is to invest in upcoming leaders who are younger and aren’t so set in their ways. After all, when you try to reason with those who have this disposition and have already been in leadership for awhile, it quickly becomes apparent that the argument is going to go nowhere. Oftentimes, the response one will hear back goes something along these lines:
“You’re too idealistic. That will never work. We can’t risk losing members or money toward our budget.”
or
“Easy for you to say–why don’t you try those sort of things as the pastor.”
Funny, no one seems to be willing to step aside and let me try. 🙂 Seriously though, if someone isn’t willing to try themselves, why not make room for up-and-coming leaders who will? Many pastors later in life worry about ruining their career–those who are up-and-coming have little to lose and are more willing to risk losing church members or donations, etc. I do think if pastors’ careers weren’t tied to church giving, they’d take more risks to see their church live out the Gospel more faithfully.
Today, David Platt twittered a link to an article he recently published regarding loyalty to one’s denomination vs. loyalty to Christ and the Great Commission. You can find it here. I’m not sure what the report is that he’s responding to, since I’m not Southern Baptist, but I thought his comments were right on. Let’s cut our budget–do whatever we can–to further the Gospel!
How I wish more churches and church leaders viewed denominations (and devotion to the Church’s mission) like that article laid out.
“I do think if pastors’ careers weren’t tied to church giving, they’d take more risks to see their church live out the Gospel more faithfully.”
This kind of thing has been in my head for a while now. I believe that it is because of this that the 3 B’s are so heavily emphasized because the 3 B’s bring money and awareness to the church. The 3 B’s are justified because the church is “furthering the Kingdom of God” so anything that is good for the church is good for God.
But in reality, the spirituality of the church is weakened, and the world sees the whole thing for what it is and is completely disinterested to the point of mocking Christians.