SERMON: BUILDING AND/OR BUILDING – September 21, 2009

Listen to the Sermon: BUILDING AND/OR BUILDING audio

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:11-16

Three store owners shared adjacent storefronts in the same building. Times were tough. In hopes of picking up sales, the owner of the shop at one end of the building put a sign over his front entrance that said, YEAR-END CLEARANCE!!! At the other end of the building, another owner responded with his own sign: ANNUAL CLOSE-OUT.  The owner of the store in the middle knew he had to act fast or he’d lose business. After careful consideration, he hung a larger sign over his front door that read, MAIN ENTRANCE.  – Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D., The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret (Bard Press, 1997), p.30-31

Skye Jethani, in The Divine Commodity, shares about a interview he had with a pastor by the name of Cliff who had been in ministry for over 40 years, all in the same church.

“Looking back,” I asked him, “what are some of your fondest memories of ministry?”

“In thirty-two years I led the church through five building campaigns … I’m proud of that.”

I tried to dig deeper, hoping to find what really motivated Cliff’s ministry.  “What is it about a building campaign that’s so satisfying?”

“When I came here the church only had 150 people.  But we raised the money to buy fifteen acres on the edge of town, and it took us five years to build the new church. It was a real challenge.  But I’ll never forget that first day in the new building.  It was amazing.  After that we did it four more times. We added classrooms, a gymnasium, a new roof, and then a larger sanctuary. I’m still amazed at what we’ve accomplished ….”

At this point I was getting worried.  I hadn’t flown from Chicago to hear stories about gymnasiums ….  I needed pastor stories … stories about praying with the town drunk in a jail cell and seeing his life turn around, or unexpectedly weeping at the funeral service for the cranky old lady you secretly wished the Lord had taken years sooner …. I needed to hear … some evidence that ministry meant more than managing a facility.

I gave Cliff another chance.  “Amid all of that, is there anything that stands out to you?  Something you’re particularly proud of?  Did you see God do something surprising in your people?”

“Oh yeah,” he said.  “I never thought the elders would come around during this last campaign.  I’d been telling them for years that we needed to expand the parking lot, but they didn’t believe me.  I fought with them for at least two years ….  But persistence and prayer paid off; they changed their minds.  That new parking lot is beautiful.  It’s definitely one of my proudest accomplishments.”  Then Cliff took Skye on a ride over the big, new, smooth parking lot.

On the way back to Chicago Skye reflected on his interview: “… It’s obvious Cliff views that building as a tangible symbol of his work as a pastor, a monument to his service to God.  But here is where I find myself – I don’t want my legacy to be a building. When I’m sixty-nine years old I don’t want my conversations to focus on parking lots and building campaigns.  Cliff is a good man.  I know there is more to his ministry than I observed today.  But he’s reminded me that I also want there to be more to mine. (pp. 92-95)

I can understand why Cliff would identify his ministry with building.  Much of what we do as pastors is immeasurable so it is nice to be able to see some tangible evidence of our ministries. It is also a typical theme in the church.  As a young pastor it didn’t take me long to conclude that a significant building project was the primary mark of a successful pastor.  In both the churches served and the churches observed, as people reflected on past pastors the “stand outs” were usually the pastors who had lead them through the building of a new building. As I listened to older pastors talk about their accomplishments the same was true – building projects equaled success.

So, it became part of my hope as an aspiring pastor that someday I would be able to lead a church in the construction of a new building – that someday people would list me as a standout pastor from their past because I had helped “build their church.”  At the same time a low-level regret began to form as I came to believe it would probably never happen for me in my ministry.

I’ve been part of some smaller building projects and I will admit that I am proud of them – a new entrance added in Grand Forks and the renovations done to this church building since I came including the purchase of the building to the east.  I admit that I hope someday we will be able to acquire more property to further expand our ministry and outreach.  However, even though I don’t know when it happened, there has been a shift in my aspirations.  I don’t think its sour grapes. I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that I have far less years in ministry ahead of me than behind me.  I’m hoping it has to do with wisdom and maturity.  Anyway, not too long ago I discovered that my hopes and dreams concerning my legacy no longer have anything to do with buildings.  Instead I want to know I have made a difference in the lives of people.  It is not nearly as measureable and obvious as a building project but it is much more important.

Why is it that we so strongly tie the word “church” with a physical structure?  It wasn’t that way in the beginning.  The early Christians gathered in homes or out by a river bank rather than in erected structures.  It wasn’t true in the early days of Methodism.  The Wesley’s and others weren’t even allowed to preach in the churches of their day but rather they had church in fields and cemeteries and town squares.

We kind of know church is more than a building.  We sing: The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.  I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together.  All who follow Jesus, all around the world.  Yes, we’re the church together. And we think to ourselves – yes, that’s right.  We as people are the church.  It has little to do with the building in which we meet.

Before we dismiss the building too readily, I do want to remind us that our building is a tool we as the church use to further our worship and help us in reaching out to others.

This really hit home earlier this year when a couple came to me and asked if I would marry them.  They had never been to one of our worship services but in the conversation they kept referring to this church as their church.  For several years they had been coming into this building once a week – sometimes more – to attend one of the Narcotics Anonymous groups that meet here.  The bride said, “This church has saved my life.   This church has saved my family’s life.”  I was brought up short.  I had always thought that NA was just a group that met in our building.  I never once thought that some of them might consider this their church as well. I never considered that this building actually had a ministry in itself and that this building was significant to others besides us who gather in its sanctuary each Sunday.

But even with that, this structure of brick and mortar is not the church itself.  It is a building that is used by the church – and the church is us.

To move from equating church with a building to equating church with people is a good first step.  But it is only a first step.  The “rethink church” campaign takes us even a step further.  It does not ask “what if church were a group of people” but it asks “what if church were a verb?” A verb? What does that mean?  How do we church?  Is it possible to church someone?

Actually that’s not the point.  It has nothing to do with using the word “church” as a verb but it has everything to do with making sure the church is a verb.  Unless the church is in action it is really not the church.

In the beginning of the book of Acts we read about the final moments between Jesus and his followers before he leaves for heaven.  We read, “While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.” (Acts 1:4 NRSV)

If that was all Jesus said before he left then we would be right on target to believe that Jesus wants us to sit around together and stay put.  But Jesus went on: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NRSV)

Jesus told his followers the Holy Spirit would fill them as they gathered not for their personal enjoyment but to equip them and empower them and inspire them to go out and change their world.  Jesus intended his church to be in action.  Jesus wanted his church to be more than just a bunch of big and beautiful buildings.

Let’s ask it in another way. What if “church building” was not just a place but an activity?

What are we doing to build the church – to go out and bring Jesus to people where they are?  Are we a receptacle to contain the Holy Spirit or are we a conduit for the Holy Spirit so others might be empowered, equipped and inspired and in turn go out themselves to continue the movement?

When people think of First United Methodist Church do they first think of a church building or do they first think of a people who are in the business of “church building.”

What if church was more than just a building?