Comments on: The (Potential) Problems with Church Buildings http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/ From the Leaders of The Well Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:45:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The Tim Tebow Super Bowl Commercial: Why it Won’t Work « A Blog for the Church http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-401 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:05:42 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-401 [...] wrote back in November about the extravagant spending of a church in Dallas to renovate their buildings in an attempt to communicate the transformative [...]

]]> By: Top 10 Comments of 2009 « A House Church Blog http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-348 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:34:43 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-348 [...] and that the building will be a beacon of truth.  Of course, I had to write about why this was a problem on November 12th, but someone who goes by verticalworldsolutions commented and said something [...]

]]> By: What would your church do with $130,000,000.00? « Defending. Contending. http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-213 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:00:07 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-213 [...] Ken Eastburn also lists on his blog some of the amenities that this new church building is expecting to [...]

]]> By: Tom NU http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-210 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:44:43 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-210 I feel like Jesus must have felt when in talking to the Laodiceans in Rev 3, he said he wanted to “vomit them out of his mouth”. I’m disgusted

]]> By: Ken Eastburn http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-208 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:28:17 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-208 True, extravagance alone isn’t the issue. But when your building becomes as extravagant as this and is coupled with justification requiring the misinterpretation and misapplication of Scripture, and is being done at a time when many are suffering under the worst economy in decades, extravagance is particularly offensive.

“The problem with buildings is not extravagance, it’s (potential) idolatry; in which case, it doesn’t matter the extravagance of your idol.”

Unless extravagance is its own idol.

]]> By: John Ramsey http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-207 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:57:07 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-207 “At a time like this? In an economy like this?”

You’re making your own argument relative. Extravagance alone cannot be the issue (Mt 26:6-13).

Recently we visited a small country church with a sagging roof where the “worship leader” chose “We Have Come Into His House” as the first song. God does not live in houses built by hands (Acts 17:24), so why do we insist that He does?

The problem with buildings is not extravagance, it’s (potential) idolatry; in which case, it doesn’t matter the extravagance of your idol.

]]> By: Ken Eastburn http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-206 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:37:49 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-206 Good point, Sam. How furious would Conservative Christians be if the government was doing a comparable project (comparable to their budget, etc.) at a time like this? In an economy like this?

In a single word: furious.

And yet how many of those same Christians are defending the actions of this church?

It is truly tragic when the church isn’t any better than the State.

]]> By: Ken Eastburn http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-205 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:33:59 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-205 John,

No, I don’t think the real issue is extravagance. Actually, let me rephrase that, I don’t extravagance is their biggest problem, but I do still think it a problem for them.

The biggest problem is the way they’ve justified it, the misapplication of Scripture and the fact that they want their building to communicate something buildings cannot communicate.

But surely their extravagance is a problem as well. $130 million is a LOT of money…more than we really realize. Couldn’t a 10, 20, even 30 million dollar building serve the same purpose? If the church really had the hurting in mind, I cannot understand why they would put $100 million into their building rather than helping those who are being affected by the economy, the hungry, the homeless, etc. There is a line, there has to be a line, but unfortunately it is not always clear or universal.

Perhaps I’m wrong, perhaps they are helping those in need. But I sent an email out to one of their folks last week asking for that information and have not heard back. We’ll wait it out, I guess.

]]> By: "SAM" http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-204 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:33:37 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-204 An orchestra pit and gymnasiums are going to be of little use to someone who is homeless or hungry. It’s bad enough our cities, counties and states use this kind of thinking to promote expansion – taking tax dollars that are needed at home; it’s truly egregious when the church does it.

]]> By: John Ramsey http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/12/the-potential-problems-with-church-buildings/#comment-203 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:04:09 +0000 http://leavethebuildingblog.com/?p=223#comment-203 I don’t like the FBC project, but is the real issue glamor and scale, e.g. extravagance? If so, extravagance is a matter of perception, is it not?

If we are offended by FBC’s extravagance, what dollar amount would we consider justifiable? What feature or expenditure becomes inexcusable? Would we feel better about the project if it were designed as pre-cast concrete (“Costco style”) instead of glass? If the project looked more like urban blight than urban renewal, would we like it more?

Does the extravagance of this project perhaps remind us that facilities and fiefdoms are being mistaken for faith and fellowship? In this case we can look away from FBC’s blindness to search for the beam in our own eyes. What obstacles to faith do we establish? What preconditions to fellowship do we enforce? What idols do we erect as a substitute for faith?

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