Yellow House / Blue House

Following is a reproduction of a conversation between me, and a pastor friend of mine. My words are in dark blue, his are in dark red.

Thousands and thousands of churches… For whom are all these churches built and run?

If they're for Christians… are we guilty of colossal selfishness? Do we really need all this stuff to become more like Christ?

If they're for Non-Christians… are we guilty of building and running them in a way that repels Non-Christians? Why would we expect the unsaved to enjoy our music, our décor, our customs?

If for a combination of the two… are we guilty of both?”

I don’t have anything profound to say about this. I think our buildings are just a cultural expression of our faith, just as in Africa the people worship under banyan trees. Buildings in our culture are merely ways to keep us warm in winter, cool in summer, and dry in rain. Obviously, like anything else of this world, buildings can be overdone, but for the most part, most church buildings are more functional than decorative.

True enough.

But I’m obviously not opposed to buildings in general. I just think that few people are really clear why all these church buildings exist. I myself wonder if the increased benefit of building a church, over using homes or school buildings, is great enough to justify the expense. In other words, are they really cost-effective in helping us become the people God wants us to be? I think this question is especially poignant if you consider how our church buildings tend to reinforce the exclusivity of our Christian sub-culture.

It makes me imagine a gated community with houses that are all yellow, where the people all wear yellow. A group of outsiders walk by, who don’t like yellow, they like blue. The security guard at the gate says, “We want to invite you to live in our gated community. But first you must change into this yellow clothing.” So the outsiders respond, “Why would we want to wear clothing we don’t like, in order to live in a neighborhood we don’t like?” This scenario happens over and over, and the security guard has many different responses, including “Because otherwise you’ll go to hell”, or “Because I promise you’ll like it once you’ve tried it”, or “Because it would make your mother happy” or “Because there’s free food inside” or “Well, you can keep your blue clothing, but you’ll still have to live in a yellow house, and everybody will kind of look at you funny.” And so on and so forth.

That being said, I recognize that God uses many different methods among different groups to build His Kingdom. I don’t mean to be critical, just trying to challenge myself and others to think about things in new ways.

Glad you’re back… Hope I haven’t demanded too much of your time.

They also represent the inclusitivity of our faith. They do give us places to gather. The issue is not the building. The issue is the hearts of the people gathering there. A building is nothing but brick and mortar. It has no plus or minus factor in and of itself. All hinges on the hearts of the worshipers. Even groups that are committed to not using buildings end up using them. Saddleback is of course the classic example. Another example is The Core here in Springfield. They have opted to use a building downtown as their Front Porch. Are you acquainted with The Core?

Very funny…

You are right that it is our hearts that ultimately matter. But we also have to consider how our behavior, our clothing, our buildings and our customs impact those around us who are not Christians.

One of my original questions was, if (and that’s a big “if”) our buildings are primarily for the purpose of outreach, why are they designed to appeal only to Christians? The Front Porch is being designed specifically to appeal to downtowners, who may or may not be Christians, but by-and-large do not relate to the standard Bible Belt subculture. So I never said that Christians shouldn’t build or run their own facilities, I was just wondering if our purposes and our methods are lining up right.

I don’t think our buildings were built primarily for outreach. They are merely utilitarian. Sorry about the off-handed humor. The imp in me escapes from time to time.

Not to worry… impishness is an occasional trait of mine, as well.

I guess if they’re utilitarian, and primarily for Christians, then the question is whether we are using our money wisely. As I said before, I often wonder if we are more successful followers of Christ as a result of our buildings, or if there are less expensive ways to meet our own needs, thus freeing up more funds to reach the world.

Robert Schuller, speaking of the medieval cathedrals, says the most expensive church buildings are the most economical because they last the longest by far.

Although no building is cost-effective unless it is used well. And no church building is cost-effective if we could accomplish our real purpose just as well without it.

After all that was said, he and I had a conversation about it in person, which I did not tape record. It was concluded, as so many of my hard-fought discussions lately, that God calls different people to accomplish his will in different ways. This, to me, is the most intellectually dissatisfying conclusion. And yet, it is in many ways a spiritual relief... that it's not up to me to figure out what everyone else's methods should be. I am called to hear God's voice speaking to me, and obey it. Period.

But still... I can't help wondering, whenever I pass by all these church buildings, if God's people really know what they're doing. Is it possible that we could spend millions of dollars without a clear idea of who is supposed to benefit from the result? And all the while the blue people need houses they don't want, while the yellow people build houses they don't need.