Whenever I visit a church with a huge campus — or even a disco ball — I always remind my self that covetousness is a sin. A recent article by Ed Stetzer suggests I might not feel that way if I pastored the church meeting there.
I think many churches are going to wish they had not built gigantic multi-thousand seat auditoriums… I served as an interim pastor for a church in Nashville with a 3,000-seat auditorium. Meeting with the staff before I left, we all agreed that if the church were started today, we would not build in the same way.
It’s a good article. (As usual; if you’re not following Ed Stetzer on a regular basis, I recommend you do.)
But on the question of buildings, what makes a great place to worship? How does that assist the entire mission of the church? How does it compete with the church’s mission?
I know a church that’s under tension as one bloc within the congregation advocates for leaving the denomination. Suppose they succeed, and their opponents leave the congregation. Or suppose that first bloc becomes discouraged and they leave. How will the remaining members pay for that awesome building? How will that financial burden take away from the rest of what they’re doing?