Here at First Presbyterian Church we are in the midst of our stewardship season entitled “New Fruit, Deep Roots.” So I believe it is only fitting for me to touch on a major aspect of our stewardship as a congregation—the usage of our building. As usual, in doing this I’m going to tell you more than you ever wanted to know. But my justification for this is that just because we didn’t want to know it, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know it.
Contrary to the way we use the word “church,” as in “Do you want to go to church with me?” or “Meet me at the church,” the church is not a building at all. The Church is the people. What we often call the church is really just the building where the Church meets. That’s why I really like how many Church of Christ congregations, at least in Oklahoma, will have on their sign, “The Church of Christ Meets Here.” That’s really more biblical than the idea of the building being a church. Think of 1 Peter 2:5-6, “As you come to [Jesus Christ], the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The English word “church” has evolved from the Middle English word “chirche,” which can be traced back through the centuries to coming from the Greek word “kuriakos,” which means “belonging to the Lord.” So the literal meaning of “church” is “belonging to the Lord.” So when English speaking people were looking for a way to render the Greek word “ekklesia,” meaning “called out [people],” which is the word that the Bible uses to refer to Christian believers collectively, they used the word that would eventually become “church,” which gave the sense that this people belonged to the Lord. So ekklesia (called out by God) was translated as church (belonging to the Lord). Again, whether we use “ekklesia” or “church,” it still is all about people—the people who have been called by and belong to God in Jesus Christ. Over the years, although it covers up the original and more powerful (and empowering) meaning of the word “church,” the building where the church meets started being referred to as a church. This is so ingrained in our culture that, in my opinion, it takes constant reminding that we don’t go to church; we are the church.
The original Christians did not meet in a building that was specifically set aside for use as a place for worship. It appears that the church in Jerusalem may have met, at least occasionally, at the Jerusalem Temple, but most of the time the gatherings of Christians met, often secretly, in private homes for worship, fellowship, and for a shared meal. As far as we can tell, these early gatherings of the church often met in a private home before dawn on Sundays, shared the Lord’s Supper every time they met, and then went to work. The idea of Sunday as a day dedicated to worship and rest was still a long way off. The first evidence that archaeologists can find of a structure devoted specifically to Christian worship is from about the year 240 AD, around 210 years after Jesus' death and resurrection. It was unearthed near the Euphrates River in an ancient city very near the current border between Syria and Iraq. Even this structure, however, is appended to a house. It appears that someone built a gathering place for the church onto the side of a house. It is unclear if a family lived in the other part of the building or if the entire structure was used by the church. Two rooms were combined to form an assembly room and there was a separate room with a baptismal pool in it. In the baptistry room there were murals painted on the walls—of Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Jesus healing a paralytic, Jesus and Peter walking on water, the Good Shepherd image of Jesus, and the Marys coming to the empty tomb on Easter morning. It wasn't until after 313 AD that church buildings became more popular.
There is a movement right now within the wider church, and there have been many similar movements over the centuries, to return church gatherings to private homes. There are many reasons for this, but the main two are that many believe church buildings breed complacency and cause congregations to become insular, not reaching out but expecting others to come to us instead of going out to them. The second reason is that many feel that the amount of money that is invested into building and/or maintaining a church building could go to better use in ministry and mission. In these congregations there are many networks of house church gatherings of about four or five families that meet together weekly for worship and a meal, and then all of the gatherings meet together once a month or so for worship and the Lord’s Supper in a rented space like a school auditorium. I have to admit that I am very sympathetic toward these views, as I was very good friends with folks involved in this movement back in Oklahoma. For them there was no such thing as a committee meeting or a budget—just Bible study, worship, shared meals, and lots of mission and outreach. They were all involved in mission and nearly 100% of the offerings went to mission. But as you will see in a moment, I also firmly believe that when we do have a building it can be put to good use for the glory of God.
Here at First Presbyterian Church, we have inherited a beautiful historic sanctuary built around 1890. Our educational wing was built sometime in the 1960’s. These are the buildings that over the years this congregation built and dedicated to God. In essence, these buildings belong to God, and we are the stewards of these buildings. So how are we doing as stewards of these buildings?
I have been around too many congregations that only allow their building to be utilized on Sunday morning by their specific congregation. Usually, when people are honest about it, the reasoning goes something like this: “We don’t know what other people would do to our building. They might mess it up. Really, do we want those people in our building?” Here’s where this reasoning breaks down for Christians: (1) more than it is our building, it is God’s building, (2) those people quite often happen to be those whom Jesus identifies himself with in Matthew 25 and to whom Jesus calls his church to care for in his name. Congregations who think like this have buildings that sit vacant all week. Granted, they save money on utilities and custodial pay, but the church isn't called to austerity; the church is called to the ministry and mission of Jesus. Remember Jesus’ parable of the talents. When God gives you something, don’t hoard it; let it grow!
Thankfully our congregation is not like this. One of the reasons I was drawn to this congregation was that I believe we are on the right track when it comes to stewardship of the buildings with which we have been entrusted. Not only do we meet for study and worship on Sunday mornings as well as holding office hours Monday through Friday, but our building is utilized almost every single day. Our building provides space for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, the Fayette County Food Pantry, our Wednesday Night Soup Supper, Choral Society, the community children’s choral society, a community women’s Bible study, a group that resources teen mothers, all of our various music ministries, and many other groups that meet here occasionally. I truly applaud us as a congregation for being faithful, generous stewards of this building. We might ask, "But what about all that money we’re spending on utilities?" To that I will answer that hospitality is rarely free. If it was, then it wouldn't be so highly valued. Christian hospitality is a sacrifice on behalf of the other in Christ’s name.
Buildings were meant to be used. Buildings have no inherent worth. They only have functional worth. An empty building is worthless. A building that teems with life gains its worth from that which takes place within its walls. The heart of a building is the people inside it. Because of what happens here, this building on the corner of Market and Hinde Streets has great worth, it has a great heart.
Make sure that this week you stop by www.fpcwcho.org to click on the stewardship tab to explore all the resources that the Stewardship Council has provided for us as a congregation. And as we think about stewardship during this specific season in the life of this congregation, let us think of our building usage as a model for all areas of our lives. It is not our own, but it has been given to us as a blessing. It has been given to us not merely to bless us but to bless others as well. That is true of everything in our lives. Like our building, our time, our talents, our passions, our possessions, our financial resources, and our love and compassion, have been granted to us as generous gifts from our loving God. They are blessings to us and are to be blessings to others as well.
Here is the ultimate question of stewardship: How will we use all that we have been given to give glory to God and to bless others in Christ's name?
In Service to the Gospel,
Everett
