Twelve years ago my current pastor launched a church in the exact same way as many other churches in America: holding meetings in his living room. However, over those 12 years our church pursued a course that has been anything but typical. While I can't comment on this unique course as a church leader any more, I can share how it has impacted the outlook and values at the level of the congregation.
Committed to being a neighbourhood church that highly values giving overseas and funding local ministries, our church prioritised generosity to others over a building. When my pastor talks about it, he says that he wanted our donations to family-style orphan homes to be a non-negotiable in our budget.
The building had to wait. If you attended a service during those first 12 years, you would have seen a very bare bones operation meeting in affordable rental spaces throughout our neighbourhood.
This year our church finally purchased its first building. Our ministry needs such as a community ESL class sized us out of our rental property, and, most importantly, a viable property in our congregation's price range hit the market at an ideal time.
While we can't expect every church to wait 12 years before building a facility, I have been deeply grateful for the kind of culture that this time of waiting has created. Instead of assuming that we would spend a significant part of our budget on a building right from the start, the building was viewed as negotiable and those who needed our donations the most were guaranteed support.
I don't think it's controversial to say the church is the people (not a building), but the more important matter worth considering is how owning a building impacts the mission of those people. Do buildings help the church serve others or do the people begin to serve the buildings?
Waiting 12 years certainly created a ministry culture that holds to a building far more loosely than any other congregation I've known personally. I've even been a part of a congregation that split over a campaign that proposed building a new facility just down the road!
Perhaps the question that my pastor and the rest of the staff have had to consider critically over the past 12 years has been this: will owning a building limit or expand our ministry?
When our family moved to the area five years ago, our church had a clear vision for ministry overseas, but our local outreach was often partnered with existing groups who had their own facilities. There were one-off events throughout the year where it would have been nice for our church to own a space larger than our former store-front office. There have been plenty of times where this church full of young families struggled to find enough people to set up on Sunday morning. It hasn't been the easiest situation for our staff and our most committed volunteers. Sacrifices have to be made every week.
However, paying the mortgage on a facility we couldn't afford never took away from our top priorities. Our giving was always tied to meeting the needs of orphans overseas, not our own building.
What's the best path forward for a church plant or a church that's relaunching? I'm not an expert, but based on my experience in this church for the past five years, I can say that there are clear ministry benefits in waiting on a facility.
When there isn't a building in the picture, your church can develop a culture without tying it to a specific location. Being nomadic for a few years – or 12 – drills home where your priorities should be.
That's why I'm glad that our church waited more than a decade before purchasing a building. The time of waiting has helped drive home into all of us that the building itself is just a tool for ministry, not a non-negotiable.
Ed Cyzewski is the author of A Christian Survival Guide and The Contemplative Writer. He writes at www.edcyzewski.com and founded The Contemplative Writer: www.thecontemplativewriter.com.
