Georgia Church: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Building

Georgia Church: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Building

Posted on April 14, 2010
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(26) comments

What if we sold our building and use the $1 million to invest in people who have needs? That's the question the people of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, GA asked. Their answer? Heck yeah. Sell the building!

Here's part of an article from 11alive.com in Atlanta:

A church in Fayetteville is closing its doors but not its hearts. Rolling Hills Baptist Church is challenging traditional ideas and selling the church and using the money to help people.

It took about a year for the church to find a buyer. On Monday, they closed on a sale to a Peachtree City church. It is now time for Senior Pastor Frank Mercer and more than 100 parishioners to fly free of the four walls that have surrounded their congregation for more than 20-years. "We feel free, free to do what god commands us to do," Pastor Mercer said about the sale.

The church has a new mission. Instead of investing in the property that consumed most of their budget, they will use the more than $1-million dollars from the sale to invest in people who have needs. "It's just a way of looking at this property differently," Pastor Mercer said. "We saw it as an asset we could liquidate and turn around and use that resource to meet the needs of people."

You can read more here.

What if more churches did this type of thing? Do you think this was a wise move? Could your church operate WITHOUT a building?

Todd

Comments

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Adam Lehman on Wed, April 14, 2010

Perfect.
Brandon Mouser on Wed, April 14, 2010

That’s ressurection! These people get it.
Dave on Wed, April 14, 2010

Consider this analogy. Would it ever make sense for a carpenter to sell his tools in order to buy lumber?

Yes, If the carpenter’s power tools have become a burden and he can still build by using less expensive hand tools. More tools does not automatically make one a better carpenter, and liquidating tools does not automatically make one a better craftsman.
paul on Wed, April 14, 2010

what I find irronic is that they went from one building to another… They really haven’t done away with buildings at all. To sell a building you own and move into a building you rent doesn’t equate to serving God without the burden of a building…

sometimes we worship things more than God… Sometimes we focus on the creation rather than the Creator… Sometimes idols creep up in our lives and we need to smash them to bring us back to God…

if God remains the focus of your life God can and God will use anything He wants for His glory…

I would say that if a building has become the focus of your worship then repent or sell it… If pews vs chairs becomes the main topic of your conversation more than God repent or get rid of them…

as brothers and sisters in Christ it is not our job to know one another by the tools we produce but by the fruit… Lets learn to look for fruit and when fruit is not being produced lets jump in there and help carry a brother or sister whatever that may look like…

perhaps we may discover that in order for them to Grow again they must sell their building…
CS on Wed, April 14, 2010

Brandon Mouser:

“That�s ressurection! These people get it. “

What? How is that, “resurrection?” Is this some redefining of that word from that new Rob Bell video?

Dave:

“Yes, If the carpenter�s power tools have become a burden and he can still build by using less expensive hand tools. More tools does not automatically make one a better carpenter, and liquidating tools does not automatically make one a better craftsman.”

Very wise statement. I liked this. In this particular case, would you say that is what this church did, or did they sacrifice too much from their toolbox?

—
CS
Brandon on Wed, April 14, 2010

CS. I’m not sure what you mean about a Rob Bell video, but I’d say no. What they did was life-giving. Taking what they had but were squandering and used that to meet the needs of the community.

How is provision not life-giving?

There is no function that is performed in a churh builing that cannot be performed without the building.

As to the toolbox analogy, I disagree. We weren’t given church buildings as a tool for anything. That’s a trap we created and fell into all on our own. They are completely unnecessary.
CS on Wed, April 14, 2010

Brandon:

“What they did was life-giving. Taking what they had but were squandering and used that to meet the needs of the community.”

The word, “resurrection,” means that someone has come back to life, such as Lazarus or Jesus. Someone selling their property to the benefit of others is called, “charity.”

So, when I read an article like this, where a church has decided to be charitable by selling their building, and then see a response that says, “That�s ressurection! These people get it,” I naturally get confused at this misapplication of this word. Or, to borrow from my friend Inigo Montoya, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

—
CS
Brandon on Wed, April 14, 2010

@CS. I get what you’re saying. Just a difference of opinion, I think.

Ressurection, to me, is an act that brings life. Surely Jesus & Lazarus are the literal results of a resurrection from death. But is it possible for a church community to be spiritually dead, and through an act of service, be revived?

I beieve so. I believe that is also a ressurection.
CS on Wed, April 14, 2010

Brandon:

“Ressurection, to me, is an act that brings life. Surely Jesus & Lazarus are the literal results of a resurrection from death. But is it possible for a church community to be spiritually dead, and through an act of service, be revived?”

We’re getting tangential, but this redefinition of this word and its misapplication leads to many problems, especially within this context:

-If resurrection is an act that brings life, but a church is spiritually dead, how can it revive itself through its own actions?

-Bridging off of that concept, how would the same logic apply to the salvation of an unbeliever?

-And, if church buildings are, “completely unnecessary,” are you saying that churches that have buildings, at large, are spiritually dead?

See the problems? It’s not a difference of opinion, but it’s the wrong application of a word with a specific meaning. If we check the dictionary, your definition and its definition are at odds with each other.

—
CS
paul on Wed, April 14, 2010

for one to have a resurrection in their life or church they must first have Jesus through faith…

Jesus stated very clearly that He is the resurrection and the Life… Jesus was not stating that He was an event that happened in time but that He was the actual event that happened… The resurrection is a person… The resurrection is the Son of God… The resurrection is Jesus…

and when Jesus resurrected others from the dead He was not trying to show an event but to simply show Himself who in turn did everything to bring glory to His Father…

therefore if one discovers Jesus through faith then they have indeed discovered a resurrection… They have discovered life…

is it possible for a church or an individual to discover Jesus and experience a resurrection… and in deep adoration of the grace and freedom you have found in Jesus one may find himself letting go of things that have become dead weights… Yes even a building…

may we all discover a resurrection found only in Jesus through faith…
Leonard on Wed, April 14, 2010

CS… Do you just patrol MMI to correct others… Brandon, it is indeed life giving. It is indeed fresh.

CS he did not say the church was dead but the community in which the church exists is dead… You really do nit pick… a lot.
CS on Wed, April 14, 2010

Leonard:

“Do you just patrol MMI to correct others…”

No. I come for the news and information on what is going on in Christianity today, to see what the latest trends are, and how that affects churches throughout our towns, nation, and world. Tons of pastors read the posts here, and it helps to know what they are thinking.

“CS he did not say the church was dead but the community in which the church exists is dead… You really do nit pick… a lot.”

Permit me to, “nit pick,” again. He said, “But is it possible for a church community to be spiritually dead [emphasis mine]”

—
CS
Peter Hamm on Wed, April 14, 2010

I kinda agree with you CS (yes, a commemorative coin will be issues). They still have and ned a building… Not sure there wouldn’t have been a better way to do this.

But… no, I do not believe our church would be wise to do this. Not at all.
JAN on Thu, April 15, 2010

Awhile back I attended a worship conference and the keynote speaker pastored a very very large mega church. (name slipping my mind now) They were running 20 plus services. And they had a huge facility. He listed the cost of just watering the lawn which was astronomical.

He had a heart attack and also had a radical heart change during the process of recovery. When he came back to the church he led some rather radical changes (and lost a couple of thousand people). He passionately felt God leading him to go for it.

So, they sold their building and made a deal with their city to help builld a community center that would seat their congregation and they could use on Sunday. The rest of the week the city used this facility.

It was a win win situation for the church and the city. And the conversions that took place because of the good will this promoted were amazing. They also were then freed up of maintaining the property and put the money into missions.

I don’t think property owned by churches is bad or good. I believe God gives leadership vision to lead. And sometimes that vision may include selling what you have and giving to the poor.

I do believe that Americans have a problem with believing “the church” is a building. And we also tend to think that if we have a building we will reach the lost.
Elbee on Fri, April 16, 2010

This probably has nothing to do with the original story, but there has only been one physical resurrection. Lazarus was “merely” resucsitated - he had to die again (major bummer). Jesus is the only One who has been physically raised to die no more - just sayin’...