Through Jesus Christ, we learned that no longer does the spirit of God dwell within one structure, the Temple, which was the more permanent replacement of the Tabernacle under King Solomon. Now the spirit of God dwells within the body of his only begotten Son, who came to dwell and live among us in the flesh, who died and rose again and has made God accessible to people all over the globe. Thankfully God continues to dwell with us today in Coffee County through our church, the group of people who faithfully gather at Bell Springs UMC, as merely one "Tabernacle" of God on earth.
Our church building is best described in biblical terms as a "Tabernacle" rather than a "Temple" because Christ's body is the Temple of the LORD, whereas our church building is a temporary, earthly dwelling which invites the presence of God when two or three (or more) are gathered. When we think about how to care for our church building and how we should consider it within our ministries, we must take care not to confuse our building with the Temple of God, which is the body of Jesus Christ. Instead, we should consider our real estate as one of many "Tabernacles". So what do I mean to say by this?
Perhaps obviously, first we know that we do not have a monopoly on God. Our church is one of many where God's spirit fills the air during worship on Sunday mornings, or other times during the week as we are assembled. The one true Temple of God is Jesus Christ, who is present and available throughout the earth, which is good because that means he is available to us right here! But if this is true, then anytime the church (that is, the people) are gathered, Christ is present. This includes non-church buildings, such as your home, a restaurant, your workplace, or in an open field. Christ's presence is not limited to a building, and definitely not to our building. This is great, because that means when we are gathered to do God's work, to fulfill the mission in the community, Christ is present with us there just as strongly as he is in church.
This also means that the church real estate must have some other purpose than merely "storing up" the spirit of God. Like the Tabernacle in Exodus, our church serves many functional and earthly purposes, as we are people with bodies who live in a three-dimensional world. We have very real needs, such as shelter, in order to protect us from the elements so that we can focus on worship when we do gather on Sunday mornings, for meetings, and for other studies and missions. The church building's purpose is very practical and tangible on one hand, because we live in a practical and tangible reality. But on the other hand, the church building helps us to connect with God, the divine, as its sole purpose is to further and strengthen our relationship with Christ while we are yet on earth. So the church building is like the Tabernacle, in that it functions as a cross-section of time and space where heaven and earth meet. If we are the church, and Christ is the Temple, then the church building functions as an intermediary between the two. Simply put: us --> church building --> Christ. The church building is not a necessary step to encounter Christ, for sure! But it acts to speed up the process, to eliminate barriers between the two, as a catalyst, if you will.
So how should we appropriately understand the way to use the church building, if its purpose is to function as a catalyst and "speed up" or "make simpler" our relationship with Christ?
1. We must not think of the church building as the most important part of our church's ministries, although it must not be neglected either. Many churches will sacrifice their mission in order to preserve their building; still others will allow the building to crumble into disrepair. We cannot do either. The most appropriate action for us is to recognize that the true work of the church has nothing to do with our building, but the building helps us to complete that work more efficiently over time. The building is one tool among many which we use to come closer to God and draw others into relationship with Christ.
2. We must be flexible in how we use our church building in order to better fulfill our shared mission. Too often churches (or individuals within churches) will resist any change to their church building, in an attempt to preserve a historical memory of the past. We cannot forget the past, nor neglect the witness of the past, but the church building is not the best means for preserving our history. With modern technology, we are able to take pictures, keep archives, and even produce miniature models of our church buildings in an attempt to keep the past witness alive. The church building, however, is an epicenter, a Tabernacle, for the present and future witness of the church. To that end, we must be willing to modify, expand, tear down, remodel or re-purpose our church building at any time in order to better fulfill God's mission in our church and community. The way humans live and interact is always changing, and so too must our real estate in order to best function as that catalyst for bringing people and one another closer to God. The attitude of preserving the church building to maintain the past and its history comes out of an honest desire to respect and love God, but in reality it is counterproductive for this purpose. Such individuals must be encountered with love and understanding, not chastised for unwillingness to change, but at the same time, the church must understand that these attitudes can lead us down a path of irrelevancy and ineffectiveness.
3. Our church does not exist within the walls of the building; the building is most effective when the church (the people) is actively engaging in the community, every day, but draws people, resources and energy back into the building as an epicenter of ministry. When we think about the church and church building as synonymous, we have crippled God's ability to work through us in the world. Instead, we need to act as if the building is an epicenter, a Tabernacle, like the locker room for a football team or desk for a teacher. It's a place to plan, strategize, be restored, learn, and weep together. But it's primarily a place of preparation for leaving it and going out to do the real work. All of our shared ministry ought to return to the church building for analysis, planning, healing, etc. That means the people we meet, the resources we gather, everything we learn and even the baggage we pick up along the way, everything should be brought back into the church building, the Tabernacle, in order to better prepare for tomorrow. The church building ought to be a sanctuary as it is the intersection of the earthly and divine. But when churches begin to treat their building as the end to their mission in itself, the mission has been completely bypassed.
I pray that together we would develop or maintain a healthy understanding of our church building, not in order to tear one another down or argue, but so that we may be healed and made holy for the world around us, for the sake of the Gospel, for Jesus Christ, and for God's ultimate mission to restore and reconcile all things back unto himself.
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