ReCAST Church has been talking about building a building since we started to outgrow our previous facility over fours years ago. I have written blogs sporadically, we purchased 12 acres on McGillen Ave on the eastern edge of the village of Mattawan, and we opened up an expansion fund.
I decided early on that I didn’t want a sign that said “Future Site of ReCAST church” for two primary reasons. 1. Why advertise where we will meet in the future when we already are meeting every week? 2. I remember a church in my home town that put up one of those signs when I was a child a bazillion years ago and that sign was there as of just a couple of years ago. I am confident there is still no building there.
As a pastor that feels the inevitability of God’s timing on building a church facility, I must be honest and say that I am both excited and reserved at the same time. I have the growing conviction that God is moving us together in this direction by His provision, the temporary nature of our current meeting space, and the phase of church life that we find ourselves in.
My reservations come in the form of passion and concern for our mission. I did not become a pastor so we could build a building. My passion is not brick and mortar. I am not eager for a huge project with deadlines, flow charts, and financial spreadsheets. I am grateful for God bringing people to ReCAST who get excited about these things. I also feel a strong need to maintain an accurate focus on the Kingdom of God as we embark on this significant step in the life of our church.
We must not build so that our facility will attract people who fall in love with our building. Our goal is to help people fall in love with Jesus! I hope that any facility we build will serve that simple purpose of providing a regular space in which God is lifted high, the cross of Christ is proclaimed, and the name of God is worshipped!
In a sense, being without a facility has had some great benefits. We have been a living reminder each week that we are not synonymous with our building. We are first and foremost a people unified in the worship of Jesus. I hope to never see that stage come to and end.
On the positive side, it will be great to have a facility that can be used to honor God in our community. I hope to freely allow others to use our facility as a method of loving outreach. I will also be glad when we no longer have to arrive early and stay late setting up and tearing down our “mobile” sanctuary.
One thing I have learned in this period of meeting in the elementary school is that facility DOES impact the feel of a church. Meeting in a cold and sterile cafeteria has an impact on a church. It has been a great bridge between the storefront and our own facility. But it has impacted the connectedness and closeness that we experienced in a smaller facility.
The numbers are looking positive to those who concern themselves with such things . . . and it seems likely that we are not far off from getting a plan before the congregation. To answer the question in my title of this blog . . . I am eager to build a building . . . As long as it only ever remains just that. . . A building.
Amen! The people are the church! We must stay connected to one another and be out in the community taking Gods Word in action to the lost. Not everything has to be done in that building because then the building becomes the church. …. I pray that God continues to probe our hearts and keep ReCast people the church , out in the community !!!