A Radical Idea for Churches-4 ideas that would really shake things up
Fri, Mar 27, 2009
Let this rattle around in the brainstorming section of your mind. John D. Rockefeller at one time stated that ‘churches are the greatest waste of real estate in the world’. Now when you first hear that you may think, “well easy for him to say, he was sold out to ‘mammon’.”
I want you to think though for a moment about the average usage of a church space. I am going to bring all churches into this so that I can speak of averages. The average church has a occupants for worship about 3 hours per week. This is figured for 2 hours on the weekend and then 1 hour during the middle of the week for prayer meeting. Now if we were to be honest, prayer meeting is so sparsely attended that it probably should not count but…we will.
I have been to some 1000+ member churches that are doing good if they get 4 people to show up for prayer meeting…including the one leading out. Now we could go into the issues with worldliness in North America and Europe and why that is the culprit for this but we will not at this time.
We will look at what the space is used for and what could the greater usage become. As you look in the bible and later commentaries it is clear that smaller churches thrive more than large ones. By thrive, I mean have higher standards, are more intense about their daily walk and have a closer sense of family that does a ‘mega church’. With this in mind and the amount of time used during an average week, what if we did something absolutely radical in the ‘rich’ parts of the world. That would include cities primarily in North America and Europe and various other cities in Asia, Australia..etc.
Here it is. We sell our churches that currently exist. Many of these churches would sell for hundreds of thousands and even some for millions. We then take this money and develop a new model for church. I believe there is nothing as special as branding and unity. The early church had unity and this was their secret ingredient along with love for one another for success.
So we sell all these churches and we develop a new strategy. I myself have been reading some books that I believe are inspired by God himself. The writer of these books is Ellen G. White. The principals laid out in one book entitled ‘Evangelism’ really point out the fact that education insititutions, publishing houses, and even where we live should be in the country out from the centers of great population(cities). As I have pondered over this more and more, I see the clear benefits of this. It is easy to see in the world we live in today that Worldliness i.e Materialism is the god of this world that is heavily competing against The Creator of the Universe.
We have to choose whom we will serve. The god of this world is heavily seen in the cities and yet the Creator is so easy to find in the more quiet, slowed down pace of the country. That was a little sidetrack but stay with me.
So the principals laid out in the book ‘Evangelism’ really emphasize the need for these ‘memorials’ or churches in the cities. Another strong point brought out is the need for outreach efforts in many different ways. One of those that permeates the writings of Ellen White is the issue of health and temperance.
Given the state of the economy in this world and the busy lives of so many and that during the ‘Great Depression’ roughly 80% lived in rural areas and now in 2009 80% live in urban areas, we have to realize that those words written over 100 years ago are more relevant now than ever.
So the radical idea…what is it? We sell our large unused pieces of real estate and we develop a broad strategy for reaching the lost. Jesus clearly showed time and time again that he ‘healed’ then preached. He fulfills the physical needs of the people and then the spiritual.
I want to add write here that there is no church or religion in the world today that has a more globally identifiable message and ‘brand’ than the Seventh-day Adventist Church headquartered in Washington D.C.
This church has a common belief system that unlike any other religion or denomination, if you go to a church in Antigua, Africa, or Atlanta you will see the common beliefs represented by this church. Now yes, there are growing divides in this movement but it is deeply rooted and known that there is a fixed statement of fundamental beliefs that all adhere to…whether practiced or not…they are stated.
So the idea is for a unified church like that of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to rebrand itself in the more developed countries and go after the lost in a huge way. This idea would not apply to third world scenarios as these parts of the world are still agriculturally based and churches are typically walking distance from their home. You will see where we are going…hold on tight.
So in order to seek for a smaller church setting i.e. having fewer members and having more of a sense of a family, we don’t need to have such large venues. I now present to you the radical proposal:
1. We sell our churches in all developed countries
2.We clarify our mission. I believe that the message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the clearest and most biblical of all churches. The summation of that is detailed in the 3 angels Messages of Revelation 14. This must be our ‘end goal’. In the next few points you will see that we will have a new venue and medium but that our ‘end goal’ is the same. That goal is to win souls to the truth of God’s end time movement…not church. God has called up a ‘Remnant’ Movement, which is to be much bigger than a denomination or church or religion…much bigger.
3. We continue to pay tithe AND offering to the ’storehouse’ which is the governing body’s headquarters. Unfortunately many are not paying tithe and/or offering and yet love to give their opinion on what should and should not be done in the church. I heard a line from a preacher one time that said ” I will not take advice on how to win souls or run God’s church from those who don’t pay tithe AND offering. Why would I heed the opinions of a God Robber??!!” Wow, that is strong language, important though to note. Tithe and Offering are fundamental beliefs taught from the bible.
4. We take the monies from the churches and we rent/lease centrally located retail space to be used for…Restaurants. Ok so maybe too much hype leading up to this but here is where the rubber meets the road. We can take the massive amounts of money from the sale of our churches and we start up restaurants that are known for their quality and healthy food. These would be vegetarian restaurants and even more than that ‘Vegan’. Let’s really define them as places where you can eat as God originally created all of us to eat. Offer cooking classes and schools all the time. Offer Health Seminars a few nights a week. There should be bible studies many nights per week too. And without a shadow of a doubt, we still meet for church on the weekends. I would propose that these establishments that are as well known as McDonalds or Starbucks, due to the fact that they are on every street corner, are closed on the weekends for business but open for seminars/church etc. Many churches could create 2, 3, or even 5 or 6 of these restaurants that are shining lights in their communities and are a blessing to all who relate with them. They would now generate a respectable income during the week and thus provide more opportunities for outreach to the poor, uneducated, educated, and any and all interested in the topic of physical health and spiritual health. We know from Jesus ministry that when one has found better physical health ….then …they will open up to hear what is being taught about spiritual-biblical health.
The earth does not need healthier longer living sinners. That is not our mission. The earth needs people with clear enough minds and bodies to listen to the words of Truth and to act on them. This is why health is important. It is not just to ‘live longer’.
These establishments would be very respected and known of by all. It would make better use of the space that God has entrusted to us.
Now that may sound like a radical idea and honestly it may be achievable without doing the drastic thing of ’selling all our churches’. The world is literally dying for truth of both a physical nature as well as biblical spirituality. There is a true blessing meeting in a sanctuary that a restaurant may not ever have. I just don’t know if we can afford the luxury of large churches anymore if we are not going to fill them up 7 days a week. It has made me think…I pray it will challenge you to take advantage of all opportunities to share the wonderful message of mercy and warning with the world that is quickly passing away.
blessings,
Jared
Tags: churches, evangelism, soul winning
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Jared, you’re on fire!! i love the ideas proposed above and I could be even more excited if I thought there was respectable number of other people who shared your sentiments… Anyway, I just wanted to say “Hi” and that I have REALLY been enjoying your site. Just the other day I listened to the talk you gave at GCA earlier this week and found it quite inspiring. Especially considering that I kinda know you. You may not remember me but likely remember the occasion when we met. I bummed a ride with you back to Collegedale from DC following a presidential banquet 5-6 years ago……Anyway, it’s great to see how God works in our lives…
Keep it up!
David
Wow. I agree with churches being a waste of space, if the building is not being used for something other than a weekly worship service.
Why not just rent space once a week… for those churches that only meet once a week? I know of some churches that do this.
It’s hard to draw the same conclusion as you have from EGW’s comments regarding moving to the country. There are only 4 places in all of her writings where this is mentioned.
However, there are literally dozens of comments about serving in the cities.
It’s odd to me that the Adventist church culture/people have emphasized 4 comments about moving to the country so much greater than a long list of statements about serving and ministering in the cities.
If you are going to follow EGW by the letter, I expect to see you down serving the poor and destitute, the least of humanity. Of course you don’t have to read EGW to do that, Jesus said it way before her. I’m glad she said it again. Is anyone listening?
And, unless you seriously live in the remotest of areas (with no TV, no internet, etc.) you cannot take yourself away from the influences of this world. Besides, isn’t godly living the ability to stay true to GOD… IN THE MIDST OF BABYLON – like Daniel, or like Joseph in Egypt?
How are you showing the world you’re a disciple of Christ by removing yourself from it? Of course if the end times is all about YOUR salvation (and not others), then go ahead and move! That is, unless you also agree with EGW, that a truly converted soul is passionate and working hard for the salvation of the lost.
Also, I’m all for healthy living. If you want to open up your own vegan restaurant, then do it. There are plenty of others who are not Christian who own vegan restaurants, so why not have Adventist ones? Go for it. What are you waiting for? But if some of the hippies and new age people are vegans, then why aren’t they hearing God and His Truth? So I guess your line of thought is also that God can’t speak to people who are unhealthy? Or He just chooses not to?
I like where you started to go with this… but we ended up in very different places. In the peace and unity of the Spirit of Christ, let us agree to disagree.
I just hope you will actually post my comments… and let my opinions “rattle around in the brainstorming section of your mind.”
God bless.
J.
Fantastic. The health message has been taken over by the new agers. What happened to all the restaurants/cafes/ health food stores we used to have in Australia? Wonderful idea. God bless you.
Since tithing is not commanded for the NT church, wouldn’t it be the preacher who is robbing God by robbing God’s people?
- Jared B.
Why do you think tithing is required for the Church?
Not a bad idea.. good use of the space all week long. Can I request that Haystacks are on the menu.. I’ve got too many non-SDA friends that don’t know what they are till we make’em… then they call it taco salad with fritos.
I think God would appreciate us really getting the community more involved with our worship, and if the food is good quality, healthy, and they get an opportunity to see what we believe, it is very profound and enlightening to visit. This is a great way to educate people about the Seventh-Day Adventist message.
Very creative I might add. Good work brother.
Wow, thanks for sharing. Your message has inspired me. We’ve been talking about this at the office and we’ll keep it in mind as we continue laying plans for outreach. I’ll let you know how it goes.
WOW!! Thanks for the food for thought… am starting the process locally for a church plant in a small town. Lack of true outreach makes a church stale, and a wealthy church very stale. Let’s us our assets fully, whatever they may be.
What percentage of their shelf time did Rockefeller use his car? His summer home? His jet? Think of all the wonderful things he could do for others by selling those …
But forget the money. What about his comb? His toothbrush? His zipper? Some very important things are meant to be used only at specific times. Based on his agenda and priorities, not mine!
But I’m still gonna try to float the idea of adding a picnic area and a deli counter to our health food store and thrift shop next to our church! Thanks for the idea!
We don’t need to tear down what we have in order to get what we need. A good “outer court” makes you need the rest of the sanctuary more than ever!
Jared, I always appreciate your postings. Very informative and enlightning. This idea is very creative and forward thinking. Many of the “wealthier” churches in NZ have very nice Cafe’s which sadly are hugely UNDER used. It seems they are more about “feeding” the converted rather than serving the needy. Go for it Jared. It’s an aswesome idea!
Steward- Take a look at 1 Corinthians 16. It speaks of tithing in the context of the first few verses. Everything we have is God’s, including our money. Tithing is definitely a BIBLICAL concept. I urge you to pray about it. If I was at all unclear, forgive me but I just wanted this to be brought to attention.
Thanks and God Bless.
reply to STEWARD, tithing is required because god owns everything, he only asks that we return 10 percent back to him. so we return tithing to god by giving to the church so that gods work can go on. if no one returned tithes, there would be so much more lost people then there is today.
Jared,\n\nThis has been done in my mother’s church in Korea. The senior pastor in her church was impressed to follow E.G.White’s recommendations about health food restaurant and prayed about it earnestly. \n\nAfter he received an answer to go ahead with the project from \nGod, he sent a few female church members to the cooking school to be trained as vegetarian cook. He then remodeled the basement of the church and turned it into a restaurant. The church was located in a busy commercial district so it was not that difficult to attract the workers during their lunch break due to good quality and low price of the meals served there. People from the church volunteered to help in the kitchen and to serve at the restaurant. The food was tasty and the price was lower than other restaurant in the area. The people in the community loved it. Every day the pastor would go around and talk to people and answer their questions as they came up. They had pamphlets and books on health and religion available at the site. I heard some customers eventually got baptized. Apparently the pastor was very humble and loving toward the people and was respected and loved by the customers who were coming to eat at the restaurant. They also appreciated the kind and humble manner of the servers.
Dear Jared, Yes brother there will bw a people who will finish Gods work and your idea of a vegan resturant is commendable, but even more than that we need as a poeple to be doing as we have been instructed to do and that is to be living “as Enoch did”. What does this mean? Read EGW’s book “country Living”. It is past time for us the last generation to be set up not as we are operating now, but to use her model of Madison college the ONLY board she ever served on as to what our job is. I have been studying this out for 2 years. The Lord gave her instructions of what we are to be doing at this end time and that is to be operating schools out in the country being self suffient by growing our own food ect.and educating our young people in evangelism heathful living how to give hydrotherapy treatments and life skills so they the youth could support themselves. Then they go back into the cities evangelising and bring those people back and educating them to do the same! Madison college sold butter vegtables ect. and at the time of her death Madison college was worth a few million dollars! This is what she meant by living as Enoch did because he lived out in the country self suffient then went back into the cities and evangelized bringing those back and taught them to do the same. The Lord even gave her a vision how to plant the fruit and nut trees.In v. 6 of the testimonies she said if we are doing this work when Jesus comes ” we will go to heaven”. Everyone thought she was crazy because the land God told her to buy was rocky and thought to be unfarmable but she said the youth clearing it and learning how to build the buildings for Madison college would build charater for them! Hence the OCI was born that means to be opperating without church support. These were her instruction right from Jesus himself and you cant get any higher than that! Time is fast running out for us and we need now more than ever to follow the counsel we have been given. Sad to say you probubly wont hear this from the pupit but thats all right because we have a clear ” thus saith the Lord” we just have to researh it ourselves to know what we are to be doing in these last days. Look to Eden valley and Dr.Tharsh in Tenn. as your model. If this is how and what we are to be doing then He will find a way for you to do it. AMEN? AMEN!