Why Churches Need To Lose Their Buildings
Statisticians like to say that Christianity is in decline in America, but it's probably not true. What is true is that church attendance is down. Here's why that's a good thing.
“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” - Matthew 8:20
Just a quick visit to the Hillsong website should tell you everything you need to know about what is wrong with modern day “Christianity.” Just a few of the massive flexes they offer on their “fact sheet” (yes, it is actually called that) is that their music is sung by an estimated 50 million people in 60 languages every week and they have an average global attendance of 150,000 weekly. The word “Christian” ostensibly means to be “Christ-like.” So, am I the only person that thinks maybe the homeless dude all these people are supposedly following would just not be super impressed by the greatness of Hillsong?
You see, all the way back in Exodus, just after the Almighty delivered the Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians and was giving Moses His/Her/Its/Their blueprint for the perfect society, He/She/It/They told Moses:
Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle.. If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.
Okay, so a couple things to note here. First off, Yahweh didn’t actually command the Israelites to offer sacrifices; rather, They simply gave instruction as to how the things man already did - and still does to this day - should be done. How many people have a lucky fill-in-the-blank that they have to wear on game day or they know their team will lose? Or a specific ritual we feel we have to do in order for us to succeed at something? It is buried deep in our DNA to offer sacrifices to the gods - so Jehovah didn’t tell us to do it or not do it, She simply told us how to do it when we do.
And what It said was: when you do it, don’t make it fancy. Just build a plain earth altar. If you have to put stones on it, don’t dress them up and don’t raise it up high with a bunch of steps. You see, once again -as you will find throughout Scripture if you really look -Allah knows their audience. G-d knows the innate nature of man. Just look at all the church buildings man builds. What do every single one of them have at the front? A raised altar. Some even go so far as to call it a stage - literally.
One thing I find funny is the part about how your “private parts will be exposed.” The thing you always have to remember is that this is actually Moses communicating what Jehovah said. Again and again, you will find that man has this amazing tendency of taking what God says and adding his own twist to it. For instance, in Genesis, God told Adam:
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Gen 2:16-17 (NIV)
But then in the next Chapter, Eve has a little convo with the serpent that goes a little something like this:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” Gen 3:1-3 (NIV)
But see, Yahweh didn’t say “you must not touch it, or you will die” They just said “when you eat from it, you will surely die”. So where do you think Eve got the idea that they weren’t allowed to touch it? It says that Elohim told Adam but it doesn’t say Elohim told Eve. So do you think maybe Adam might have actually embellished just a bit when he told Eve the rule?
This isn’t the first or the last time man has gone off and added his own flourish to what God said. Back in Exodus again, God said to work six days and then rest - so man had to go off and create some 300 different rules about what it meant to rest! To this day, some 4,000 years later, there is an entire branch of Judaism devoted entirely to the practice of debating what it means “to rest,” called Shabbat (Sabbath) Law. Once again, G-d said something very simple: work six days, then rest - and man had to go off and turn it into an extensive list of rules and regulations and then made himself judge, jury and executioner over the whole thing. See, this is where we get religion from.
Religion is man’s quest for power.
And this is why I think Elohim didn’t want fancy steps or ornate stones. I think maybe Moses added that part about “your privates being exposed” as a way to explain why God wanted what God wanted. But I think Moses got it wrong. You see, once again Yahweh knows the innate nature of man. He knows that fancy steps and ornate stones are not about Him but about man, and more accurately, man’s obsessive need to prove man’s own greatness.
Look at the Vatican. Ostensibly that is supposedly man’s greatest tribute to The Almighty, but is it really - or is it actually a tribute to man’s own greatness. I think it’s the latter. You want to know why? Because we know the names of every single man who built a building, created a work of art or painted something on every one of the buildings. Also, because women weren’t allowed to contribute. If it was really about God, then it shouldn’t matter who created the tribute, but man has to make sure that MAN’S greatness is immortalized (not women’s).
The Vatican is where you go to worship great art, not Goddess. Realistically, I would think standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, peering down into its vastness or standing under a roaring waterfall probably gives you a better sense of Allah’s greatness than standing under the soaring ceilings of the Vatican. After walking away from “the church” more than a decade ago, I know that’s where I like to go to worship.
One of the things you always have to remember is that the Bible was written and interpreted by man.
One of the things that we’ve learned about coding is that you literally code your own prejudices into programs. I think the same is true of the way the Bible has been interpreted. You see, the Bible was not written in English and it is no secret that every single translation of the Bible that we read in America was translated and interpreted by white men. But even before that, it was written by Jewish men. (Notice anything in common?)
One of the great things about living in the 21st century, however, is that we have this amazing tool called BibleHub. What’s incredible about this tool is not just that you can go and compare different verses in about 20 different translations at the same time, but you can also go and look at the original Hebrew and Greek to see what a specific word means and how it was used in other places in the Bible. I put two specific words in brackets, because I believe this verse was mistranslated based on both the context of this verse and how Jehovah interacts with man in other places.
The verse (as translated) says: “Wherever [I cause] my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” But I think a better translation or interpretation would be “wherever my name is honored, I will come to you and bless you.” The difference is that Goddess is not stupid. She knows the difference between what we are genuinely doing for He/She/It/Them and what is really about our own ego. See, maybe I’m cynical but I don't think that Hillsong lists how many people attend their churches for God’s sake - God would already know. I think it’s there to stroke Brian Houston’s ego.
Always remember, God knows the nature of man. And so do we. So what happens when Jehosephat builds an altar with three steps going up to it? Then obvs Jerrubabel has to build an altar with five steps leading up to it. And then, of course Jeremiah has to build one with eight steps and on and on it goes - all the way to the Vatican. God. Knows. Man.
So first of all, our church buildings are a problem because they are tributes to man and not God but that’s not the only problem. Here’s another.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. Exodus 20:4-5a (NIV)
What does every single “Christian” church in American have right up front and center? We put it on bumper stickers, T-shirts, key rings, jewelry, coffee mugs and every other place we can think to put it. The image of a cross. Do you think it’s possible that in America we have come to worship the cross more than what it is ostensibly meant to represent? Do you think maybe God saw this coming?
But here’s the third problem with church buildings.
Buildings turn churches into businesses.
You see, you can’t just “build” a church building, you have to buy it. That generally means either buying land and then paying for the construction of the building or buying a building outright. That generally involves getting a loan from a bank, that then needs to be paid back. Once you build the building, however, then you have to hire a staff. And where does all the money come from to buy the building and pay the staff? Well, from tithes and offerings of course.
But tithes and offerings were never meant to buy buildings or pay staff. And they absolutely, positively 100% were never meant to put pastors in $5,000 sneakers or $10,000 hoodies!
Our tithes are meant to care for the poor and the needy.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matt. 6:1-4 (ESV)
There is literally not a city in America (or town or village for that matter) that doesn't have poor people in it, yet you also can’t find a single town or village in America that doesn’t have at least one giant-ass church building. It’s pretty ridiculous how large church buildings are getting in even the tiniest of towns. Yet, in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, we still have food insecurity! Not to mention a national housing shortage! We have millions of homeless people in America and thousands of buildings that largely sit empty about 300 days of the year!
Do you honestly believe that the God who came to earth as a homeless migrant worker would really be pleased by the buildings we ostensibly built in “his” name, while millions and millions of people in those same areas are hungry and homeless? Apparently there are millions that do, but I would have to say I disagree. But as compelling as those reasons may be, they are still not the only reasons we need to get rid of church buildings.
Buildings create “factions”
There is a place near me where two giant churches share a parking lot. Both are basically non-denominational “Christian” yet for some reason, they seem to feel they both need their very own building. Why?
Well, of course, its because we don’t all believe the same things and because one has to be right - so they have to have their own building where they get to be RIGHT. See, there is literally no reason why we have to worship on Sunday. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we have to - it says “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8 NIV) but the Sabbath (at least according to the Bible) has absolutely nothing to do with going to church.
The Sabbath is supposed to simply be a day of rest. It says “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work.” (Exodus 20:9-10a) That’s it, that’s all. It saying nothing about getting together and worshipping or “going to church” - it just says “work six days, then rest for one.” That is the Sabbath. I think every mom knows, going to church is not restful.
Let’s face it, for the church-going folks Sunday for mom is just one more day of battle. Battling to get the kids ready, battling to get the husband together (since these days, if you’re still going to church, you’re probably married to a man) and then battling to get lunch/dinner/supper ready (whatever you call it) before battling to get at least some of it into your kids before you get to clean up all the mess. There is very little about Sundays that is “restful” for women. If you’re real lucky, you might get to squeak in a 20-minute nap at best.
In fact, the practice of getting together on Sunday came from the 1st century when “People of the Way” ( as they called themselves) began getting together on the first day of the week (which is what we know as Sunday). What Christians just love to forget (if they ever even knew in the first place) is that Jesus was Jewish. Like everyone in the years after His death, He honored the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Those same people started organically getting together on the first day of their week (Sunday) to pray and worship. Which means, we can do the same on any day of the week, since it was never a “commandment” to do so in the first place.
Now in Hebrews 10, it says “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Letting go of church buildings doesn’t have to mean we stop gathering, it just means we need to do it differently.
What if, we actually “went to church” on different days in the same building? Just imagine if Christians actually had to share with others??? Just imagine if Christians had to cooperate with others? I can already see all the problems. First off, there’s always going to be the “vocal ones” who demand that church has to be on Sunday, even though there’s plenty that would be delighted to go on Wednesday night, Friday morning or Monday at noon.
Obviously, there would be a wealth of services to choose from and something for everyone, but you will always have those people that want to go to their church on SUNDAY and only their church. You could, of course, rotate time slots, but there again, someone’s always going to complain. The question is, should The Church really cater to them?
The next problem, of course, is that everyone has different beliefs about right and wrong. Some folks think drinking is just fine, while others think it’s “of the devil” - and obviously no one wants to share a building with people that don’t agree that they are right. (This is literally why we have so many church buildings in the first place - even if no one wants to admit it.) But even more problematic is that some churches are actually letting queer people in their churches - and even more mortifying - actually ordaining them as clergy! (*gasp*) Surely, we can’t be expected to share a building with them???
There is, of course, another option, which is that we go all the way back and do things the same way they did in the 1st century. When People of The Way met in homes. They called them house churches. Of course, that would mean we couldn’t get together with hundreds (or even thousands) of other “believers” to have a professional pastor tell us what to think and professional musicians give us a full-on concert “worship experience.” But would that really be so bad? To have a church so small people could actually talk to each other? One so small they literally knew what each other was struggling with and could lift each other up?
There’s a lot of people who have walked away from large church buildings and organized religion and are struggling to find something to fill the void. No matter how abusive a church might be, it still offers something that we miss when it’s not there. What if we skipped the big churches and just gathered a couple friends to have coffee and/or brunch on Sunday? What if we just let conversations on life and faith happen organically while we broke bread together?
You see, I think there are any number of “church rituals” we have developed that completely miss the point of what *I* think Jesus actually intended (not that I’m some great Bible scholar or anything.) In churches we do this thing called “communion” where we eat a little piece of bread (or a special wafer) and drink a little thimble full of wine or grape juice. This ritual comes from Luke 22:19, where at the Last Supper, Jesus “…took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
But what people seem to miss is that this “ritual” took place at the Last Supper. Meaning it was a FULL MEAL that they ate together. Anyone who knows anything about Jewish culture knows that “breaking bread together” or who you chose to eat with was a Really Big Deal. In fact, Jesus was always getting in trouble because he was constantly eating with the “wrong” people. So, do you think maybe it’s possible that when Jesus said “do ‘this’ in remembrance of me” he was talking about something a little more literal than the little ritual we do in “church.”? Do you think maybe he actually intended for us to get together and enjoy a full meal together?
Maybe, just maybe, if we get rid of the buildings and the “Professional Christians” we hire to conduct all the rituals, then “church” might actually start looking a little more like what I believe Jesus actually intended.
But maybe that’s just me. After all, I’m just a girl, and not some big “Bible Scholar” or anything…. But, for those of you that think a girl needs a man’s agreement to give her credibility, this isn’t actually either a new or even my own idea. In fact, Francis Chan left his big megachurch more than a decade ago to do this very thing.