Building Buildings doesn't sound very missional. Putting tons of resources, time and energy just to build another building to meet just our needs, doesn't seem to put the community first. It might seem like that at first glance, but I believe that ultimately building a building isn't really the heart of the issue. A building is merely a tool. A tool to accomplish His Kingdom purposes. And that is how we see it. Here are the facts of the area that God has placed us.
We are in a county that is mostly new growth. It is one of the fastest growing counties in the area and the growth has consisted of turning farmland into new housing and development.
Therefore there are practically no preexisting structures that a church can occupy. And if we are called to reach men, women and families in our community who are in desperate need of Christ - we are going to have to construct and build something among them. In addition, we were given a strategic piece of land at a 1/4 of the land's value, the location where we plan to put our new church home.
Also we are outgrowing our current location, and lets be honest - we are hidden and out of the way, tucked away in the back of a business park on the far edge of the county. God has called us to be among the people of Forsyth county and to be a church that is a shining city on a hill, showing Christ by our presence and by compelling our people to go missionally into the community and show them Jesus.
Those are the realities of our current situation.
We are committed to make a difference in our community. But know that all these comments are not merely platitudes.
But we are putting our money where our mouth is!
We were convicted to not throw tons of money into glitzy, multi-colored brochures, just to raise money for our new church home. Most churches with Capital Campaigns may do that, we chose not to. We believed that God wanted us to redirect those resources to help reach out into the community.
This is an excerpt from the Capital Campaign brochure:
Yes, Capital Campaigns can be missional!
Technorati Tags: Missional, Church, CapitalCampaign
We are in a county that is mostly new growth. It is one of the fastest growing counties in the area and the growth has consisted of turning farmland into new housing and development.
Therefore there are practically no preexisting structures that a church can occupy. And if we are called to reach men, women and families in our community who are in desperate need of Christ - we are going to have to construct and build something among them. In addition, we were given a strategic piece of land at a 1/4 of the land's value, the location where we plan to put our new church home.
Also we are outgrowing our current location, and lets be honest - we are hidden and out of the way, tucked away in the back of a business park on the far edge of the county. God has called us to be among the people of Forsyth county and to be a church that is a shining city on a hill, showing Christ by our presence and by compelling our people to go missionally into the community and show them Jesus.
Those are the realities of our current situation.
We are committed to make a difference in our community. But know that all these comments are not merely platitudes.
But we are putting our money where our mouth is!
We were convicted to not throw tons of money into glitzy, multi-colored brochures, just to raise money for our new church home. Most churches with Capital Campaigns may do that, we chose not to. We believed that God wanted us to redirect those resources to help reach out into the community.
This is an excerpt from the Capital Campaign brochure:
Why do we have this simple brochure?Also go to our Capital Campaign website (here) to see what we are doing. The reason I tell you about the site is that it is amazing what can be thrown together with very little money. The website is a free blogger site, videos are hosted on YouTube, and the Powerpoint Presentation is hosted on SlideShare (which is Powerpoint for YouTube). It is simple, clear, communication.
Big Creek is not an inward-focused church. We are committed to our community. This drives everything we do and every decision we make. Because of that commitment,we decided not to spend money on a nice brochure but use the allotted money for the community. We chose to buy a van for the Homestead Community (a Hispanic community in Forsyth county). This will provide transportation for women and children to tutoring sessions, errands, community events, and to church.
You can download the full brochure here
Yes, Capital Campaigns can be missional!
Technorati Tags: Missional, Church, CapitalCampaign
2 comments:
Great post
Ill be linking to this
btw drop me an email I have a couple questions for you!
I'm not sure I buy the capital campaigns to build new buildings can be missional line. How about sending off half your members to start a new local faith community and keep doing it so you will never need a new building?
But, hey, I could be wrong. And, by the way William, I really do appreciate you posting your thoughts and giving us a chance to think about this issue.
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