Is Building Houses a Distraction for PCC?

(This post refers to the project referenced in the January 31 post entitled "Good Things Are Happening")

One really good question that people frequently ask me is this:  "Isn't this whole idea of building a house a distraction from our core mission?" The answer is surprisingly simple:  Yes it is.  No question about it.

Let me take you back in time to the weeks leading up to our church's first Sunday.  I had extensively researched why people don't go to church and knew that one of the top reasons was the perception that the church was out to get peoples' money.  To overcome this, I resolved that we would never pass an offering basket at PCC.  Instead, we would simply put offering boxes at the back of the room and encourage anyone who felt so led to put their gifts to the church in there on their way in or out of the service each week.  

Attendance at PCC grew exponentially.  Giving, on the other hand, was dismal.  It wasn't that it didn't grow at all, but that it didn't keep up.  The hard reality is that people expect a church to do certain things and the larger the church, the more money it takes to do them, but the money simply wasn't there.  We were dying before we had hardly begun, but you would never have known it because there were hundreds of people coming every week!  People just didn't put money in those boxes for all kinds of reasons.

So, I went to our Steering Team and said, "We have  to start passing an offering basket each Sunday."  Their passionate reply:  "NO!"  "No.  Brian, don't you remember that unchurched people say that they don't come to church because they believe the church just wants their money?"  

In other words, they were asking this question:  "Won't passing the basket be a distraction from our mission?  Won't doing this deter some from coming to our church?"  The answer was surprisingly simple.  Yes it will.  No question about it.

But we had to weigh the cost vs. the benefit.  If we die right here, in this gymnasium (we met in the elementary school gym at that time), because we run out of money, how many people won't be reached?  Or, to put it another way:  How many people would we otherwise reach if we are able to keep going who we won't reach if we die?   We had to put that question against this one:  How many people will we turn away because we will confirm their stereotype that all we want is their money by passing an offering basket?  

We decided that some, in fact, would walk away.  And we were right.  Some left and they never came back.  They thought we betrayed our promise, diverted from our purpose, and distracted from our mission.  I lament those losses.  Every one of those people matter.  I grieve that they felt betrayed.

But as I look back, I can't help but to think of how many more came to church because we were able to remain viable.  And how many of those came to know Christ?  The answer:  Hundreds.

Now fast forward to these house building projects, and our original question:  Is this activity a distraction?  Yes it is.

It takes some energy for me and others to do these projects that we could otherwise be putting towards reaching and serving people.  Frankly, I'd rather be doing those things.  I'm not called to be a builder or a fundraising expert or a finance guru or a dealmaker.

But we also have to consider the cost.  The economy went south in the middle of our building project, which dramatically hurt most of our folks' ability to give to our building program.  Further, the end of the PCC Building project is quickly coming and we have a bill to pay.  To do nothing would put our church in jeopardy.  We weighed the cost of the distraction vs. the benefit.  The obvious benefit is money.  These projects, because they are done largely with volunteer labor are hugely profitable.  

But the benefit is not just money.  Imagine the emotional freedom of knowing that we are able to pay our bills.  Most people can relate to the burden of wondering week in and week out how they are going to pay their mortgage.   So, solving the problem was a distraction on the one hand, but it also  allowed us to be less distracted because we no longer had to worry about how we would get this monkey off of our backs.

All of this is to say that I believe the benefit is worth the cost.   Would it be ideal if some wealthy benefactor just donated a few million and we could get back to the one thing we are called to do?  Sure.  Absolutely.  Let me know if you want to be that person.  Otherwise, I'm just glad God gave us the gift of creativity, some talented and skilled people, and a healthy sense of discernment.