Saturday, September 9th, 2023.
Last month we were excited to move our church ministry to a new building.
The new building is a welcome change, but the 15 years in our old building will be remembered as a time our church grew stronger.
That was obviously not true for the building. Over the years we watched roofing blown off, basement floods and mold, bathroom (ahem) obstacles, a building fire due to faulty wiring, and a war against invading mice that felt at times like the battle of 1812.
If the measurement of our ministry was our building, then we were heading quickly toward condemnation. If the character of a church is based on the building, then we were a shameful representation of the Lord of glory.
Praise God that the church today is not a building, and a ministry is not judged by its meeting place (at least, not by God.)
The church consists of people in the body of Christ, and our ministry is souls saved and saints edified. While our building was continually falling apart, our church experienced growth and our ministry enjoyed success.
Buildings are tools for people to use. We will make use of our new tool with pleasure, but our ministry remains the same, except now in a nicer building.
The lesson? Don’t judge a church by its building, nor a ministry by its population (of mice or men).
To learn more about what is Biblical church ministry, come out to this year’s Ambassadors Seminar October 14th & 15th. This year’s theme is Ministry of the Church. Details below:
www.graceambassadors.com/seminar23
For Truth,
Justin “body builder” Johnson