get passionate, get vision, then build

"Relevance should be the supernatural consequence of Kingdom-living."

There's a great article posted on Relevant Magazine's website titled, Pursuing Relevance. Jason Johnson writes,

The truth, however, is that when we engage ourselves in pursing the Kingdom of God and setting our hearts on becoming a people through which His Kingdom is most effectively able to be ushered into this world, then our lives will supernaturally develop within them a brokenness for the broken, a longing for the lost, a hope for the hopeless, and a love for those who do not know love.

The idea reminds me very much of what Thom Rainer refers to as the "VIP (Vision Intersection Profile) Factor" in his book Breakout Churches. The VIP Factor is where the passions of church leadership, the passions of the congregation, and the needs of the community all intersect. It is where a local church's vision is not developed, but discovered.

So what on earth does this have to do with church architecture? Everything.

In Before You Build, Bill Couchenour emphasizes over and over again that a church building is just a tool to aid in ministry. He encourages church leaders to celebrate the completion of a building or renovation project as a beginning, not an end, because that is what it should be: the beginning of the next thing God has called your church into.

What vision do you have for your ministry? Where and to whom is God calling your congregation? Where do your passions, the passions of your people, and the needs of your community meet? Is your vision a statement on paper, or something the members of your church are living out?

If you're starting or considering any kind of building project, make sure everyone is after the same vision. If your community needs a Christian pre-school program and there are volunteers in your church who love toddlers, maybe you need to add or expand their classrooms/playground. If there's a community college in your neighborhood, maybe you need more Third Place space.

Ed Bahler recently commented on the Cornerstone Conference Blog that,

Buying property or designing buildings without clarity of both 'Code' and 'Calling' is analogous to beginning a vacation without a clear destination ... resulting in the risk of backtracking, wrong destinations, frustration, and hesitation.

National Community Church is an example of a church doing this right. Their vision is to reach the unchurched in the Washington, D.C. area, so they have foresaken the idea of constructing their own church home in order to meet in movie theaters at Metro stations around the city.