Pulling down the Church

Last week our lecturer turned our attention to a great article written by Martin Van Beynen regarding the churches that were destroyed in the recent Christchurch earthquakes. Van Beynen a 'devout' atheist has some fascinating insights into the role of the church in today's world, and how the rebuild of Christchurch Churches should be carried out from his perspective. To read Click here
The gist of the article suggests that instead of rebuilding multiple grandiose churches around the city, all of the many denominations (and in fact religious beliefs) should pool their resources to build one giant multipurpose church which would house everyone from Baha'i to Roman Catholic. Sounds like a religion shopping mall right?

I must be honest and say that I am not comfortable with the idea of sharing a worship and meeting place with religions which do not share the same view of Christ that I do. But wouldn't it be an amazing demonstration of love and acceptance if we did? On the other side it could also be an amazing demonstration of compromise on our view of Jesus...maybe? There are many denominations who do hold Christ in the same place as I do, and we could easily pool our resources and share a space....well not easily, but it could be done. 

A great example of this already in action is the Dream Centre  in Manukau. A single community trust purchased and old movie theatre in Manukau with five cinema rooms. The building is now used by six different church families all meeting in different cinemas in the same building, often simultaneously. It must be great when a sermon is too boring as you could shift to another church service with a mere walk across the hall....?


I am a committed follower of Jesus and I gotta say I am not against some parts of Van Beyen's idea, and I think Van Beyen makes some great suggestions. This comment in particular really made got me thinking...
 
"The churches might not know it but they have a wonderful opportunity. They could bury the hatred and discord which started 400 years ago and pool their money to build one building to serve all the needs of their parishioners."
 
I would go one step further and say they could pool their money and serve the needs not only of their parishioners but of their whole community. It is time to rebuild the image of the church and the building is a good place to demonstrate a new way of operating.


I can understand if not all denominations want to use the same space, but in Christchurch city there are four Anglican churches all within ten minutes walk of each other who should definitely combine for one set of services and probably one large dynamic building?


I come from the Baptist tribe. My bapo brothers at Oxford Terrace Baptist are in the same predicament as many Churches in Christchurch as their old 'Baptist Tabernacle' style building has been destroyed. They will rebuild however, and if it was me I would do things differently. Most churches love their communities and are striving to serve and love like Jesus taught. So why not have a building that backs that up? I would build a community centre. There are many 'not for profit' community organisations looking for affordable and professional office space. Groups like 'budgeting services' and 'Younglife'...why not provide some high quality, low cost space for them? I would build a Gymnasium as part of my building and open it to community groups, youth work service providers, and sports teams. Build modern meeting rooms and conference facilities. It's the garden city so why not a beautiful garden where people could stop, reflect, eat their lunch and enjoy the feeling of grass on their toes when surrounded by concrete. The list is endless and very exciting. A state of the art, classy and yet practical building for the community that still provides room for church services etc.

Martin Van Beyen's article misses a big point about the need for Church communities, one that Christ followers understand. But despite that he has made some great insights and I think we as 'church folk' should lend him an ear...perhaps he will lend one back?


Here are a few thoughts about the relevance of Church in today's culture.... sorry that this stuff is always American...

I think what we need now are buildings and spaces that reflect the true heart and mission of the church. One which our communities will always need, buildings that express the unstoppable love of Jesus

Norwegian shooter is a Christian??

I just finished reading an article about how Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect of the Norwegian massacre that killed 76 people identified himself with extreme right wing Christians in the US.
click here for article
The article claims 32 year old Breivik left a 1500 page manifesto explaining his political  and religious views.... I wonder if your everyday committed Christ follower would read this 1500 page manifesto and conclude that Breivik was a Christian at the end of it? Is this man a Christian? What is an extreme Christian?
I find it interesting that Christians face a similar dilemma as many Islamic people when something as extreme as this occurs in the name of Christ. Everyday Muslims are often tarnished with the same brush as the extremist Islamic terrorists when something like the trade towers occurs and yet Muslims exclaim that not all followers of Islam are capable of something like this. But underneath the surface I think many people suspect that perhaps they could be. As a follower of Jesus myself I would hate to think that anyone would associate this disturbed psychopath with me and what I believe, and even more horrified that anyone could suspect that I might be capable of such an atrocity in the name of faith. Makes me think twice about judging Muslim people based on their extremist connections. The nagging question still remains for me though, can someone do something as extreme as this and still be classified as a Christian? What makes a person a Christian? Are the Islamic extremists who commit diabolical acts of terrorism still considered Muslims? Fox news is pretty clear on what they think in the following video, it's a good example of hard right Christians responding...

Your thoughts??