Are We Building the Wrong Things?
I’ve been discouraged. Really discouraged. And yes, pastors and leaders get discouraged just like you do.
My husband and I started Our Savior’s Church, Opelousas campus over four years ago. We started in the home of a leader couple in our church. We outgrew that living room and went to the gymnasium of a nearby school. We outgrew the school and went to an old restored downtown theatre. We grew to three Sunday morning services at the theatre, outgrew that and moved to the largest facility in Opelousas, the Civic Center. We’ve been there a little over a year and are now at three services, packed to overflowing and at some point in the future, will have to add additional services because there is no where else bigger in Opelousas to move to!
So why in the world would I be discouraged?
Allow me to give you some perspective:
**Opelousas is 18,000 in population within the city limits (our attendance is close to 10% of the population) with 30,000 in population including the surrounding towns.
**Opelousas is in St. Landry parish. It’s the poorest parish in the state of Louisiana, one of the poorest states in our nation.
**56% of the people in Opelousas live below the poverty line. The average salary in Opelousas is $18,000. There is more public housing, per capita, in Opelousas than any other city in America.
**The majority of our public schools are failing by state standards and the majority of the children in these schools are on the free lunch program.
**The churches and the politics are still divided along racial lines IN 2014!!!
So with that being said, and the crazy growth our church is experiencing, what is it that I would be so discouraged about, you ask?
We have no permanent building. We have teams of men that set up (at 5:00am) and break down our entire church, EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY MORNING! It’s like hosting a large conference, EVERY SINGLE WEEK! Our nursery classes are overflowing. Our children’s ministry is overflowing. We do not have the luxury of scheduling events, additional services, training classes or programs whenever we want to. We are at the mercy of a rented facility that accommodates more than just Our Savior’s Church.
So yes, I’ve been discouraged. I’ve been worried about our people and concerned about how much longer they can keep this up.
We’ve looked at, dreamed for, put bids in, prayed and believed for every empty building in Opelousas. Each time, the answer was a closed door. So we keep setting up, tearing down and praying for the answer for a permanent location and building for our church.
Last week, my husband and I were the most discouraged we’ve been in a long time. Side note: our discouragement hasn’t bled over to our people…THANK GOD!! They are the happiest, most joyful, thankful, do-whatever-it-takes people that I’ve ever seen! Every Sunday morning is like a party, as we celebrate new people and new salvations…EVERY SINGLE WEEK! One man once described our church as “the happiest church I’ve ever seen!”
In our puddle of discouragement last week, I came across a scripture that I have read and quoted a hundred times, but this time was different. This time Jesus wanted to say something to me. Something significant.
In Matthew 17: 18-19, Jesus talks to His disciples about the church. He tells Peter, “…on this rock I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I WILL GIVE YOU THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
As I read those verses over and over, I felt Jesus saying, “Heidi, it’s MY (Jesus) responsibility to build this church. It’s YOUR responsibility to build my kingdom.” Jesus didn’t give us the keys to build the church. He said, “I will build my church”. It’s really HIS church after all, isn’t it? Jesus gave US the keys and the authority to BUILD HIS KINGDOM.
Jesus is responsible to build the church. We are responsible to build His kingdom.
When I GOT that, the discouragement immediately lifted because “building God’s kingdom” is exactly what we’ve been doing for four years. Building God’s kingdom in Opelousas has included:
Seeing lost people found.
Seeing spiritually dead people come alive.
Seeing marriages restored.
Seeing families reunited.
Seeing hope restored to a community.
Seeing needs of others met through our people.
Seeing children smile again.
Seeing single moms feel the love and acceptance of Jesus, through His church.
Seeing prejudice loose its power as people of ALL colors and backgrounds walk through the doors of our church every week.
Seeing generosity abound through our church, breaking the chains of poverty.
Seeing our church take responsibility for our community.
Seeing the love of God through the people of God.
Seeing God show up BIG in a forgotten, forsaken community.
So with that being said, we’re going to just keep doing what we’ve been doing. LOVING GOD THROUGH LOVING PEOPLE. REACHING PEOPLE AND BUILDING LIVES. We’re going to continue to represent Jesus to our community. We’re going to keep lifting high the name of Jesus and continue to pray that God breathes resurrection life into ‘dry bones’ and restore hope to the hopeless.
WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD and we will allow Jesus to BUILD HIS CHURCH.
I think too many times, as Christians or as pastors, we get this backwards. Over 25 years of ministry, I’ve seen just the opposite. I’ve seen “the church” concentrate on building the church building FIRST, then worry about the people that fill it up LATER. If we allow Jesus to build HIS church, and we worry about building His kingdom, I think that’s when we get the smile from Heaven.
Now, don’t get me wrong and please hear my heart: Does Jesus use PEOPLE to build His church? Absolutely! Will it take people and dollars to build God’s church and His kingdom? Absolutely! We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got our priorities straight. God’s people are more important than a building. Sometimes we just get so focused on WHERE we’re going to house God’s people (like I did), that many times, we forget what our main objective and mandate is simply to BUILD GOD’S KINGDOM AND HIS PEOPLE and allow Jesus to build His church.
A permanent building will come. That’s Jesus’ responsibility, not mine, and I feel very certain that “HE’S GOT THIS”.
So we keep building His kingdom and allow Jesus to build His church.
We keep loving Jesus through loving people and our community. We keep building what we’ve been given authority to build…HIS KINGDOM, and we allow Jesus to build what He said He would build...HIS CHURCH.
One day, we’ll have both: A CHURCH AND HIS KINGDOM and THAT will be a happy day!