Building on the Past

Last week I wrote this blog post about sharing our church building with those who worship differently.  Some will tell you that we're doing this for ecumenical reasons, but we're also doing this because the donation of money that the other groups give us helps immensely.

We may not have to do this anymore.  We've had an offer to buy the front part of the property, and we are likely moving forward with it, unless the congregational vote surprises us.

So we could have all sorts of opportunities to go in a different direction, as a very small church (in terms of membership) with enough cash to keep us going for awhile. So far, we seem to be dreaming of having a similar facility, in terms of building, just larger. We currently share our space with 7 congregations, and there's no conversation that I can tell about changing that. In a way, that's cool--we're committed. In a way, we could be such a different church, one that's not constrained by sharing space. I confess that I'm one of those members that gets irritated by all the stuff that other churches want to store on site, and all the programs we can't do because other people are using the space.

And there's the larger issue--should a church even have a building? But we zoomed right on by that issue. A few church members understand how I feel when I bring it up. Most church members can't even conceive of how we'd be church without a building or with a different building, maybe a cafe or affordable housing or a retreat center in the middle of the suburbs.

Of course, those are my dreams for a building, which during our time of congregational discernment, I realize that our larger congregation doesn't share. Or the larger congregation may simply be overwhelmed at all the possibilities, so we're doing what we've always done. I do understand that. If the congregation said to me, "O.K., Kristin, run with one of your dreams and figure out how we make it happen"--well, I might back away too.

I am haunted by the opportunities we will be missing.  I am always haunted that way.