Working with Churches That Have Building Issues (Hint: Don’t start by talking about the building) - Rev. Dr. Shelly Stackhouse. Episode 40

Does your church have “building” issues? Savvy long-time pastor, Rev. Dr. Shelly Stackhouse, quipped, “People who know me well have heard me say that I think God has a perverse sense of humor. And one of the ways that has been true over 40 years of ministry is that I never actually wanted to deal with buildings. I wanted to deal with mission and worship and all that good stuff. And yet, from the very beginning, I found myself in churches that had aging buildings, or buildings with challenges of one kind or another. I had to do a lot of learning on the job, because one of the courses they don't give you in seminary is general contracting…”

She also discovered things about the church buildings that delighted her and moved her in completely unexpected ways.

• The book of Acts is an underutilized resource for discerning about the building;
• There’s more than one way to solve the problem…
• Solutions to the building problem only surface by going deeply into discerning your relationship with the community around you;
• What might you have to do to your physical space to make other people want to use it?
• Learning not to underestimate the beauty of our spaces…
• Dealing with idolatry of the building;