How Much is Too Much for a Church Building?

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why. Today we have a guest post from Money Help for Christians.

Those who are followers of Christ are familiar with the final words of Jesus – the Great Commission.  In this final exhortation Jesus encouraged his disciples to participate in ministries of baptizing and teaching.  This movement by the man Jesus has grown all around the world.  Not only has the movement grown, but houses of worship have grown.  While historically some churches have focused on the artistic magnificence, churches today focus on sheer size.  In a pragmatic sense we believe the capacity limits of these mega buildings must be honorable to God.  The building (it is often said) is a ministry tool.  Still, there are some who think these religious edifices would be an embarrassment to Jesus.  Jesus lived a simple, nomadic life and would surely be uncomfortable with the money spent on brick an mortar while there so much suffering from injustice and poverty.

A simple search on Wikipedia reveals some starling statistics on some large (and expensive) church buildings.

Willow Creek

Willow Creek's state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2004 at an estimated cost of $73 million) seats over 7,200 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the largest theater in the United States.

It was the first church in the world to make use of two Mitsubishi Diamond Vision high-definition LED screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track system and can be combined into one giant screen. The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies.

Lakewood Church

Renovations to create the new Lakewood Church are estimated at $75 million. The church was required to pay $11.8 million in rent in advance for the first 30 years of the lease.

In 2007, Lakewood reported spending nearly $30 million every year on its television ministry.

City Harvest Church

The church building located at Jurong West Street 91 was completed in 2002. Construction of the building costs S$48 million (US$26.6 million) and seats up to 2,300 attendees.

So what do you think?  Would Jesus rejoice over the current size and magnificent of our buildings or weep over the financial misuse? 

Comments

[Jamie]

Doesn't it depend on how many people are being served by the building? So if Willow Creek has 5 services per weekend, then they are seating 35000 people per week, or about $2000 / person.

My parents church just built a very modest building for their little church. It cost $750K for 150 people, or about $5000 / person.

[JimL]

I agree with Jamie. It needs to be looked at on a cost per person. Further, large facilities can often serve a larger number of other events. When I lived in the Chicago area, I was a member of Willow Creek. The facility is widely used through the entire week for a large number of ministries.

[Lurker Carl]

Construction cost isn't the only factor here, buildings incur daily expenses to operate. Energy consumption, repairs, maintenance, insurance and staff costs are considerably higher for a 100,000 square foot facility than a building 1/20 that size. Put those figures into the cost per person base and see what happens.

Which is actually being worshipped, God or the building?

[JimL]

Lurker,

With the newer construction, the cost per square foot is often less expensive in the larger facilities versus the smaller facilities. I work in M&A and have compared facility overhead costs on a per person basis and find that it is typically less costly in our larger facilities. We recently looked at consolidating four of our facilities into one large facility. Beyond the work benefits of having everyone in a single location, we found that we would save approximately $15 million per year in overall facility costs.

As I think more about this topic, perhaps one could make an even stronger case that the more expensive churches are the smaller churches.

[MC]

In addition to the number of people being served, I think you have to take into account the number and type of ministries being provided by the church when you consider if a building is "worth it".

For example, my church building back home actually served two separate congregations---one all Spanish-speaking that met Sunday evenings and various days during the week, and another, more traditional English-speaking congregation that used the building Sunday morning and other days during the week.

Other church ministries could include preschool/daycare (which need a playground and indoor playroom), programs for at-risk youth (which might need a computer lab and/or a gym), senior day care (which might require accessibility modifications and TV lounges), or K-12 schools (classrooms, gym, and a library).

Some churches also include event facilities that can be used for congregational events or rented out to make money for the church--for example, a large hall with a commercial kitchen attached for wedding receptions, quinces, etc.

[Jan]

The church I'm with also serves as the school hall for a Christian private school. It's certainly a large building (by New Zealand standards) with 5 full services on the weekends and several smaller services in the evenings etc.
Even though the church building we have serve a large number of congregation we are always mindful that it also serves the community at large. The church and we as Christians need to serve God and those who have not found him and salvation.
A good example of this is a friend of mine who's brother joined the school. It's the cheapest private school in Auckland with excellent teachers. But before his brother joined he attended several Sunday service to meet the teachers. He's now a Christian and bought his faith to his family.
The cost of the building is not important. It can be a shed. So long as we're mindful of how we use it, just as we're mindful of how we use the skills we're blessed with to serve God.

[robert w]

Big 'churches' often become nothing more than big Business that don't get taxed.

[Sarah]

Genuine question: how could anyone feel a part of a congregation that large?

[JimL]

Sarah,

Having things in common makes anyone feel part of a congregation. What you probably mean is having personal relationships. Even with moderate sized churches, that becomes a problem. As such, small groups, bible study groups, etc., help to have more personal relationships. I think people attending most churches need something else outside of just the Sunday morning sermon.

[JimL]

Robert,

You have an obvious bias against big churches. I can show you plenty of examples of big churches that serve a significant amount people around the globe. Secondly, why should they be taxed? They are not turning a profit.

[TMS]

Our congregation has about 500 people. We have rented church offices for the staff and meet in a high school auditorium.

Our pastor has said if it ever becomes about the money needed for a building, we have permission to go elsewhere.

Not that the leadership is against a building, but if raising money to support a building becomes the main goal, there's a problem.

[RJF]

Its an interesting, and probably very subjective question. Now of course we don't need a building at all but... I would tend to lean toward spending more for a work of art/beauty/permanence to glorify God in a community like a solid stone Gothic type church - less so if you need an auditorium with good bathrooms and a gym. The buildings we build do confess something about what goes on inside and what we believe, the stones do cry out.

Just for fun the amount of Gold collected for the Tabernacle in Exodus 38:24 was about metric ton (not including silver and bronze) or about 2204 pounds of gold X 16 ounces per pound... X price of Gold today, let be conservative at $1100 per ounce = almost 39 million dollars. For a tent. As for Solomon's temple I couldn't even guess after you read through 1 Kings.

[TCI]

Nothing is too much for a Church building.

[StLPastor]

TCI,
I hope that's sarcastic-obviously, there could be too much spent on a church building, if the amount spent on the building inhibited the mission of the congregation to care for the poor and to spread the word. There are so many empty church buildings in this country, spectacular edifices filled with small elderly congregations, it makes me sad to see new buildings constructed when so many churches are already underused.
Our congregation was happy to purchase from another church that wanted a bigger space, recycling buildings is good stewardship.

[Elbry4]

God laid out the design for His church in the old testatment. It was not a run-down, rinky dink building but something of awesome beauty and the finest of material. IMO, the cost is not important as stated above. If there are several missions going on and people are being helped, not a big deal at all.

[guinness416]

I could care less how much parishioners spend on their churches, mosques, synagogues or whatevers; the more the better from my point of view as long as they're well designed and sympathetic to their neighbourhood. As a cradle catholic from Ireland I grew up going to mass in several hundred year old and often very character (and art) filled buildings so the modern hotel-banquetting-room type churches always seem strange to me. Hard to find too many photos that don't focus on the movie-theatres, er, chapels but some of these look like third-rate shopping malls to me. The church in Singapore is interesting though.

[Duane]

Undoubtedly there are some people who are more likely to attend a larger church who may not be in communion otherwise. That in itself makes them a force for good, but I personally would prefer a smaller church or one that ennobles the spirit of attendees through fine art and architecture. The aesthetics of gymnasium design of some modern large churches doesn't sit well with me, but the important factor is whether the gospel is proclaimed and received.

Is any of this a good use of money? It's hard to say. I think maybe we need a metric to see how much of the tithe goes toward building maintenance. If it is over 25% I might say that the church is in danger of failing its mission to serve others. I can't prescribe a threshold that everyone would agree with.

[Lawrence @ CRB]

It only makes sense that the size and grand nature of a church is relative to the size and affluence of it's congregation. That said, I've never understood the very nature of having such a large and grandiose church but that's just me. Different strokes...

[Pastor Jeff]

I just need around $50,000 for my total project. This would but building and remodel.