Back in the 1970s a movement formed in the church called, “The Church without Walls.” The animating idea was to separate the mission of the church from the burden of property and its upkeep. On its face this seemed like a powerful concept. Take away maintenance costs and more resources will be available to do the work of Jesus Christ in the world!
Where are these “churches without walls” today? Very few are left and they are neither thriving nor powerful in ministry and mission. It turns out that there is a connection between place and purpose, between body and soul.
Christianity is incarnational; “The word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14) Christianity affirms the goodness of physical existence; “God saw everything that God had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:30) Our physical being is not optional or disposable but a fundamental component of the self that God redeems and restores.
Music may exist in the mind of the composer but to be shared it at least needs lips, ears, a tongue, and lungs. To pass that music down the generations takes hands to write and perhaps pianos or an organ to support and reproduce the music.
The key notion is “to share.” To share our faith in God and pass it down across the generations it turns out that we need sacred spaces, sacred places and bodies devoting time, energy, presence, and labor to the work.
Our properties committee is working hard to reverse a tradition of deferred maintenance and inadequate investment in our buildings. At a recent meeting we estimated that to just complete basic repairs of our building envelope would cost between $400,000 and $500,000. You will be hearing more about this exploration but the key point here is this; it is unhealthy for our mission and ministry when we neglect the wellbeing of the physical plant that supports the mission and ministry.
I sometimes hear folks say, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have one without the other - a church without walls”. History teaches us that this dualistic thinking ends up diminishing everything we stand for in the long run. I am excited to do both and inspired to catch up on the needs of our buildings so we can give future generations the gift of ministry and mission without the drag of deferred maintenance!
Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector
