{"id":583,"date":"2018-08-28T11:38:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T11:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=583"},"modified":"2018-08-28T11:38:41","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T11:38:41","slug":"kind-church-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2018\/08\/kind-church-building.html","title":{"rendered":"What Kind of Church Are You Building?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoJesse
Jesse Roberts<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the grace God has given me,\u00a0I laid a foundation\u00a0as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.<\/em> 1 Corinthians 3:10-11<\/span><\/p>\n

This past Sunday I preached from 1 Corinthians and leveraged the theme of building a house as a metaphor for building the church. Just as we would never move our family into a home that wasn’t first designed by an architect, so we as “wise builders” should be a part of churches that are constructed with purpose. How we do church matters. With that, I teased out Paul’s illustration of Jesus as the foundation and applied it to the rest of a house. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look\u00a0at church like\u00a0we are building a house. There are different parts of the house, and these correlate with different components we need to include if we want to do church in a way that matters, to do church with excellence.<\/p>\n

Foundation<\/b> =<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Jesus<\/strong>. Every house needs a foundation. That\u2019s already been determined. Our foundation is and always will be Jesus. Our religion is founded on a person (Jesus) and an event (the death and resurrection of Jesus).<\/span><\/p>\n

Walls <\/b>=<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Scripture<\/strong>. we need to frame the house so that it has shape and form. For us that\u2019s <\/span>Scripture<\/span>. That\u2019s our guide. That’s how we know Jesus. We are founded on Jesus and framed by Scripture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roof = leadership<\/b><\/span>. We\u2019ll go as high as our leadership, not just paid leadership but lay leadership. If we have good leadership at every level of our organization, then the sky\u2019s the limit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Windows<\/b><\/span> =<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0our testimony<\/strong>. T<\/span>hat\u2019s how the outside world looks in and sees what\u2019s going inside the church, by the way we live<\/span>\u00a0our everyday lives. Basically, if we\u2019re living lives of joy, if we\u2019re truly free in Jesus, then the world will observe that and want what we have. They\u2019ll have hope that they can find joy and freedom as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doors = <\/b><\/span>outreach<\/b><\/span>. That\u2019s us being intentional to reach out to others and invite them in, and to do church in such a way that our front door is wide open to the outside world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rooms =\u00a0small groups<\/b><\/span>. Inside the house, it\u2019s not just one big room. It\u2019s divided and broken up into smaller rooms where people can gather together, be known, minister to one another and serve one another. Where we actually \u201cdo church\u201d the best is life-on-life in\u00a0small groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Power = spiritual gifts<\/b><\/span>. You want electricity in your house. You want running water. How the whole thing holds together is when we leverage our spiritual gifts serve one another through love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If we can do these things, we\u2019ll build a\u00a0church that will stand the test of time, we\u2019ll lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, and\u00a0we’ll have a lasting impact in our community.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the grace God has given me,\u00a0I laid a foundation\u00a0as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.\u00a0For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 This past Sunday I preached from 1 Corinthians and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31,15,22,313,312,65],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-next-steps","tag-bible","tag-church","tag-community","tag-foundation","tag-house","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Kind of Church Are You Building? - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Instead of just attending church or going to church, do church on purpose. How do you do that? 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