Philosophy of Money - Our Church Home

A large percent of our resources at First Church go to support, maintain, and pay the mortgage on our church home. This home provides space for our ministry, and serves as a ministry of space for many others as well.

There are many examples in the Bible of building buildings for God – some of them are good, some show the wrong way to go about things. When the Jewish people left Egypt, at one point they were instructed by God through Moses to build a tabernacle. (Exodus 35-36) There are several key points in that event. God had told the people when they left Egypt to take gold and jewelry from their captors and had made it possible for them to do so. Second, when God asked for donations to build the tabernacle, the people brought so much that the priests had to ask them to stop. Third, God made it clear that the building of the tabernacle was not because God needed a place to live, but that the act of giving and building was the way of building a people out of a tribe of nomads who had been slaves for generations. Messages: God provides what God asks for, our buildings are a means to an end, when we give from gratitude and joy we give generously.

Another example that comes to my mind is the Tower of Babel. This was a building project with the wrong purpose in mind, it was built to glorify the people, not to glorify and serve God. This project tore the people apart.

While our buildings reflect to the world the value we place on our church home, we are cautioned always to remember the purpose for those buildings is not our pride, but God's work.