After more than two years of planning and red tape, we finally have a building permit! Our small country church has been growing over the past few years. As more people have been coming, there have been some Sundays where seating was difficult to find. I have even heard from some visitors that they didn’t feel comfortable here because it is too crowded. Sunday school rooms are at a premium and we have had to resort to sometimes having a class in our nursery area to accommodate. With our building plans now approved, we hope to alleviate some of these problems and create a larger space for our people to come, fellowship, worship and be taught God’s Word.

However, as painful as it has been to get to this point in the process, the worst is probably not behind us. I have been through building projects like this before and know that there are many strategies that Satan uses to bring down a growing church in the midst of a time when they should be celebrating the need for more space. Let me share just two areas where building projects can turn into building problems.

1. Division – I believe that there is no more effective way to create division in a church than with a building project. Everyone has a difference of opinion about every detail along the way. Some think the project is going to cost too much and think we should go cheap while others think we should spend more because it should demonstrate God’s best. Decisions about where a light switch is located or the color of the carpet become personal grudges that can fester into conflict. (I’ve literally seen a church split up over a disagreement about the color of the carpet that was chosen). How do you counter the danger of division during a building project? Give each other grace, recognize that mistakes will be made, and give deference to someone else’s difference of opinion. God places a diverse group of people in a church to come together with their diversity of gifts to give Him glory. We are not all going to have the same ideas about everything. In the end, Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians (4:3) applies: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.


2. Deception – Building projects are very good at getting people fixated on the wrong thing. If you tour the great cathedrals of Europe, you admire their amazing craftsmanship, the enormous effort and expense, and the enduring legacy that these edifices represent. However, when you go inside for the tour you will quickly discover that the gospel is no longer present within them and, instead, they are filled with dead men’s bones. God’s focus is not on the BUILDING but on the BODY of believers within it. God wants the church to be a living, growing, maturing body of believers that take His message of hope to their community and around the world. I’ve said publicly throughout this long process that I’d rather have a healthy church that meets in a field than a dead church that meets in a beautiful building. Peter reminds us of what our focus on growth should look like: “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).

I know that many churches are in decline and struggling to keep the doors open right now. I can’t tell you the reason why God has chosen to increase our congregation these past few years. However, I do know that any growth that ANY church has must come from the Lord. Jesus Christ himself declared - “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). Let’s be faithful to preach and teach and be about the Lord’s work. When you stay busy growing in the Lord, you will find there is no division or deception too great to take your eyes off of Him!