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1Chr. 29:16 "O Lord our God, all this abundance
that we have prepared to build You a
house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own..."
1Chr. 29:6 "Then the leaders... the captains... the
officers... offered willingly."
1Chr. 29:9 "Then the people rejoiced..." |
The nobles and the rich of the land followed the example
of their king. And what did the people
do? They rejoiced! They were not even asked to consider "subscribing" to
the building fund. When
it came to the actual building work, who did it?
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2Chr. 1:17-18 "Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who
were in the land... and he
made... them bearers of the burden... stonecutters." |
As we know, the aliens were the slaves made up of the
population of conquered nations. No
ordinary Israelite was asked to bear this burden. The only time the Israelites
were asked to do
something, was when they were sent to Tyre to bring the cedar wood, and I
believe they were paid
for that work. The slaves could not be sent out of the land for fear they
would not return.
What do we see in the above example? God provided the
building plans (it was His project) and
He made sure that the resources were available, coming mainly from the
"outsiders".
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Ezra 1:1-4 "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia...
[king] made proclamation...
'He [God] has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem...' ." |
Again, it was God's idea or rather, it was His commandment
to build. Ezra 1:6-7; 2:67-68; 3:7
talks about king Cyrus giving "articles of the house of the Lord" and offerings
of the leaders of
Israel and the free will offerings of the people. Where did the resources
for the building of the
temple come from? Again, mainly from the "outsiders"!
When it comes to the building of the places of worship,
there is no direct "perpetual"
commandment in the OT and not even an example of any building project in
the NT. So, what is
my advice?
If there is a clear indication that it is God's idea to
build a place of worship, you will find that
(most of) the finances will come from those outside of the church. That will
be a clear indication
that it is God's plan. Then, if need be, get involved! Otherwise, think twice
before you subscribe
to any building fund. Why? I have seen some extravagant spending on church
buildings that
border on lunacy. People were drained of their resources so they were unable
to meet other
expectations toward their God. And a big question is: to whom do the buildings
belong? The
church? What happens when the "church" folds, as is so often the case???
Please, do not misunderstand me. If it is economically
more sound to build than to rent, fine. Let
the elders and the financial experts work out what is the best solution and
if it is to build, then
build. But, to be fair to each contributor, in case he/she decides to leave
the church, let each one
who contributes hold shares in the building ownership. |
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