An Architectural Deacon

Maybe you’ve noticed some strange announcements about our upcoming Men’s Meeting.  Yes, we are going to gather in Woodinville, and yes, we are going to talk about one day having a building, one day, in a city we would call home and a hub of ministry.  When churches begin to talk about building and buildings lots of questions arise – and often because a foundational and biblical understanding of buildings has been lost.

Think of a building as a deacon.  Its job is to serve the church in her mission.  And that would be our goal:  to acquire a permanent space where we could be better equipped to do all god has called this particular local body to do.  A building as a deacon would –

Be a place to worship.  And this is our first and most important reason to have a building.  We are called to gather and worship God corporately each Lord’s Day.  A building should exist, and exist in such a way, to promote congregational worship, the preaching of His Word, and the administration of His sacraments – in a public and in a beautiful way – architecturally, acoustically, and aesthetically.

Be a place to feast and fellowship.  Part of being the church is simply being together.  With our distinctives of having a sunny Calvinism and an optimistic eschatology that believes the promises of God to a thousand generations, we are a celebratory people who need a place to help cultivate many aspects of those distinctives.

Be a place to love one another.  A central physical location provides an opportunity to minister together in many of the areas we sense our distinctive callings as well – including all kinds of biblical education, practical theology and counsel, glorious music, excellent musicians, and much more.

Be a place that speaks to and mobilizes for the community around us.  A physical building speaks.  It testifies to the material and earthy presence of the Lord’s people in this world.  It is part of shaping the definition of that city or community.  A building does so with its location and with its architecture.  It also does so as it becomes a beachhead from which to go out and a refuge with which to welcome in.  The stones should cry out with us, “God is good, God is merciful, God calls you to come.”