I'd like the beef please.

Yesterday was one of those days I could have taken the day to unload more of what's on my mind.  

Today...I've got several different things I'd like to write about to start that process.  I think I'll just continue talking about church.  Go figure.  

Everyone always says there won't be a perfect church.  I get that.  They say that I should stop looking for the flaws and look for the ways it helps people.  I've done that, perhaps you must have missed it my writings.  Maybe you were to busy looking for the flaws in my writing.  Maybe you were also trying to figure out how I was wrong, when maybe I'm actually right.  Well, I run that same risk too.  

Something never sit right with me about modern day churches in America.  Do you think that's what God had in mind?  Buildings, debt, bills, and salaries.  And when the debt is gone, the church will have upkeep and repairs.  And there is always going to be another project.  I'm not saying this is all wrong.  I'm just asking, do you really think that's what God had in mind?  I often wondered if a gathering of 100 people with no paid staff and a rented out room on a sunday morning could send more money and time out the door than a church of 1000 people with building debt and salaries.  

I know the bible speaks of paying the one in charge of leading your flock. I get that.  But did that include all the other jobs in the church?  I'm walking on thin ice here...I think all of that plays an important role.  But is paying for a service provided to you considered tithe?  Buildings, staff, programs, music, sound...the whole production costs money.  That money comes from the money brought in on a sunday morning. So essentially you are paying for that service to yourself.  Is that considered a tithe?  Have you ever stopped and looked at how much of the money you give goes out the door?   What is the purpose of your giving?  Because if you give expecting the money to go somewhere and it doesn't, you should know.   If you paid me to paint your living room but I used the money to it to buy a new stereo for my car, you'd be pissed. But I did paint your living room.  Here on this piece of paper, spitting image.  

I'm not really looking for an answer for my benefit.  I just think most people don't think about stuff the way I do.  Or maybe they do they just feel guilt and shame for questioning the church. No need to feel guilty about that.  A solid church shouldn't shy away from this stuff.  As I said before, the church I would consider my home church, The Meeting House (USA)  is well aware (at least I think so) of all the stuff I'm talking about.  And not because I'm saying it.  And that makes me glad.  

And then the volunteers.  They are the oil in the machine.  Without the volunteers,  sunday mornings couldn't happen.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard that.  And it's true.  Did you ever stop and think how that may make the volunteers feel?  Trapped or Loved? So if I don't volunteer, sunday mornings won't operate.  And sunday mornings need to go on.  See how you could feel both appreciated and stuck at the same time?  From ushers to greeters to childcare to a/v techs to coffee bar attendants to sunday school teachers to.....the list goes on.  And many of them enjoy it.  But it is my hope that they all know they are free to not volunteer any time they want.  

Oh man, I just got an idea.  Volunteers could trade hours for dollars.  Not actually paying them, but reducing the amount of their tithe!  More people would volunteer.  There would be an excess of volunteers!  And eventually you would have so many people to volunteer that you could almost start a new gathering because of all the people that want to make church happen.  Maybe that's what the original church design was supposed to be like.  People that wanted to make church happen.  People that stepped up without the need of a building or paid staff.  Or maybe just one person paid to work in continuing to study the bible and learn ways to bring justice to the oppressed.  Instead of one gathering of 3000 people, their could be 10 gatherings of 300 people  or 100 gatherings of 30 people! Or even 300 gatherings of 10 people meeting in homes without the need for a 4 million dollar a year budget.  Just thinking out loud here.  

Or is it necessary, to see hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into buildings for people to show up on a sunday morning?  That speaks a lot about the urgency of spreading the gospel message.  It says Come here.  Come to us.  Come to this building.  Jesus said "Come to me."  Was Jesus a building? Did Jesus need tens of thousands of special buildings.  Many within a block or two of each other.  

Or maybe both are needed.  I just see a lot more of the come to our building and experience Jesus happening.  

I'm sure someone could speak to some of this.  I'll still probably disagree with you.  But there are others that are on the fence and may not.  As always, I welcome a discussion.  Sometimes I do feel like a total jerk for even questioning or thinking this way.  Today is one of those days.