How big is big enough?

In our current series, 40 Days of Simply Living, one of the questions we are asking ourselves as followers of Jesus immersed in a consumer culture is--how much is enough? How much do I really need to live a fulfilled, abundant life?

I heard the question raised from a different perspective the other day. I was having lunch with a pastor friend of mine. He told me of a conversation he had had recently with a soon to retire pastor of a large, 45 acre campus. He said to my friend, "Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't build a huge campus. The financial burden I am leaving my congregation with is enormous." His church needs to take in $100,000 per month just to turn on the lights. That doesn't include ministry staff, programming, etc. And they will have to do that every month until Jesus comes back!

I was a part of a large, fast-growing congregation. To keep up with the growth we had to buy more acres. We had to build more buildings. I understand the pressure of trying to accommodate all the people God brought out way. Thankfully we were wise enough to include schools to ease the financial hardship. To this day I believe it was God's call for us to purchase that land and build a large campus.

But one of the unintended consequences of these overly large church campuses, if we aren't careful, can be the "inheritance" we leave the next generations--a huge campus with huge bills and the pressure to maintain the campus and pay the bills!

This retiring pastor said that if he were to do it again, he'd start more churches and not build a huge campus.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the "more" bug hits us pastor-types as we seek to grow our congregations. Like consumer culture we believe the more we have, the bigger we are, the more people we can reach. Which is true. And worthy. But what are the long term consequences? Who will pay for it down the line? Even if the buildings are paid for, who will pay the light bills, the staff bills to staff the buildings, etc. If we aren't careful the missions of the generations to follow us in those big buildings will simply be to figure out how to get more people in to cover the bills.

I'm a pro big church guy. I've seen first hand the power of a church with momentum. I've seen the kinds of ministry big churches can do.

But when is big big enough?

As Grace looks to the future--to building, to church starts--it's a question we'll want to keep in mind.