what shall we build?

I want to build a great church. Through the years I have heard church leaders make that statement repeatedly. If you were to rewind the words I have spoken and play them back again, most likely you would hear me say them at some point in time.


While I am not sure that there is anything inherently wrong with these words, they usually point to an underlying issue that is a problem. Jesus said the He would build His church and by implication that work probably extends to us as well. However nowhere in scripture do we see that our focus is to be “building the church”.

The problem occurs when the church (or perhaps something posing as the Church) becomes more important than people. Jesus, at the point of His ascension, instructed the disciples to go into the world and make disciples. Paul told the saints in Galatia that he labored until Christ be formed in them.

I cannot speak for other church leaders. For me however, the intent of building a great church had less to do with people and more to do with building a great system of programs, services and facilities. It had to do with the desire to be cool and cutting edge. When I place this paradigm against the template of scripture, I find a great deal of discordance between the two.

Without a doubt I am involved in building the Church today. However my focus has changed from being toward a structure and a system to being toward building people. The primary fruit of Jesus’ ministry with people was not the evolution of a great healing ministry complete with conferences and programs. No, the fruit of Jesus ministry primarily manifested in the lives of 11 diverse followers in whom He poured His life.

We build the Church as we make disciples. We build the Church as we labor until Christ is formed in people. Both endeavors require us to leave our elevated platform and pulpit to interact deeply with the lives of people. We will be pricked by the rough edges of life; pummeled by the raw emotion of wounded people. Our neatly constructed theology will fall woefully short in our efforts to make disciples.

The time has come for us to focus less on building a church and more on building people!