11/23 Free Money Finance

Please add updates@feedmyinbox.com to your address book to make sure you receive these messages in the future. Free Money Finance - Grow your net worth. How Much is Too Much for a Church Building? November 22, 2009 at 6:05 am For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why. Today we have a guest post from Money Help for Christians. Those who are followers of Christ are familiar with the final words of Jesus – the Great Commission.  In this final exhortation Jesus encouraged his disciples to participate in ministries of baptizing and teaching.  This movement by the man Jesus has grown all around the world.  Not only has the movement grown, but houses of worship have grown.  While historically some churches have focused on the artistic magnificence, churches today focus on sheer size.  In a pragmatic sense we believe the capacity limits of these mega buildings must be honorable to God.  The building (it is often said) is a ministry tool.  Still, there are some who think these religious edifices would be an embarrassment to Jesus.  Jesus lived a simple, nomadic life and would surely be uncomfortable with the money spent on brick an mortar while there so much suffering from injustice and poverty. A simple search on Wikipedia reveals some starling statistics on some large (and expensive) church buildings. Willow Creek Willow Creek's state-of-the-art Worship Center (completed in 2004 at an estimated cost of $73 million) seats over 7,200 people, making it over twice as large as the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the largest theater in the United States. It was the first church in the world to make use of two Mitsubishi Diamond Vision high-definition LED screens 14'x 24' in size, usually seen in new sports stadiums. Each screen is movable on its own track system and can be combined into one giant screen. The Worship Center also has innovative dual, stacked-deck balconies. Lakewood Church Renovations to create the new Lakewood Church are estimated at $75 million. The church was required to pay $11.8 million in rent in advance for the first 30 years of the lease. In 2007, Lakewood reported spending nearly $30 million every year on its television ministry. City Harvest Church The church building located at Jurong West Street 91 was completed in 2002. Construction of the building costs S$48 million (US$26.6 million) and seats up to 2,300 attendees. So what do you think?  Would Jesus rejoice over the current size and magnificent of our buildings or weep over the financial misuse?    This email was sent to carpenter.autoblog@gmail.com.  Manage Your Account Don't want to receive this feed any longer? Unsubscribe here.