Who Owns that Church?

A few weeks ago,  I was in Fayetteville for a meeting of the Board of the Methodist University Alumni Association.   I am a graduate of that institution of higher education and was asked to serve on the Board several years ago.  Since we have Board meetings only 4 times a year and there are alumni from many graduating classes,  I do not know most of my fellow Board members very well.  While we were having lunch together, I got to talking with a woman I will call Elaine.  Our paths only seem to cross at alumni gatherings such as that Board meeting.  I discovered in the course of the conversation that Elaine owns a church building.    Not only that,  but the church that Elaine owns is one of the first churches I served as pastor. 

It was way back in 1974 when I was appointed as a pastor for the first time.  They must have thought highly of me for they appointed me as the pastor not to one church, but to 3 churches.  One of those churches was Turkey United Methodist Church which was located in the Sampson County town of Turkey, North Carolina.  To my dismay, the church closed several years ago when the number of attendees had dwindled to just a few.  As Elaine and I talked, I discovered that  she owns the house located directly across the street from the church building and bought the building after the church closed.  While I am saddened when any church closes,  I find comfort knowing that the church building is now owned by a person I know and who loved that church. 

The encounter with Elaine and the discovery that an acquaintance of mine now owns a church I formerly served got me to thinking.   First, it reminded me that a church is much more than a building.  A church is not a building, but a people that gather to worship, learn, pray, praise and a people that go to serve.     Turkey United Methodist Church ceased being a church when people stopped gathering in that place in the name of the Lord Jesus and scattering for those important tasks.    Secondly,  that Saturday afternoon encounter with Elaine has had me asking who really owns a church anyway.  Government offices might have one opinion about who owns a church, and an insurance company might have another.  Gossips in a community might stand around and have their opnions about who in their community owns and runs a church.   While they are certainly entitled to their opinions,  I am of the opinion that in the best and purest sense of the word the owner of the church is always and only the living God.    Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  God of us all, we give you thanks for the Church and for its sure foundation on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Give us hearts ablaze with your Spirit that we might not only gather in the Church but go to be the Church in the world;  through Christ our Lord. Amen.