Yesterday I wrote about the beautiful church building I discovered in the midst of a slum in Bangalore. The church was doing lots of good in the slum, but I also discovered that many of the poverty stricken people of the slum tithed sacrificially to the church.
I remember wondering if this was what God wanted.
Lavish Buildings in Low Income Areas
In more recent years, I have discovered that having a lavish church building in the midst of poverty is not an isolated incident. It is not uncommon to go into some of the poorest and most destitute communities around the world, where many of the people live in cardboard and tarpaper shacks and have barely enough food to live on, and in the middle of this community, find a large, grandly constructed church building with towering steeples, intricate stained glass, beautiful woodwork, and gorgeous hand-painted murals.
In 2001 I went with a mission’s trip to Kino, Mexico, a poor fishing village on the eastern shore of the Gulf of California. Many of the families of this village live in tarpaper shacks and slept on a dirt floor. Yet right in the middle of town was a large, brick church building, complete with stained glass and steeples. I don’t know the story of how it was built, or where the money come from, or who was hired to construct it, or anything about the building, but I still remember thinking that the people of the community might have been better served if that church building never existed.
Now, it is not always true that fancy churches are found in poverty stricken areas. Frequently the churches in poor neighborhoods have ramshackle and dilapidated buildings just like every other building in the area. And my goal in this chapter is not to criticize church buildings. As I indicated in a previous chapter, church buildings are like anything else, they can be used for good purposes—to love and serve others—or they can be used for evil purposes—to give power, fame, and glory to individuals and organizations which are greedy for money and want to control others.
Expensive God
As you look at the picture above, what sort of message is this church sending to the people who live and die in this slum?
When a church constructs a palace for God in the middle of squalor, filth, sickness, death, and poverty, what are the people learning about God?
When the pastors and priests of these palaces for God tell the people of the slum that God wants them to sacrifice from their hard-earned money so that God’s palace can have clean floors and air conditioning, what ideas are people being taught about God?
Do you think God is happy with these messages?
Our reaction when we have seen lavish churches in poor communities (most of the ones we have seen have been in Mexico) has been similar to yours.
On the other hand, I have talked to people who have lived and worked in these kinds of communities. Some of them feel the poor are shamelessly pressured by the church into giving out of their poverty to support these buildings. But sometimes those giving really want to give to support such a building. They believe it will please God, and that together they can build something that no one of them could possibly dream of building themselves, a place of beauty, a place they can be proud of.
Do the poor really want to give to support such buildings, or does the church give them the idea that doing so is what it takes to please God?
Sam,
Those are my questions as well. Like you, the people I talked to in these communities felt privileged to have such a beautiful building in their community and to be part of this building by giving to it.
But I wonder how much of this is due to the teaching from the church itself.
Either way, I think we can have some righteous indignation about it. Later this week (or early next week), we will be looking at the account of the Widow’s Mites and what it really means.
I agree that the lavish building in the middle of a slum is probably NOT the right message, but the issue of sacrifically tithing is Biblical no matter our income. Whether you are rich or poor the issue to is giving back to God what he has lavished upon us – whether that be a little or a lot. The sacrifice of the rich should just be more than the sacrifice of poor, but all should give back to God.
Murray,
I will be addressing this exact issue in future posts. Hand around, or subscribe to the posts, and let me know what you think!
Much of what we do as a church body is out of ignorance; whether a large church building, or celebrating Christmas and Easter, all while we confuse would-be newcomers with mixed messages of Christ’s humility vs church wealth, Christmas trees vs a lowly stable, and egg-laying rabbits vs the empty tomb. If we only thought about what we are doing… we wouldn’t do it.
Much of what we do truly is out of ignorance. However, some of what we do can be done because Jesus has redeemed it. For example, my family I celebrate Christmas with as much gusto as possible… because Jesus has redeemed the pagan holiday. I wrote a book about this last year: Christmas Redemption.
Forgive me, Jeremy, but why would Christ redeem a pagan holiday when God (Jesus) himself established truly “holy” days that already prophecy/commemorate his birth (Feast of Tabernacles – which commemorates God “dwelling with his people” both in the desert as a cloud and as a baby in a manger), death (Fast of Passover), resurrection (Feast of First Fruits) and second coming (Feast of Trumpets). These are not feasts of the Jews, if that is your assumption. They are His feasts, which are for everyone who believes in him (i.e. Israel). And all believers ARE Israel (Exodus 12:38). You and I were part of that mixed multitude before the commandments and promises were ever given – they belong to us, not just “the Jews”. Not to mention, Christ would not redeem Easter either; he’s already got Passover that tells all about him, and he fulfills it. In love… 🙂
Scott,
I believe that Jesus is in the redemption business and He came to redeem all creation, not just human beings. Everything was negatively affected by sin, and Jesus seeks to reverse the effects of the fall, wherever they are found. Pagan holidays are among those things Jesus redeems.
Speaking of which, I would not argue that the Jewish holidays are for the Jews only, but did you know that many of them (possibly all of them) had their roots in Egyptian and Mesopotamian pagan holidays before the Jewish people ever started practicing them? So even the “Biblical” holidays were redeemed from pagan practices.
So you’re telling me that the Feasts of the Lord – which God commanded Moses to institute – came from the Egyptians? I’m sorry Jeremy, this conversation is over.
All cultures have harvest festivals, spring festivals, and commemorative holidays to celebrate particular events and times of the year? Why must God give holidays to the Hebrew people that are unique?
Anyway, it’s worse than you think. The Genesis accounts of creation were borrowed from Egyptian creation myths and the entire book of Deuteronomy is based off Mesopotamian Suzerain-Vassal treaties.
Oh no! God cannot use anything of this world and still be God!
Really? I’m sure glad nobody has told that to God, or else none of us would be redeemed either.
I figure if God can redeem me, He can redeem a few pagan holidays and a treaty or two.
Another factor is that the poor are often far more generous than the rest of us. Such has been my experience in my limited travels in the third world.
True point! Those who have the least are often the most generous… even with those who have more than they do!!!!