“The church is not a building” is a phrase that ultimately reflects a poor ecclesiology.

Of course the church is not a building, but a people. But it is a people who dance the rhythm of gathering and scattering again. It gathers to place and scatters to place. 1/

So if our gathering is an integral part of who we Christians are, the places we gather are reflections of what we believe about both one another and about God. Our buildings matter, not only in a functional sense (to hold its church)...2/

But also in a theological sense, reflecting to the world what we believe about God and reflecting to each other that we value our gathered presence so much that we’re willing to sacrifice our own finances to see that our common church family has a home in which to meet 3/

The local church building is valuable insomuch as a family’s home is valuable. The building is not the family, but houses the family and stands as a fixture in the landscape to represent the family.

Church buildings matter because the Church matters. /end