Edifice Complex?
I recently heard about a church building a prayer tower and, [scratching head] I guess, I'm just wondering about that. The only time a tower was built in the Bible, it wasn't God's idea. In fact, if I remember correctly, He sent a not so subtle message of disapproval.
The only other prayer tower I'm familiar with was the one Oral Roberts built and locked himself in claiming God was going to kill him if people didn't send him their money (I distinctly remember that, at the time, I sent my contributions to a different cause).
Do we need to build towers to pray in when most chapels and sanctuaries sit empty all but a few hours a week? When Jesus told us to go into our closets to pray, was it implied that the closet was in a tower the church constructed specifically for the purpose? I don't know. I'm just askin'.
It seems to me the two examples I mentioned were more "edifice complex" than anything else - erected for man's glory. I'm just leaning towards believing that God cares more about building people than building towers.
Technorati Tags: prayer, tower, church
Flickr illustration courtesy of Bill Ayton
posted by Voice in the Wilderness @ 7:02 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
A similar issue in the church I'm a part of. We built a massive building lots of people left and now we're stuck paying for it. We'd be better off to just rent a gym. I'm not really into the house-church thing though; my house is way to small and messy to have people over. It might be good to have church at home to help non-compartmentalize the secular/sacred split in our lives.
~ James (Vancouver,Canada)
Thanks for the comment, James. I hear ya. I really, really do. My local, hometown mega-church is building "the next phase" and troubles seem to be brewing. I'm afraid we're going to end up where your church did. I hope not. Who knows. Thanks for posting a comment!
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