As Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the Church is built, so are his teachings the unifying cornerstone of Christian doctrine.

Closing church buildings

Everybody hates to close a church building down. It’s seems like giving up ground in the church’s spiritual battle. It is also one of the most difficult jobs in church life. My Greek professor at graduate school loved it. He saw it as a necessary part of keeping church life healthy. We become so attached to real estate that we begin to believe that the church is buildings instead of people. So it was with ancient Israel. In Luke 21:1-19 Jesus predicted that the temple at Jerusalem, which had lasted over 500 years, would be destroyed. God is sometimes in the business of closing down buildings. Jesus’ prediction came right after he had praised a widow for her very generous contribution to the temple fund, the proverbial widow’s mite. Church buildings are not the "forever" part of church life.

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