Cause, or Accommodation?

 Here is an interesting question. When pastor Mitchell built a building or enlarged a building was it to cause growth, or was it to accommodate growth? Do you know? I came into the Prescott church when the Ruth street build was fairly new. My wife went to church on Lincoln street. The Lincoln street building was bursting at the seams when pastor Mitchell and the council built the Ruth street building. The Ruth street building was expanded several times until it became obvious that we had outgrown it.  Not enough seats, not enough parking, for our regular church services. It never seemed to me that our pastor was building so that they would come. They were coming faster than he could build.

A bigger building does not cause growth if growth is not already happening. Buildings accommodate growth when it is already happening. If you build it, they will come, only works in movies.

One more thought. In Prescott they needed space for conference. There were no auditoriums in town that could hold the crowds of people we had coming. The tents proved to be Divine inspiration. For a fraction of the cost of a multi-million dollar building Prescott held conferences in those tents for years.

We want bigger and bigger buildings, and then we long for the simpler times when everything was new (and we had nothing). A new church and a downsized church are not the same thing.