On Building Cathedrals

One day, I hope to visit a grand European cathedral—one of those that take one’s breath away upon entering. Those architects and church leaders had vision, to say the least! From what I understand, those leaders wished to build structures that somehow reflected God’s majesty, communicated God’s central story, and shaped the people within, as well as the communities in which the cathedrals played central roles.

Those visionary leaders thought that good cathedrals must be huge, awe-inspiring edifices; and that building anything less would be dishonoring to God. Most often, they made the floor plan to follow the shape of the cross, since the cross is the symbol of the Bible’s central story. Emphasizing that story in the building overrode questions of acoustics and overall functionality. Those leaders knew instinctively what Winston Churchill said hundreds of years later: “We shape our buildings, and thereafter they shape us.”

Once those leaders decided upon a plan, they faced a reality that hardly any architect or church leader faces today: almost none ever saw the finished building! The average length of time to build a great cathedral? Eighty years! Incredibly, The Cologne Cathedral in Germany took 640 years to complete!

I cannot imagine beginning a church building project that I knew I would see to completing, or that my children or even grandchildren might not see finished! Yet, those architects, priests, church people and craftsmen, knew that such a grand vision of what a church building could be would take time. All had a sense that they were not building a church structure for themselves, but for God and for others that they may never meet.

In some ways, those leaders and their cathedrals were very successful: many are still standing and communicating the awesomeness of God hundreds of years later. And yet . . . most of those cathedrals are no longer thriving communities of worship, but are considered novelties of a day long past, drawing many more tourists than worshippers.

Many of you know the irony that I left my former church thinking that I was starting a ministry that would not even have a building (I had led that church in a successful, but stressful, building project). And here I am, leading a congregation that has been in some phase of a building project for almost all of its existence--over 7 years if one counts two years of study and fundraising before we made the purchase!

From the beginning, none of us had illusions about building a cathedral-like church; we wanted any place under our stewarded to be one that was multi-functional, well-used, and most importantly, communicated the compassion of Christ. While the cathedral builders wanted to communicate the compassion of Christ by shaping the cathedral like a cross, we wanted to shape our building and campus to very tangibly communicate Christ’s love: by being a place that blessed that the community, one that somehow addressed the real hurts of this world.

Yes, the process has taken more time, money, sweat and tears than we ever imagined. However, we are near the end. By God’s grace, the main building renovations will be complete by summer. Thankfully, and with great praise due to God, our building has been communicating the compassion of Christ to the community for several years, with each year bring more depth, breadth, and detail of how that compassion is being shown to the community by the way we have shaped our building. As a result, I believe we are becoming more compassionate and sensitive to the needs around us—and more effective at meeting those needs in wise ways.

In our “must-have-it-all-now” culture, it’s been easy for us to have moments of frustration. I know I have had many such moments (periods, actually!) However, God has been faithful and I anticipate some very exciting and inspiring developments in 2012.