March 18, 2020

I want to talk briefly about a problem that I have seen in several churches, and overall, I do believe it may be a bigger problem than just the churches I’ve been in or have consulted. The problem? Using our church buildings as basically storage units.

I’ve been in churches where they are storing so much for events that they have moved Sunday School classrooms around just so they could take up another room to store more event items. I’ve been in churches where stacks of event supplies are in the corner of Sunday School and worship areas.

Why do we do this? We shouldn’t use our churches as storage buildings. They should be clean, neat, and free of clutter. After all, it is where we get together to worship. It is the house of the Lord. If you can’t store and contain your event items comfortably in your church, then it isn’t making very good use of the house of God.

What do your storage tubs or closets of your ministry and event materials and supplies say? Are they saying you have been submerged in materialism? Has it gotten out of control?

We see this in homes. Many people on an extreme level have become hoarders and their homes have long ago lost any sense of decency and order. I fear some churches have become event supply hoarders. They just keep stacking it up higher and higher. They keep buying more. They keep taking up more of the house of God for storage.

Sure, things and materials can help us minister, but where do we draw the line? We have to delve into fixing the problem. Sadly, I fear it has become out of control.

I feel we are going to have to take stock of how we do ministry-related events and think about what the whole storage dilemma is doing to our churches. I think it’s like regular hoarding. We like our stuff. We like our things. We think we can use it again. We think it isn’t taking up much space. We think it is irreplaceable. We think it isn’t bothering anyone. And sometimes we are just oblivious that we are exhibiting hoarding behavior.

In the end we don’t notice how much the storage issue is zapping the life out of our church buildings and maybe even the people too. I just think it’s something church leaders should think about more seriously.

I believe that we are going to have to reflect deeply about whether all this is pleasing to the Lord. That verse in Colossians comes to my mind.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Some of our churches may have to roll up their sleeves and do some work. You might have to have a workday and sort and clean. There might be other churches that can use your old Vacation Bible School or Sunday School material. There might be other causes or charities you can donate to in order to clean out your church storage. You may find you can even put some stuff online to sell and add the profits to the church budget somewhere.

This might not be a problem at your church, but overall, I think as church leaders, we really do need to consider if we are simply houses of worship or turning into houses of storage.

Copyright ©2020 Julia Bettencourt

Find more on the Simplified Ministry Index.

• Leader Vault
• Blog
• Home