Paul-Timothy Training Menu

Plan for several services.

• Some churches have as many as five or six services on a weekend. Even when they get the facilities that allow the entire membership to worship together at once, some continue to hold multiple services.
• Some churches developed distinct congregations in which people bond together to be a "church within a church." They do things together as a body that a larger group, in which people do not know each other, could not do.
• Often it is healthy for a church to hold several services to accommodate different ethnic groups, or those who prefer a more contemporary style of music.
• The basic idea is to allow the Holy Spirit to keep adding to the church — to keep growing through conversion to Christ—by not limiting growth to a budget or diverting attention to building projects. God keeps working powerfully even where churches cannot meet in church buildings at all.

Find in Ephesians 2:17-22 evidence that the "church" in God's sight is not a physical building. What is it?

Verify the lowest-cost options that will both accommodate larger meetings and allow for continual multiplication of believer groups.

• Do the followers of Christ expect to own a big building and to pay dearly to maintain it? If not, consider not owning one and hold large group meetings in borrowed or rented facilities.
• If your people are poor, let them put their resources into supporting the needy and a few highly gifted full-time gospel workers, rather than spending what little they have on a building.