"If You Build It, They Will Come"

If you build it, they will come. So the voice kept telling Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Field of Dreams. And so he built it — a baseball diamond in the middle of a corn field behind his Iowa home. His family and friends thought he was crazy. But when he had built it, sure enough, “they” came: the ghosts of baseball legends of yesteryear gathered to play on his field.

If you build it, they will come. So read a plaque in the “fellowship hall” of a church where I attended a funeral some time ago. On the plaque were names, dates, and honorable mentions celebrating the hall’s construction. It was a comfortable, spacious building, decked out with a full kitchen, plush carpet, big screen TV, and even a basketball court out back. All this, the plaque affirmed, was built “to the glory of God.”

If you build it, they will come. Many churches have made this their motto. To attract people, they build fellowship halls, youth centers, and gymnasiums. They sponsor lock-ins, concerts, movie nights, and pot lucks. Many fear that if they don’t, they will lose people to the church down the road that does. One preacher said, “If you hamburger them in, some­body else may hot dog them out.”

If you build it, they will come. But come for what? A hall built for food, recreation, and entertainment is going to appeal to people looking for precisely those things. When did the New Testament disciples ever use such things to draw people to Jesus? And just how would these things draw people to Jesus, anyway? When pressed, even churches that build fellowship halls and sponsor social events still insist that it’s the gospel that brings people to Christ (see John 12:32; Romans 1:16). So what’s all the other stuff for?

If you build it, they will come. But does that make it necessary? What does a fellowship hall/gymnasium/whatever provide that loving, hospitable Christians cannot provide on their own? Even if it were scripturally authorized, a “church fellowship hall” would not relieve Christians of their personal duty to “pursue hospitality” (Romans 12:13). I’m afraid many have been duped into expecting “the church” to relieve them of their individual responsibilities to God.

If you build it, they will come. But is that reason enough to build it? Is a local church justified in doing anything that will attract a crowd? What New Testament passage says so? Paul said that eating common meals is a function of the home (i.e., the individual), not the church collectively (1 Corinthians 11:22,34). And where is the Scripture that says or implies that it’s the church’s job to provide recreation or entertainment? Supporters of church-sponsored food and fun are going to have to come up with something more substantive than “it doesn’t say not to.”

Every congregation of disciples must examine their true aim. Are we trying to bring people to Christ by proclaiming the gospel, or are we simply trying to bring them in the door by any means we choose?

Even some in Jesus’ own day sought Him out, not to hear His teaching, but in search of a free lunch. He rebuked them (John 6:26-27). Then He spoke about real food — the spiritual life that comes from partaking of Him. When He finished, “many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore” (verse 66). Jesus did not use the promise of physical goodies to attract people nor to keep them. Why should we?