Going around Nigeria today, you will see cathedrals, church buildings, and worship centres towering in the cities. These cost billions of naira to build and much more to maintain. In most cases, the people benefit from businesses around these church buildings than what is provided within. Many people troop in with iniquities into the churches and troop out not impacting righteousness on the people outside the church.
Most importantly, Jesus Christ took his message to the poor in the streets and attracted many followers. These followers were first called Christians in Antioch. Christians are those who behave like Christ, followers of his ways as well as those who want to be like Jesus Christ.
The Church is a body of those who have been converted to the way. The Church is the body of Jesus Christ. The Church is a group of people who believe in the way of Jesus. The Church is an institution made up of the followers of Christ. The Church is made up of Christians. This is why the Church is holy. It is united in one body and follows the tradition left by the initial followers of Christ. The Church as an institution is different from the church as a building.
The church as a building is a place where Christians gather to worship God through Jesus Christ. It is where Christians are trained for their core evangelical functions. They are trained there to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. The mission is outside the church building. The mission is the outside world where Christians are expected to draw unbelievers into the body of Christ, the church.
So, spending millions and billions of naira on church buildings is a waste of resources and mission. The arrowheads of Christianity, the clergy are accountable to God, not on the number of buildings they have erected but on the number of people they showed the way. If houses are built with billions of naira without Christians to fully represent the body of Christ in it, it is a waste. What shows the great achievements of Christians and their leaders is the number of genuine Christians who follow the way of Jesus Christ as stated above. Their mission is within society through their attitudes and behavior and not within magnificent buildings filled with sinners.
If twelve apostles can convert over 2 billion people to Christianity within 2000 years without church buildings, 80 million Nigerian Christians can do more within a shorter period armed with righteousness, selflessness, love, charity, and sacrifice outside church buildings.
