Angus and I were driving home from doing the food shopping at Pak n Save yesterday. As we drove past the construction of a new catholic church I commented on how it appears to be growing in width as well as height. The little church that this new monster of a church is replacing used to be one of those cute, white churches. Small and modest.
I wondered when we got home and started unpacking the groceries, what is it with new churches that are being built? Does size matter? Does God hear you better in a larger church? The little church that used to be on that site looked adaquate to me. I'm not religious and if I offend those who are with this blog post; that is what I'll have to do, but isn't faith an internal, personal, modest expression. Do people need a huge arena for one day of the week? Let's face it, most attend church on Sunday far as I know. Does the size and height of the church help with the acoustics when singing the hymns?
Then I thought that maybe the congregation had won Lotto. Perhaps they can afford to build a huge, new church. But, I still have to question whether the size of the church you worship in is relevant to the depth of your faith? Or, maybe the congregation size has suddenly exploded and they were spilling out the doors in the little old church. If that is the case then of course a new larger church is required. Somehow, I am highly skeptical that size of dwelling to match the size of the congregation is the reason for this monstrosity is being constructed.
All over Auckland, the churches are huge. Is it a contest? The 'our church is bigger than the church down the road' mentality. I have heard that congregation members of some of these churches are fleeced for huge amounts of money to fund the construction of these 'houses of worship' and families suffer financially as a result.
If people believe in God I don't question their faith, each to their own. I just find myself questioning the relevance to the size of the arena that is needed to show the level of people's faith. To me, faith is a modest, private and people worship within their own home and church is attended in a small modest building. The construction of a huge, monstrosity church that resembles or tries to match the Vatacan does not seem relevant or necessary to me. Jesus was a modest man as far as I know.
