Fellowship – Who Owns that Hall?
Lesson 15: Who owns that hall?
Introduction
One of the biggest problems that have arisen in Tanzania, or in fact any Ecclesia around the world, have been problems that have emerged out of building projects. In particular the building of halls. Seemingly projects of this kind will predictably, without exception cause divisions and rifts even in the strongest of Ecclesias. Not least this is caused by the headache caused by such sums of money being spent.
The array of petty insignificant things that will be disputed. The small things that become mountains. The trust or rather distrust that is to be found among brethren. The disharmony and disruption that is drawn into Ecclesial life. You, really do need a very good reason for a building project; and you must take into account the likely result. Dis-unity. By the end of the project you can lose up to 50% of your members with ease.
Let us take an example. In the late 1990’s there was a thriving community of believers in an area called Kanga (Wissmann Bay, Lake Malawi) in Tanzania. At the time there were in excess of 50 members meeting twice each week at a Brothers Shamba. It was planned to build a small hall on the land belonging to a Brother to accommodate the growing numbers. It sounded like a really good idea. But, doing something seemingly good for the Lord Jesus Christ can be very bad for the Ecclesia and the world. That is a teaching taken from the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). Peter wanted to build three tabernacles; one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. For all his good intentions, he got a mighty telling off, not just from Jesus, but from God Himself. Poor Peter. He just couldn’t get it right could he.
And so we start this lesson with these words of warning. Hebrews reminds us that we are “of no continuing city” (Hebrews 13:14) and we know from experience that the biggest reason to fall out and to fall into contention is because of building. Beware!
Do we need halls?
The dwelling place of God
Do we need halls? You might think that the logical answer to this is, “yes we do”, but is that correct and thought out?
Prior to Israel’s wondering in the wilderness, after that they left Egypt there was no abiding place for God. Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE; Jerome gives 1592 BCE, and James Ussher 1571 BCE as his birth year. We don’t need to be accurate for this calculation. Let us say that Moses was around 1500 B.C. This means that for the first 2,500 years of history there was no abiding place for Yahweh.
The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE. This puts the date of its construction in the mid-10th century BCE. 1 Kings 9:10 says that it took Solomon 20 years altogether to build the Temple and his royal palace; the Temple itself was completed in 7 years. So God abode in a tent for a further 500ish years.
Upon the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ the temple veil was rent from the top to the bottom (Matthew 27:51). This was an indication that the temple was now of no use. It is obsolete.
All this indicates to us that the Church idea of a church building being the dwelling place of God is essentially a falsehood.
The Synagogue
A synagogue (from Ancient Greek συναγωγή, synagogē, 'assembly'; Hebrew: בית כנסת bet knesset, 'house of assembly', or בית תפילה bet tefila, "house of prayer"; Yiddish: שול shul, Ladino: אשנוגה esnoga, 'bright as fire'; or קהל kahal) is a Jewish house of worship. Synagogues have a large place for prayer (the main sanctuary) and may also have smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices. Some have a separate room for Torah study, called the בית מדרש beth midrash, lit. "house of study".
Synagogues are spaces used for the purpose of prayer, reading of the Tanakh (the entire Hebrew Bible, including the Torah), study and assembly; however, a synagogue is not necessary for worship. Halakha holds that communal Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews (a minyan) assemble. Worship can also be carried out alone or with fewer than ten people assembled together. However, halakha considers certain prayers as communal prayers and therefore they may be recited only by a minyan. In terms of its specific ritual and liturgical functions, the synagogue does not replace the long-since destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.
In the New Testament, the word appears 56 times, mostly in the Synoptic Gospels, but also in the Gospel of John (John 9:22; 18:20) and the Book of Revelation (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). It is used in the sense of 'assembly' in the Epistle of James (James 2:2).
The Christadelphian Hall should be seen in the light of the Jewish Synagogue. In fact some Christadelphian Ecclesias have taken the stance of calling their halls synagogues, or assembly / meeting houses rather than churches or temples in order to make them distinct from the Churches around. They do this, because the idea is different. Our halls should be seen as places of assembly, not as the dwelling place of God.
The synagogue was always a place that was always open (see lesson 2, “Life in the Synagogue”). These buildings were used as:
-
Schools
-
Courts
-
Halls
-
Hotels
-
Treasuries
-
Hospitals
In other words, nearly every significant activity of Jewish life took place in a synagogue; and the doors were always open.
This gives us an insight into how our halls should be used if we have them.
If you are contemplating the building of a hall, then this needs to be a very serious part of your considerations. Are you going to be in a position to keep the doors open 24/7. Or is the hall going to stay padlocked for a large proportion of the week as a wasted asset. The latter should be inconceivable in our eyes; yet it is what often happens.
Do we need a hall?
Often it is the case that we think we need a hall when we really don’t need one. Perhaps one of the biggest considerations in this respect is identifying where your local Brothers and Sisters live. It is all well and good if every member is within easy walking distance of the hall, all year around. But if the members are not, then we have to wonder why a hall is being built at all.
A meeting place is by definition a place where the members meet. It needs to become central to our way of life. It needs to become the focus of our attentions. You need to have access to it. It’s primary purpose is for it to become a place of prayer and of study.
If you have members that are located 50km from the hall or even 5km from the hall, then realistically you are going to meet at the hall (at best) once a week, more practically – once a year when the white-men attend from Europe.
What an incredible waste of money. This money could have been spent on the poorer members.
Who owns a hall?
So often this becomes a “bone of contention”; and much humility is lost within the brotherhood down this channel.
The problem is, there are a large number of stakeholders who all want their say. And some, it is sad to say who are just greedy for money (1 Timothy 6:10). In fact all the stakeholders expect that they individually are 100% in ownership – when in reality nobody truly owns the hall. Let me explain myself:
In the Eyes of Government
In the eyes of the Government organizations like the Christadelphians should register themselves as a Faith Based Organization (FBO). Organizations like the Christadelphian Bible Mission, should register themselves as a None Government Organization (NGO). Organizations of this kind then appoint trustees and those trustees can then lease land from the Government on behalf of their respective organizations.
This all seems fairly straight forwards. Provided registrations are in place, paid for on a regular basis and honest stewards are put in place as trustees.
There are however rather a large number of pitfalls here:
-
Historically the registrations have been paid for using foreign aide.
-
Historically the registration payments have not been kept up to date.
-
The trustees have rarely been proven as “honest stewards” - more often than not they have canvassed for “high positions”, and “creamed off” as much money as possible
-
The Law related to FBOs and NGOs has changed in the region of 100 times in the last 20 years – it’s more than confusing
-
The Government processes require legal advisers and massively long waiting times and bureaucracy
-
Sadly, we have to mention recurring governmental and governance issues
Whenever the registration comes into question; ownership of land and whatever is built on it, reverts to ownership of the Government.
Local community (Tensile leadership)
As with every community project involving FBOs or NGOs or even Jo Blogs building a house in a township the tensile leader always gets involved. Such leaders are not always shall we say “good intentioned”. Most are motivated by human desires and lusts and are commonly bribed.
The tensile leader will be more interested in how the building will improve communal facilities and / or how the building will line his pockets with money.
This can work in favour of building a synagogue rather than a Church. A burial ground, a Co-Op, schooling, a place of education, a hospital is all much more desirable than a place derelict apart from the noisy Sunday disco type evangelical church.
The CBM UK
CBM UK have done a lot of very good work in Tanzania. In fact they are how most came to a knowledge of the Truth. It is they who have paid for the registrations for many years. It is they who have spent countless millions on purchasing the 80+ Ecclesial halls that are now dotted around Tanzania.
CBM UK have done all this good work; why should they not have a stake in what is done with the halls? Why should they not show an interest? Even if the halls are given as “a gift” to the Tanzanian Ecclesias, then they certainly should still have a part in how they are used.
But, Tanzania law states that only Tanzanians can own Tanzanian property and/or land.
The CBM Tanzania
Since 2009, as a direct result of a Brother and Sister from the UK traveling around Tanzania for a year CBM Tanzania appointed a set of trustees, and these began to take on a great deal of the ownership of the internal affairs of Tanzania.
One of the prime objectives of the CBM Tanzania council is to take care of the assets (the halls) of Tanzanian Ecclesias. Making sure that properties are correctly registered, purchased, cared for and documented.
The local Ecclesial
If you are a member of an Ecclesia that is in the significantly advantageous position of having a hall then surely you need to be responsible for it. You take ownership of making sure that that broken window is fixed. That the door is oiled. That the bolt on the door works.
It is the local Ecclesia that organizes the activities that go on in the hall.
This is right and proper; after all – this is our hall, isn’t it?
Strangely this does not always happen. Often people do not think like this. Hmmm, the hall was purchased by a European White-man. Why should I care for his property? This is the mentality of some. It is not wholesome. It is unwise. It does not work this way.
Locals
It is interesting to note that many people who live locally to an Ecclesial hall (when it is run properly) – they too will come to see an Ecclesial hall as important to them. It becomes a place for community. It is where the local Co-Op is run from. It is a place where their children go to school to get taught. It may even be the location of the local hospital facilities or where their father was buried.
Christadelphian halls belong to the community too then.
So, who owns our hall?
The reality is not clean cut. But the way that I see things, none of the above people own one of our Ecclesial halls. No, not one of them.
In John 2 (also Mark 11 and Luke 19) we read of the incident where the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses the temple of the money changers.
“Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” - John 2:12-13.
He was quoting from Isaiah 56:7 which is a passage in which Yahweh is speaking. And, herein is the answer to our question. The house belongs to Yahweh.
When the children of Israel were gathering together what was required for that first Tabernacle in the wilderness, we note where the materials were gathered from, and the attitude with which the materials were given.
How encouraged Moses must have been as he heard those words spoken to him: "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make" (Ex. 36.5). "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.” They would have kept on giving had it been necessary, but the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work, to make it, and too much, It was not just enough that they gave, it was not even more than enough that they gave, but much more than enough. The Rabbinical Commentary says that this phrase contains the idea of an abundance of everything needed for the work of the sanctuary; not just of one commodity that one might be able to afford. The need was for a great diversity of material, and the people brought too much of everything. Young and old, men and women, prince and people, were all fired by an enthusiasm which caused them to keep on giving.
These weren’t rich white-men from Europe, these were poor people wondering in the wilderness with little more than the clothes that they were wearing on their backs. They gave of what little they had been able to carry forth from Egypt as they departed swiftly. They had less than most Tanzanians; yet they gave.
Was this giving to God? If you turn back to chapter 35 you will see that it was by direct command. God wanted them to give. Verse 4: "Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring..." Nothing by constraint or a cause of irritation would have been acceptable to God. It all had to come from a willing heart. Did God need it? Had He wished, that tabernacle could have been erected in an instant of time and far better than even the work of Bezaleel and his fellow-workers. Young and old, they all made their contributions.
We say, this incident is without parallel in the history of Israel. God was pleased to dwell among them, and they were anxious that they should be the willing participants in making that dwelling possible. The whole nation wanted it; not just a fanatical few (of which some of the meetings are never short) but the whole. Now the lessons arising from this touch each one of us and are related to the offering of Christ in sacrifice in the emblems. God has always demanded open-hearted, open-handed generosity. There has never been any hope or excuse for the mean-minded or reluctant or selfish. God Himself is the perfect example of such and He expects this open-handed generosity. The whole of creation testifies to the abundance of the gifts He gives to His children. The deserving and the undeserving— our Father makes no distinction, as we must not. His gifts were not begrudged nor were they rationed, thank God! He has plainly declared that in response He loves a cheerful giver.
We will think immediately of the supreme greatness of our heavenly Father, of His omnipotence, of His absolute excellence, of His might. The whole wealth of the universe is His. Everything is in the hand of our eternal Father. Because of the truth of that, it seems incredible that we might have anything that He might want, that there is anything at all that we could possibly give Him to cause Him pleasure. Now the opportunity of being able to give anything at all to Christ or to his Father, if it were possible, would be eagerly seized upon by anyone of us, and we might be sure that whatever it was, it would be the very best that we could give.
Yet it has not always been so. There was a time in Israel's history when God had to totally reject the offerings for which He had asked. They were an offence unto Him. What a terrible thing that must have been. Imagine us giving a gift that caused offence to the one receiving it! He had to say to them through the prophet: "... offer it now unto thy governor and see if he would receive it of thee," (Malachi 1:8) so bad was the condition of the offerings they were making. In reality God has not any need for anything that we could possibly give. "The cattle upon a thousand hills are mine." Yet that slain lamb, offered from the heart in an attempt to attain forgiveness, meant everything to their Father, It pleased Him to receive of their hands the best that they could offer, as it does of us today.
It is the Psalmist who declares: "...my goodness extendeth (or reacheth) not to thee; but to the saints (whom thou hast) on the earth." (Psalm 16:2). David recognised the principle that there was nothing he could possibly give to God, but in his giving to the saints God had, he was in effect giving to God, and it is this principle that Christ takes up. So we can give, incredible as it might seem, we can give acceptably to Christ and to his Father. It is written: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." (Matthew 25:40).
You remember that when Saul of Tarsus was stopped in his tracks by Jesus he said: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me”(Acts 9:4). Likewise, our gifts, our services for our brethren and sisters count as giving to Christ, giving to God. What honour this makes available to us. It follows obviously as a matter of course. Nothing that we do must ever be by constraint or of necessity. Eagerly, willingly, cheerfully is the only acceptable way of giving to Christ or to God. What a pleasure therefore it is to read such words as those in that chapter from Exodus (36). So often is the theme in God's relationship to Israel one of disobedience and punishment and rubbishy gifts, that the incidents in this chapter stand out in stark contrast.
If we need to build – what do we do?
Clearly from what we have said, the best thing, is not to build at all, in so doing we will avoid many troubles. But, should want become a need then I offer a little advice:
-
Build Prayerfully – as with all our activities, we need to first seek God in prayer. But we need to do so with our ears, not our voices. We need to listen to Gods answers and Gods guiding directions, not assuming that God will simply agree with our way of thinking.
-
Build with Planning – the tabernacle that was built in the wilderness was built with great planning. The tent of meeting is full of scriptural lessons. The lengths of the walls, the number of the pillars, the materials use; all have spiritual significance. Surely this is the best way to build. There are some excellent plans for building indoors and outdoors to be found at https://www.christadelphian.or.tz/build/
-
Use an Expert – The children of Israel were given experts for the building work in the wilderness. Bezaleel and Aholiab were incredible craftsmen – most of our Ecclesias do not have the like. Find an expert to guide your work.
Everything that we do, we do it as a gift to the Almighty God. None of it belongs to you, or to me, but we do have to look after it. This is our service to our God. Remember at best, we are unprofitable servants (Matthew 25:30; Luke 17:10).