Sacred Space:

One of the biggest arguments in building a new church building or expanding into a new sanctuary is whether or not it will serve one function: that of church, set apart for meeting with others and meeting with God - or having a multipurpose facility.

Two years ago when The Lab (or youth facilities here at Fall Creek Wesleyan) was built, it was to be a youth ministry - exclusive room. We would have stuff that was our own, used for us. This is the dream of every ministry! To have facilities of your own would be an incredible blessing - if such a utopia existed.

The problem over the years has been that the church added a daycare as an extension of the ministry of the church. This would be fine, aside from the daycare has decided that The Lab is such a cool place to be that they would grace it with their presence, use our stuff, break our stuff, forget to turn everything off properly, and mess around with technical stuff (i.e. sound and lighting) that they are not trained or have the knowledge to properly use.

Not only has the lab been used for daycare, it has also served as a place for public meetings, wedding receptions, Mothers-of-Preschoolers meeting, and the like. Am I complaining because we are serving others? Not at all. My big issue is that the word of those who made statements about the exclusiveness about The Lab would make the appropriate adjustments to budgets, appropriating an amount of money for shared usage expenses, the replacement of damaged property, and that we wouldn’t be promised something that we aren’t getting.

As I entered The Lab this morning, I found a mess of torn up ping-pong paddles, a split air hockey puck, and the felt missing from the underside of one of the air hockey paddles. This is disheartening because it isn’t the first time that this has happened, nor will it be the last. No matter where I go, I will probably find that it is like this. When will youth ministry be taken off of the back burner, be seen as a vital ministry of the church, and put their money where their mouth is.