Advice and guidance for building God’s kingdom — both figuratively and literally — were in abundance for the 142 church leaders who recently attended the church building conference conducted by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
Gary Swafford, associate director of SBOM’s new work and church building services, told the attendees that Alabama’s population is outpacing its church growth.
“Of the 4.5 million people living in the state, roughly 2.5 million attend church with some regularity, leaving almost 2 million unchurched,” he said.
Swafford pointed out that there are 3,172 Southern Baptist churches in Alabama. But when the number is looked at in relation to the state’s growth ratio, the number of active Southern Baptist churches in 2002 is 60 percent lower than 1960.
“You may drive around and see lots of churches, but never think that we have too many churches in our state,” he noted.
Swafford said the need for churches to be more active in their communities has never been greater. He said the need isn’t necessarily to have more churches, but for established churches to be more effective in reaching the 2 million lost or unchurched.
“We have all of these good, strong traditional churches,” Swafford said, “but still 38 percent of the population is not being reached.
“The potential is there,” he added, “and we’ve got work to do.”
One major focus during SBOM’s 11th annual building conference — held in Decatur Jan. 17 and Montgomery Jan. 18 — was the necessity for Alabama churches to assess their facilities.
Swafford said many churches have facilities that do not accommodate people living in the 21st century. Churches do not provide appropriate nursery facilities, convenient overhangs for people dropping off a vanload of children when it is raining or sufficient parking for visitors.
Swafford jokingly said that if many of Alabama’s churches were located in Rome, they would be called ruins.
“Some churches I go into today are like going back in time,” Kevin Wilburn, a youth pastor from Elmore County, said. He was one of many church leaders who described the information delivered at Friday’s conference as “eye-opening.”
Banks, gas stations and other businesses were used as examples of how corporations pay attention to what people look for and incorporate technology and better accommodations into their facilities. As a result, people do business with them.
What does this mean to the local church?
“If your building, signs, doors and restrooms are just like they were 20 years ago, then you’re getting out of step with your community,” Swafford said. “Churches ought to pay attention to staying up- to-date with some of those tangible symbols that are really symbols and services that we expect today,” he explained.
In one of the conference’s breakout sessions, Jim Swedenburg, associate for church administration at the SBOM, emphasized that churches today must change with the times. Not in relation to biblical truth, he explained, but in building quality and accommodations.
“People are less tolerant today,” Swedenburg said. “Inferior facilities are no longer acceptable. Churches must be worth their time.”
Swedenburg pointed out that elements this generation looks for are quality, comfort, convenience and security.
In his closing session, Gary Nicholson, architect/ consultant of the church architecture services division of LifeWay Christian Resources, said that he remembers as a young boy sitting in an 8-by-10 Sunday School classroom with no chairs.
“The lighting was “elaborate” — a wire dangling out of the ceiling with a light bulb connected to it. Today, visitors with preschoolers wouldn’t even hesitate before getting back in their cars and driving to find another church with convenient accommodations,” he said.
“The church’s facilities are the first thing people look at,” Swedenburg added.
Overall, Swafford said, “Buildings are not the focus here — people are.”
This is one of the reasons Swafford’s team, consisting of eight special workers, exists — to encourage local churches to keep things in proper perspective.
Swafford emphasized that Kingdom work is to honor God and love people. “This is the wonderful task given to the bride of Christ. Perspective is everything. Church buildings are just tools churches use to reach the people they are given to love,” he said as an explanation.
Roy Hill, pastor of SonRise Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, said, “The building is part of the fulfillment of the vision (of the church), not the focus of the vision of the church.”
On a personal note, Swafford told the audience that his own life has been focused on people, explaining that he spent 22 years with his family as a missionary in Malawi. He said that while there, many meetings were simply conducted under the nearest tree.
But, as his time progressed in “one of the poorest countries in the world,” he said he used his 10 years of prior drafting experience to design and build hundreds of houses and church buildings for those people to whom he ministered.
God has the plans
Swafford referenced Jeremiah 29:11–13, using the Bible verses to illustrate that “God already has the plans. We are to seek those plans in prayer.” Swafford’s program has three main roles: spiritual, people and partnership.
He added that the emphasis must be kept in this order. Swafford said his staff exists to help the churches first and foremost build to honor God.
Swafford emphasized to his audience that, “Above all else — from the earliest stages, when the building idea is first conceived — prayer must be the continual attitude of the leader’s heart.”
As far as church consultation and church building conferences go, partnership and networking is what Swafford’s team seeks to highlight.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we can do so much more together than we can individually,” he said. “Partnership is what drives us to our Cooperative Program.
“We are intent to work together to carry out the Great Commission,” Swafford added.
The SBOM new work and building services team is available to any Baptist church in Alabama free of charge.
To contact Swafford, e-mail him at gswafford@alsbom.org or call 1-800-264-1225.
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