Our Ministry Philosophy
"You also, as living stones, must be built up into a spiritual temple, and form a holy priesthood " (1 Peter 2:5, REV).
Buildings are just tools
Because our team grew out of the work of our founder, architect Ray Bowman, we have expertise in helping churches make optimum use of their buildings, minimizing spending on facilities so they can invest more time, money and energy in the mission of the church. Our name, Living Stones, reflects the fact that our work involves facilities but that our real mission has to do not with building church buildings, but with building the church itself. Further, we recognize that it is neither our job nor yours to build the church; that is something only God can do. We do not build the church, but we, as living stones, are being "built up into a spiritual temple."
This temple--the church--is a living organism, made of living stones. The fact that the church is a living organism may at first seem incidental. In reality, it makes all the difference in how we go about cooperating with God as he builds up the church.
An organic model of church
Most churches in North America operate from a mechanical model. The church is treated like a machine with interchangeable parts--programs, committees, governing structures, etc. If a church is not doing well, we look around at churches that are thriving, find a program or method that is working for them, and plug it in to our organization.
At Living Stones Associates, we see the church as a living organism, not a machine. A healthy church cannot be manufactured, it must grow organically. Paul used another organic metaphor for the church when he wrote, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow" (1 Cor. 3:6).
Just as it is the life within the plant, not the gardener, that produces growth, so healthy growth in the church comes from the Life within the church, not from our efforts. That does not mean, though, that we have nothing to do but sit back and watch it grow. Just as the gardener plays a crucial role in tending the life of the plants in the garden, we too have a critical role to play in the organic growth of the church.
Whether we see the church as organism or organization radically shapes our understanding of our role in the church.
What the gardener does
While the gardener cannot make her garden grow, there are many things she can do to allow her garden to grow. To begin with, she must plant the seed. Then, she can identify and remove barriers to growth. She can pull weeds. She can spray for pests. If the garden isn't getting enough sun, she can prune the tree overhanging the garden. If the soil is too dry, she can water. If the soil lacks nutrients, she can fertilize. None of these actions can create life or make it grow. All they can do is remove barriers so the plants are free to grow. So it is with the church. It is the nature of a healthy church to grow, both spiritually, and, as a general rule, numerically. We cannot produce healthy church growth by our own effort (though human effort can create a religious organization), but we can identify and remove barriers to growth, so that the life that is within the church is released.
Identifying and removing barriers
When we work with a congregation, our approach is to study the church's ministries, staffing, facilities, and finances to identify both the congregation's strengths and any barriers to healthy growth that exist in any of the four areas. After identifying barriers to healthy growth, we then work with the church leadership to develop a plan designed to address barriers to growth in each area, and to recommend a sequence of actions so the greatest or more pressing barriers are removed first. Many churches, when they call us, are most aware of facility barriers to growth. But it is not unusual for us to find, in the course of a consultation, that the greatest barriers to growth lie in the area of staffing or ministry rather than facilities. To remove a minor barrier in one area while ignoring major barriers in other areas doesn't allow the church to enjoy healthy growth. By looking at the church holistically, we can then identify and develop a strategy for removing all the most pressing and significant barriers to growth in the congregation.