01/13/16 - What does brick and mortar do for a church?

The "brick and mortar" of a church materializes the concept of church and tends to atrophy the spiritual growth of its congregants.

The impetus required for constructing a building is admirable - the money, time and dedication to a purpose, but future generations are robbed of the opportunity, and tend to take for granted the committment required.

The regular congregating of a group of people inevitably nurtures personal sense - some are considered more advanced, more committed (?), others happy to coast along, etc. - some are visibly more prosperous, some less, etc., and the tendency to hold others in these mental "snap-shots" and thereby malpractice on them - instead of seeing them as ideas of God, unlimited in their potential.

The underlying desire for self-perpetuation of the organization becomes paramount, and inevitably leads to patterns of human control, ironically, because of a lack of trust in everything the church purports to stand for!

In the following definition, there is no mention of a church building for good reason:

"Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.

The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick." (S&H)