church buildings... needed?

I saw this on another blog and thought I would share. Statistics like these help me see the need for churches to help the community both structurally [do we need to take up a whole city block or two?] and financially [what are we saying about where our hearts lie with the money we spend?]. I've heard great things about North Point in Atlanta, but the author still has a point

Brotherly Love

BY MICHAEL WALL

Estimated cost of the new 3,000-seat North Point Ministries church to be built on Lenox Road:
$40 million

Annual budget of the largest church in Atlanta, First Baptist Church:
$13 million

Number of uninsured children in Georgia:
166,000

Approximate cost to give a basic check-up, without blood tests or vaccines, to all those children:
$12,450,000

Approximate number of Sudanese refugees who've fled to neighboring Chad because of tribal warfare:
250,000

Cost to shelter and feed those refugees for one year:
$13,590,000

Minimum number of homeless people in metro Atlanta
37,000

Minimum number of meals provided to homeless by the Open Door Community each year:
15,600

Annual budget of the nonprofit Open Door Community:
$440,000

Number of times Jesus lost his temper in the New Testament
1**He threw money changers out of a temple in Jerusalem.

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Department of Community Health, Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Save Darfur Coalition, CARE, Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Open Door Community

1 comments:

John Nelson said...

Dang...that's a kick in the spiritual pants!