Contact: Matt Dubois, 719-651-7243

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., May 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- Research shows U.S. churches spend an estimated $11.5 billion per year on church buildings, leading one Orange County-based church body to challenge churches to reevaluate their spending priorities.

According to Ken Eastburn, pastor of The Well, "The church building was never intended to be the center of Christian activity. Our faith is lived out beyond those walls. Imagine what could be accomplished if churches rededicated their building funds to evangelizing and serving the needy."

Orange County-based The Well did just that in 2005 when they left their stone and steel building completely to become a community of house churches. Since leaving their building, Eastburn notes that the church body "is naturally more focused on living our faith out in the open and on actively being the hands and feet of Jesus in our communities. Our building held us in."

So, Eastburn is saddened when he sees research like the 2002 Your Church survey of 150,000 churches that revealed that more than 22 percent of church income goes to building costs, including mortgages, new construction, utilities, and general upkeep. With the average church budget hovering around $350,000, "that's more than $11.5 billion going to buildings alone," asserts Eastburn.

While Eastburn is not advocating that every church leave its building, he is challenging churches to think critically about what they are spending on structures.

If those statistics hold for Orange County, Eastburn wonders what could happen if the county's more than 900 protestant churches cut their building expenses by just 10 percent this year. "Just imagine! This would free up an estimated $7 million dollars to expand the Kingdom by serving Orange County's most vulnerable and supporting missions -- being the hands and feet of Jesus."

So, Eastburn and The Well are challenging other churches to reevaluate their spending on buildings and to "tear down the walls" that hold them in. Eastburn says, "we're still openly learning how to do this, and we invite others to learn with us, challenge us and join the conversation." Individuals and churches can join the conversation at The Well's blog at www.leavethebuildingblog.com.