June 2009

For the last 20 or 25 years, it has become popular a church to build their worship and ministry space to look like a warehouse or storehouse (or use an actual warehouse).  After being a part of three capital improvement projects at three different churches, I have found there is a whole theology to church buildings.

The “Emergent” or “Emerging Church” and ultra contemporary church movement has found that many people are attracted to buildings that do not include religious symbols.  And, church buildings  should be more utilitarian than religious. Most of the time, building a church in a warehouse is an economical way to do church.   Aside from the  “store front” church, churches who desire to tone down a worship space do so for marketing reasons.  Mega and ultra contemporary churches try to draw in burned out Christians or seekers (the unchurched) who want church to be different than the traditional church service (3 hymns, sermon, and altar call).

Christianity Today wrote an intriguing article about how there is now a reverse trend in trying to attract seekers to churches.  The trend seems to be that now seekers and churches are reconsidering what they thought they wanted in a church building.  The article cites a survey which states that seekers  prefer a church to look like, well… a church.   The article reads:

….unchurched adults prefer Gothic church buildings to utilitarian ones, challenging the conventional wisdom that medieval-looking churches feel out-of-touch and stuffy to seekers.  LifeWay showed over 1,600 unchurched adults four pictures of church buildings, ranging from mall-like to Gothic. The majority preferred the most ornate church.

Not exactly scientific, but this survey shows that deep down inside, a church’s building says a lot about how the church sees itself regarding theology, evangelism, and Christ.  This study came out of  LifeWay, the publishing and ministry arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

It is my firm belief that people want to seek the Divine in church community and in worship.  Based on anecdotal evidence, I have found that there is a segment of the church going population, who after several years at a ultra contemporary/mega church, desire to recapture the essence of what it means to worship, learn, live in faith, and fellowship in a congregation that seeks to be more dynamic and deeper in their approach.  Over the years, I have been a big fan of Robert Webber, who died recently.  Webber who began life as a Baptist and then switched denominations to become an Episcopalian, rediscovered liturgical worship with a contemporary twist.  In his book, Ancient-Future Faith he states:

Worship Renewal, then, is not a matter of gimmicks, but the recovery of the Christian vision of reality enacted by the community of God.  pg. 32

Then, Webber goes on to say:

In the 1980’s evangelicals sought to neutralize space to make the seeker more comfortable.  This worked in the 1980’s but is not the way to go in the postmodern world.  The inquirer needs to be immersed within a space that bespeaks the Christian faith.  The very narrative of faith which we seek to know and live is symbolically expressed in our space… Space becomes the visual image of the connection between the known and unknown. pg. 108

For Webber, and I agree, worship and our church buildings communicate who God is.  Symbols are important.  Symbols point to a great reality.  The cross is a symbol.  The communion table is a symbol.  The church is a symbol.  If we neutralize a church space, then are we neutralizing the symbol of the church?   Postmodernity has indeed reshaped our understanding.  Webber addresses the church within postmodernity:

In a postmodern world that has become increasingly interested in communication and space, it will be necessary to feature the relational seating of God people around the symbols of water, the pulpit, and the Table.  These are the primary visual images of God’s work in the history of salvation. pg. 108

I have a number of engaged couples who come from other churches looking for a church to get married in because their church does not “look” like a church.  They do not worship in a traditional looking church, but they want to get married in one.  That just shows how our culture is evolving and how Christians view worship space.

Churches and pastors should resist the empty showy gimmicks and trendy ideas about church and worship.  Instead, we must seek to put a theology behind our church and church buildings instead of only relying on marketing tactics.  There is a richness contained in the 2,000 years of worship, teaching, and theology that the church mothers and fathers have given to us.   There is nothing “wrong” with a contemporary church that meets in a warehouse, but the trend of the lack of Christian symbols and lack of focus upon theologically centered worship space is troubling.   When churches are able, they should think about building or obtaining a worship space that reflects Christian theology.  I should make it clear that many people have come to Christ in these trendy churches and these churches are meeting a need.   But, at some point, people are going to want more than flashy lights, loud bands, and Starbucks.

What do you think?