Benchmarks of Excellence
Purposeful Church Buildings:
A
Functional Environment to Support Mission
Developed by Rev. Elder Donald Eastman, 01 August 1998
Introduction
Throughout much of Christian history it has been common to think of a church building as the "house of God" offering "sanctuary," a holy place set apart where we find refuge in God's presence. The "sanctuary" is that place set aside exclusively for worship, for rites, for instruction. Churches are places where we come to meet God. Much of this imagery is influenced by the place of tabernacle and temple in the history of Israel. So, our most common perception of a church building is that of a sacred space.
The great irony of the history of church buildings in
Christianity is that most of it is foreign to the teachings
of the New Testament and the experience of the earliest
Christians. Hear what they wrote of temples and tabernacles:
"God
does not live in temples made by human hands."
(Acts 17:24) "Don't you realize that all of you
together are the house of God, and the Spirit of God lives
among you in God's house?"
(I Corinthians 3:16)
"You
have become living building stones for God's use in building
God's house."
(I Peter 2:5) "When Christ
appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he
entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands . . . "
(Hebrews 9:11). During the
first three hundred years of Christian mission, its most
dynamic period of expansion, few church buildings existed.
Early Christians did meet in synagogues which were gathering
places for instruction and prayer. The earliest Christian
meetings and meeting-places were modeled on the pattern of
the synagogues. But one of the most striking features of
primitive Christian worship was that it so often centered in
homes.
In his book, Radical Renewal: The Problem of Wineskins
Today, Howard Snyder says that a church building cannot
correctly be God's house "because in the new covenant
this title is reserved for the church
as people
(Eph. 2, I Tim. 3:15, Heb. 10:21). A church building cannot
be a 'holy place' in any special sense, for holy places no
longer exist, and all creation is sacred. Christianity has no
holy places, only holy people. Christians
know that God is present everywhere, for the earth is
God's."
The idea of "sacred space" has given rise to
breathtaking expressions of art and architecture. Many church
buildings are beautiful and inspiring. But often, those
inspiring, beautiful buildings are monuments to pride,
immobility and stagnation. There is a tension here that begs
for balance. We humans were created with senses to appreciate
beauty. In a recent address to the American Institute of
Architecture, church historian and futurist
Leonard
Sweet said, "Beauty is not an indulgence,
or some expensive option. Aesthetics has everything to do
with health. The church has a disease: it's called the
'uglies.' It's a chilling disease that won't be allowed past
the Pearly Gates." Sweet went on to suggest ten
commandments for healthy church architecture. Church
buildings inherently are not good or bad, but they are
inevitable. They are not the church. Snyder says the
justification for church buildings "can only be
practical; simply a place to meet and carry on the essential
functions of the church." The functional needs of
churches vary greatly, depending on culture, theology and
philosophy of ministry. Here, there is great value in the
long-standing architectural adage, "form follows
function."
Application
Consideration must be given first to the geographic and
cultural context in which your church operates. What may be
ideal or essential in one setting, is irrelevant or
unnecessary in another. For example, one of the most critical
needs for churches in Midwestern cities of the U.S.A. is
ample parking onsite at a church. For churches in major cites
highly dependant on mass transit, such as London or New York,
being close to a subway station is more important. Economic
realities are profoundly different from place to place,
influencing how property is owned and used. Much of what
follows is based largely on the urban realities in North
America, so here we acknowledge the need for its adaptation
or rejection in other countries and cultures as may be
relevant and helpful.
Who are you trying to impress? Who are the primary
constituents your church wishes to reach and serve? For most
churches, the accurate answer is "our church
family." Features of church facilities must appeal to
and accommodate desires of the church family. Such is the
context for church fights over the color of carpet, choice of
kitchen appliances or a myriad of other petty issues. Another
answer to the basic question is "the purpose of our
church is to reach and include unchurched outsiders."
This answer will bring a fundamental shift in the way you
think about church buildings and facilities.
Consider the culture of the constituency you want to reach
and serve. The typical Metropolitan Community Church is made
up mostly of people born between 1946 and 1964. Known as the
Boomers,
this group is the largest generational subset in the USA. The
younger generation, often called
Generation X
or
Postmodern
Generation, was born between 1965 and 1981. During the
youthful lifetime of this generation, a global cultural shift
has been moving the church from the culture of the page to
the culture of the screen. And, says Leonard Sweet, "The
paradigm of the church can't change without altering the
physical work space of the church." For instance, to
meet the needs of the Postmodern Generation requires some new
and innovative approaches to worship. (An excellent
discussion of 21st Century worship is found in
Bill
Easum's Growing Spiritual Redwoods.)
Will your church remain a comfort zone of the status quo for
aging Boomers? Or, will your church take seriously the call
to make disciples of the next generation?
Buildings and facilities should be seen as tools to
help a church achieve its mission, and as an investment in
people, not property. A frequent decision of churches,
especially newer and smaller congregations, is whether to
rent or own their buildings and facilities. Leasing space is
extremely common for the "planting" of new
congregations in North America. Increasingly, churches can be
found in business districts, shopping centers and office
buildings. Saddleback Community Church, a well-known
mega-church in southern California, began in 1980 with seven
people. It worshiped in 79 rented locations, and grew to a
congregation of 10,000 before moving into its own buildings
on a 74-acre campus in 1995. Pastor Rick Warren says,
"Our vision never has really focused on getting big or
erecting buildings; instead our vision has been to produce
disciples of Jesus Christ."
Another factor influencing the needs of your church for
facilities is its philosophy of ministry. Churches have
differing approaches to ministry based upon beliefs and
values, ethical and social expectations, worship styles,
ethnic and cultural influences, denominational affiliation
and the congregation's sense of purpose, vision and mission.
In most churches, the philosophy of ministry is simply a
given, woven into the fabric of ongoing congregational life.
There is a decided advantage, however, for your church to
intentionally engage consideration, clarification, reflection
and, if indicated, revision of its philosophy of ministry.
For help with this, see the
Benchmarks of
Excellence for Purpose, Vision, Mission. Clarity
about philosophy of ministry will greatly enhance your
ability to discern the best choices for church buildings and
facilities.
Guiding Principles
1. The people of God are the house of God. Church
buildings and facilities serve only as instruments for the
church to fulfill its mission.
2. Form should follow function. Clarity of values,
purpose, vision and mission must inform the selection and
development of church facilities.
3. Physical space for the meetings and ministries of each
church must be relevant to the culture, experience and needs
of the people that church body is called to reach and serve.
4. Aesthetics in the physical spaces of churches is not
an extravagance to the God who created beauty. Creativity is
a gift from God, and its expression is a witness of our gifts
to God and the world. Creative giftedness often results in
sensory experiences of space, form, texture, color, and sound
which can be profoundly transformative.
5. Never surrender the leadership of your church's
ministry to a piece of real estate. No church property or
facility should become a shrine to the past or sanctuary from
the future.
