Church Architecture I: Why Christian Houses of Worship Aren't

When we think of the church, we don’t generally think of the people that meet there, or the sacraments celebrated there, or the Word preached there – we think of the walls and roof which contain these activities (and many, many others beside). The building is what receives the name: this structure is the First Community Church.

It is therefore not without reason that churches consider their buildings to be central in their identity. After all, even if the church is not to be equated with the building, the building is where each particular church meets together for its churchy business (not to mention its non-churchy business). Hence, the church building is an important subject for consideration. Each building has (using Richard Kieckhefer’s helpful categories[1]) its own symbolic resonance, centering focus, spatial dynamic, and aesthetic impact, all of which are affected by and affect the goings-on within the church. I wish to examine, in light of God’s Word, interpreted through tradition, the purpose of a church building, the consequent use of a church building, and the arrangement of a church building which would be most conducive to that use and purpose.[2]

You may have noticed that I have not used the word “worship” yet. It is very popular to use this term in conjunction with a church building. After all, church buildings fall broadly under the category of “house of worship,” along with synagogues, mosques, and temples. Evangelical churches often refer to their main halls as “worship centers,” where one can hear “worship choruses” led by a “worship leader.” In the order of service, the singing might be referred to as “worship.” When leaving church, one might hear a stray comment: “Wow, worship was great today.” So then, if what goes on inside a church building is worship, why not say so?

It is because I mean first to disabuse my readers of the notion that what happens in church is “worship.” Worship is far too important and far too broad to be restricted to a couple hours on Sunday, which I believe happens when one uses the term “worship” as referenced above. When we refer to one specific time or place as “worship,” then we subconsciously and unwittingly induce a mindset that the rest of our week is not a time for worship, and that outside the church building there is no place for worship. What happens at church is only one aspect or component of Christian worship, and therefore deserves a special name beyond, simply, “worship.” To refer to a particular as a universal is to neglect the other particulars.

In this opinion I have been strongly influenced by English evangelical Simon Pedley. He has made explicit the fact that worship happens everywhere, not just in church. In a short 2004 article, he writes:

I used to think that ‘worship’ described Christian meetings, particularly times of singing. But verses like Romans 12:1 and Hebrews 12:28 show us that the appropriate response to God's mercy is to give every moment of our lives to God in grateful worship. The Bible calls me to worship at home, at work, on the tube, in the pub – and, presumably, as I meet with God's church and sing his praises. Vaughan Roberts[3] quotes a friend: ‘To say “I'm going to church to worship” is about as silly as saying “I'm off to bed to breathe for a while.”’

What is worship, after all? Is a “service of worship” an hour on Sunday morning? Not according to Paul the Apostle, who writes in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren of God, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Service of worship is the lifelong, all-encompassing, interdisciplinary duty of Christians done out of gratitude to and by the grace of God. Worship in the scriptures, especially since Christ, is always referred to in this way, and never in the compartmentalized style of our present age.

This is not to say that Christians who refer to “worship” in this defective way are do not intend to worship Christ in their lives away from church. Words, however, are powerful and can form our perceptions. It is essential that we describe worship properly. Worship in a Christian’s life happens everywhere, not just at church. Indeed, a church service is a time when the people of God worship him together through preaching and sacrament, but to describe that (or the musical segment of a service) as “worship” marginalizes not only other aspects of church life but the other six days of a believer’s worship life.

One of the reasons that we have come to associate worship with the church building is a common sacerdotalism associated with Old Testament temple worship, as well as Roman Catholicism, high-church Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This misconception is easy to notice: how many Protestant churches have the words tabernacle or temple in their names? How many Protestant ministers are called “priests?” How many Protestant communion tables are referred to as “altars?” All too many.

Pre-Christ temple worship involved a high priest in distinguished vestments making sacrifices on behalf of the people of God. Only a select few were eligible to enter the innermost courts of the temple, and the high priest had to be especially consecrated, for he was (in a sense) going into the sanctuary to meet God up close and personal. (Sound like any churches you’ve seen lately?) Hebrews 9:1-10 relates the details. But that passage is preceded by this: “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13) Temple worship, fulfilled and superseded by Christ, ought no longer be a part of our liturgical life. A new order has been inaugurated. Andrew Sandlin’s remarks on the subject are helpful:

Yes, Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Aaronic patterns; and now that He has done so, to return to them in a liturgy seems to me very close to undercutting the finality of His redemptive work (think here of Rome and its sacerdotal priesthood, vestments, typical rites, and so on)…There is no divine localized presence today in the church as there was in the Temple; but, thank God, His presence pervades the earth (Jn. 4:21-24). I do not hold that the Sunday celebration is a ‘worship service’ or a Sabbath observance; the Bible never calls it that or intimates that it is. It is a commemoration and celebration of the resurrection, though of course we do worship when we unite. Jesus does indeed lead us in worship -- all the saints, not just the minister, are His representatives.

We should not think that God does not dwell in his holy temple: he does. But he dwells throughout the earth as well. We do not encounter God only in church; we do not even encounter him in greater measure in church. We are no closer to him in church than we are on Mount Everest. The worship of God is not dependent upon locality, time, or intercessor. Jesus himself announces the end of sacerdotal worship when he tells the Samaritan woman, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people God seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21, 23-24)

The church building, then, is not properly referred to as a worship space. Worship is far to important to confine to a short time on Sunday; God is too wonderful to receive compartmentalized adoration and worship from his people.

Now that this large and pervasive smokescreen has been cleared, we can move on to discussing the proper purpose of a church building and further considerations in coming days and weeks.

Cross-posted at The Weekender Blog

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[1] Richard Kieckhefer, Theology in Stone (Oxford, 2004), p. 15

[2] My approach will be primarily in reference to Protestant churches, although I will refer to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions at times. I realize that Catholics and Orthodox have different conceptions of what a church does than do most Protestants, and I do not presume to lecture them on church architecture from my own evangelical presuppositions.

[3] Rector of St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford and author of True Worship.