Should Churches be Designed for Christians?

image attribution: TFWM

More and more established churches are refurbishing and redesigning their existing facilities.  The creation of state-of-the-art worship sanctuaries with media/sound production in mind is booming.  Audio acoustics, projection screen placement and lighting considerations are now all part of church design.  In fact, digital technology considerations are now in the forefront of design.

For example, Technologies for Worship Magazine currently features an article on the continuing multi-site expansion of The Church on the Way, originating in Van Nuys, Ca.  With three campuses, this multi-lingual congregation is still growing.  Having attended The Church on the Way in the early 1980's, and having received such life-changing and dynamic ministry there, I was excited to think about how many individuals these new facilities might serve.   

But, in contrast, LifeWay Research has just released a newsletter with this article in it:  The unchurched prefer cathedrals to contemporary designs.  (You've got to subscribe to read the whole newsletter.)  According to the study, by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio over any other option, unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like a medieval cathedral than what most think of as a more contemporary church building.  The assumption is that there is a desire to link to the past.

As Christians, we obviously have a strong desire to share our faith with others, but should we design our buildings with them in mind?  Or, are our temples primarily for those who name themselves as believers?

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary

Comments

[inWorship]

I saw Lifeway's Research the other day and I did think oe thing was interesting.

I still believe in form follows function. What is the emphasis, focus of ministry or services at the church. I believe design should follow that.

Another thought was that we seem to be talking a lot lately about how churches are discouraged about "consumers". People, most likely long time church goers, wanting the church to meet their needs or expectations. So, if we start designing churches in form based on what a non-Christians may like, aren't we just catering to the consumer attitude?

By the way this is not a criticism, just a thought to start a discussion.

[Ben Hunsberger]

Dan Kimball in his book "The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations" http://www.vintagefaith.com/the_emerging_church.html addresses both design and consumerism, it is quite compelling.

[inWorship]

Dan Kimball's book is very good. I really enjoyed it.

[Richard Clare]

Some random incoherent thoughts whilst i await my morning coffee

A friend once told me that he thought my church was a cult because we didn't meet in a traditional church looking building. So maybe our buildings speak louder than we think. But if all the communities in our areas know about the church is what it looks like then we are should work harder at communicating the gospel.

A building is a tool to enable, amongst other things, people to hear the gospel (churched people need to hear it as often as 'unchurched'), worship God, break bread, have fellowship and reach out to the community. If the tool makes that job harder than it needs to be then you need a new tool. I would suggest you are making your life very difficult if you try to be a 'modern', 'forward-thinking' church in a traditional building.

Wearing my cynical hat now so no offense is meant. The unchurched are hardly going to be experts on churches are they? I would suggest people like to 'link with the past' because it puts a comfortable distance between them and Jesus. The can feel spiritual but never be challenged by a risen, living Christ. Churches should not be museums remembering past glories but living and vibrant reflecting the life changing, freedom from sin and death message of Jesus.

[Cynthia]

Thanks for the conversation and there's a bit more over here:
http://thedigitalsanctuary.org/should-churches-be-designed-for-christians/