Thursday, March 20, 2008

Musing on Church buildings

Pre Reformation, broadly speaking, churches were designed so that everyone's attention was drawn towards the altar, where the Catholic sacraments took place, because sacrament was central.

Post Reformation, broadly speaking, churches were designed so that everyone's attention was drawn towards the pulpit, where the preaching took place, because the Word was central.

In the two of three big, new church buildings i've been in recently, my attention was drawn first of all to a large stage area, where, presumably, the worship band plays. Does that tell us anything about church meeting life today?

As Sean helpfully pointed out, it probably tells us as much as anything, that most new church buildings are multi-use, and that the stage area helps with that, which is also interesting.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The multi-use comment is certainly a wise observation from Reverend Green. Though,... in practice there might be a deeper theological shift going on.