Q10. Buildings

[Pastor Ralph]

Q10. How do church buildings relate to the central mission of the Church? What is the place of building worship buildings (such as Solomon’s Temple) that express the beauty and glory of God? What is the place of building functional houses of worship that conserve resources for other tasks?

[Krissi]

I find European cathedrals captivating. I have felt His presence when entering a building that soars high into the sky, as my footsteps echo in the empty space between the pews and the ceiling, and my eyes adjust to twilight-like light filtered through stained glass windows. It’s difficult not to imagine the generations of craftsmen who made these beautiful buildings … the masons, carvers, glass-makers, etc. They stand as a testimony to the values of eras past, to the mysteriousness of the gospel, the inaccessibility of God. They also represent a time when people stayed in one place, had a longer sense of history stretching back and forward in time, and were confident that their contribution to a collective building project was both blessed by God and socially significant.

And that’s sorta the problem. We’ve changed. Today, these buildings are empty, or mostly empty, with gawking tourists and only a few worshippers. They point to the past, not the future. They recall a European civilization that was, not is, and, sadly, too, a faith that was, but is no more. Cathedrals feel more like museums than places of worship; though I want to worship God there, I can’t quite settle down enough to focus on Him.

So, I really don’t know how buildings relate to the central missions of the church – evangelism, worship, fellowship, etc. Perhaps, again, there will be a time when communities come together in fellowship to create beautiful buildings in which to worship. These would be buildings worthy of God’s presence. Buildings that represent the best craftmanship that ordinary mortals can make. Buildings that are like offerings of time, effort and perhaps even lives spent creating an object that glorifies God.

I lived in Paris for three months last year, about a mile from an old cathedral that was being renovated. Almost all Parisian cathedrals are in various states of disrepair. This particular church had a huge hole in the ceiling through which decades of water had dripped. Apparently, it had never been repaired. So few Parisians are Christians, now, that cathedrals aren’t supported by parishes. There aren’t enough wealthy Christians to pay to repair their own churches! Thus, the government subsidizes their repair, not because the government gives a rip about faith or God, but to increase tourism. I know this may sound weird, but I feel a heaviness in many cathedrals, a sense of death, not life … of god-denying not God-upholding. I think this is because the repairs are not being done by the faithful, but by the faithless. This may not show, but it “feels.”

This aesthetic malaise, a sense that Christians can no longer create with the Spirit’s inspiration and help is pervasive in contemporary churches. We don’t come together to create over a span of generations. Most of our architecture is local and dull, cookie cutter churches lacking the feeling of mystery which old cathedrals had in spades. Churches don’t look any different than government buildings, for example. Or, schools. Or storefronts. They’re utilitarian not transcendent. Ugly, even.

Pastor Ralph’s question juxtaposes our time/money/creativity going to missions vs. that going into building projects. Yes, there’s a zero-sum quality to our time and money, that what we give here we take from there, but … I don’t know … maybe, just maybe, we can make our churches stand out a bit as places of mystery, beauty, transcendence, color, craftmanship and the giving of our best? For Him?

I come from an “ancient” puritan background that values plain interiors and simple buildings. Admittedly, I find it easiest to worship God in an atmosphere of silence and with my eyes shut. But I do feel that something is missing in my spiritual life, that sense of wonder and awe, beauty and transcendence, pride in what human hands have wrought motivated by a love of God in community.

[Clelie]

Church buildings is to gather the body of Christ for cooperate worship, fellowship , teaching the word of God  and exercising   the gifts of God and mainly to spreading  the gospel of God to bring people to the living  God. 
 

Such a building is not the purpose  of today’s churches but they should rather be functional and use the finances that would have been used  for a more elaborate building for other more needed purposes that will glorify  God.