If I am ever appointed chief designer of church buildings, I will make them more like a family room and less like a lecture hall. When the Monday night “Men After God’s Own Heart” group meets in our home, the first seats claimed are the couch and the recliners. There is actually a nice pew-like wooden bench available for seating, but no one has sat there yet. On Wednesday nights when 15 to 20 of us gather in Çlassroom B, we circle the chairs so we can see each other’s faces as we share our thoughts and our lives.
Historically, the early Christians met in house churches. In 313 AD, when Constantine made Christianity an official religion, the architectural style of the church buildings was based on the most common design of public buildings in the Empire, the Basilica, which was used primarily as a law court (where people stood the whole time). The style of the long rectangular buildings was further influenced by the theater with forward-facing seating and a raised stage.
Dan Kimball writes: The theology in this is fascinating—how we sit when we meet reflects what we place as important in worship. The original vintage church met in homes, looking at each other in small rooms, discussing and teaching Scripture, praying for one another and eating a meal together. You could walk around, have dialog, etc. Then the church moved into buildings where the Table was the focal point and we stood, moved around the room, interacted, etc. Then we moved into buildings where the pews caused people to sit in stationary positions, not looking at each other, but looking at the pulpit and all facing the same direction. This drastically changes the culture and climate when the church gathers to worship. It becomes more of a sit and watch and listen meeting, than an interactive community type of meeting.
One article I read, “The Liturgical Effectiveness of Pews”, offered this observation: Pews teach the lay people to stay in their place, which is to passively watch what’s going on up front…Pews serve the same purpose as seats in theaters and bleachers in the ball park; we perch on them to watch the professionals perform.
When was the last time your family got together and lined up in rows behind each other? Around the world, pews (or pew-like chair configurations) set the tone and direction for what happens when the family of God gathers. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to re-think and creatively reconfigure church space. What setting might be best to “encourage each other and stir each other up to love and good works”? Surely, orderly rows are not the only way to have orderly worship.
I can’t help but ask the question: How do our church building designs fit with God’s design for building His church?
Dennis Lynn
Redwood Church
