"If there is one simple method of saving the Church's mission it is probably the decision to abandon church buildings for they are basically unnatural places...and they do not correspond to anything which is normal in the everyday living."
- Harold Turner, excerpt From Temple to Meeting House: The
- Harold Turner, excerpt From Temple to Meeting House: The
Phenomenology and Theology of Sacred Space
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As Winston Churchill once quipped, "First we shape our buildings, thereafter, they shape us." This is quite true, and seen so clearly in modern Christians in relation to our church buildings. For there is nothing "normal" or organic about our autonomous meeting buildings. Rather, they are disconnected and contradictory to the very nature of the Church being a family or a body of active servants (or ministers, see Ephesians 4:11-12). By their very structure, our buildings cultivate passivity in our people. They also buttress the unbiblical idea of worship being at one time and place, and maintain the stark division between clergy and laity (to just name a few harmful issues).Want to go farther up and further in? I'd recommend getting your feet wet by reading Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices by Frank Viola.
http://www.credenda.org/archive/pdf/11-3.pdf
ReplyDeleteYeah, Joel I've read that Credenda issue a number of times, and while the hermanos up north are thoughtful concerning architecture in general I believe they're missing the greater point when applying architecture to where the Family of God should gather together. (Architecture IS important though, and I'd point folks to the book "Architecture of Happiness" by Alain de Botton to understand that most clearly.)
ReplyDeleteWe Christians are to be the presence of Christ in our cities and not our buildings. Sadly, this is the case though in America, the World knows us not by our love but by our buildings. We should never relegate this privilege to wood and stone, to do so is returning to the types and shadows of the Old Covenant.
Rather, the People of God are the living Temple now, built without hands, a true Family filled with adoptions who are full brothers and sisters in Jesus.
I am convinced the most biblical public setting to accomplish the Mission, cultivate koinonia, live as a true family, to grasp the full nature of the indwelling Spirit, and that humbles the pride of man by forcing us to constantly live in the awareness of our daily need for God’s sovereign grace is gathering in ordinary homes of Christians.
The first-century followers "got" that and that's the old path we need to return to...
If we are postmil and believe in the triumph of the Gospel, then we should expect to see gatherings in great buildings across the world over time. That is what happened, the Church triumphed in Rome and the Church flourished.
ReplyDeleteThose great buildings have had a good long run of 1,700 some odd years in some parts of the world, and we only see darkness and isolation in those areas. Beautiful structures, but empty and dark.
ReplyDeleteWe desperately need the Spirit to return us to the conviction of believing what the Bible says of us, and act boldly in faith. That is, that the Congregation of Christ is THE Building now (the mobile Tabernacle), and we need not pant after any other. We need to ask for the grace to stop trusting in our idolatrous buildings! It's difficult, I know, but this is one of those things that have changed in the NC. We no longer depend on and adore a permanent, inanimate building(s). But rather, we trust a living, moving Temple, that is Jesus, whom we are in!
We need the mind of Marcus Felix who wrote to a pagan friend in the 2nd-century, "You mistakenly think we conceal what we worship since we have no temples or altars...How can anyone build a temple to Him when the whole world cannot contain Him? Isn't it better for Him to be dedicated in our minds and consecrated in our hearts rather than in a building?"
We have seen, and will see in the future, the Gospel triumph when the Family of God embraces the pattern, or the template, for church structure laid out for us in the pages of Scripture. By that I mean, small, intimate groups eating together, serving and encouraging one-another daily, and discipling their communities. THIS is what initially pulled down the walls of Rome (and, consequently, what will give the conquest in China)
Also, I can't agree that the Bride flourished after pulling down Rome. I'd say it actually went into a decline at that point. Don't get me wrong, some wonderful things were done, like pagan sacrifices being put to a stop, but generally it began to stagnate and drift from obeying the Word.
I'll leave ya with a quote from Rodney Stark, from his book "For the Glory of God: How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, the End of Slavery"
"For far too long, historians have accepted the claim that the conversion of the Emperor Constantine caused the triumph of Christianity. To the contrary, he destroyed its most attractive and dynamic aspects, turning a high-intensity, grassroots movement into an arrogant institution controlled by an elite who often managed to be both brutal and lax. ...Constantine's 'favor' was his decision to divert to the Christians the massive state funding on which the pagan temples had always depended. Overnight, Christianity became the most favored recipient of the near limitless resources of imperial favors. A faith that had been meeting in humble structures was suddenly housed in magnificent public buildings."