Space: A New Frontier?

Worship space matters. 

While I can make a case that 1) God can and should be worshipped in all places and spaces, and 2) God is more impressed by holiness than flying buttresses, I personally find certain spaces to be more conducive to worship than others.  It doesn’t have to look like this.  It could also look like this or this or this.  Space feels worshipful if community is gathered and nourished there.  A sanctuary could be gloriously constructed.  But if there is no community, the church might as well close.  It’s no longer really a church anyway.

As church buildings that look like this and this are swiftly closing, my prediction is that the proceeds from selling their real estate will never again be used to buy space that looks traditionally churchy.  I especially feel for the struggling congregations that built mega-buildings only to find that they don’t now or didn’t ever really need that space; they just wanted to be like the megachurch down the street. 

The space where we worship is one of the new frontiers for faith communities in the 21st Century – especially for the formerly mainline church.  As we close the church with the traditional building on the corner, I’m hoping we are wise enough to start up the new church in the bar or the diner or the art gallery down the street.