"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
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.
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