All Christians: What is OK out of these?

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strngrnrth

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With churches now being designed to “fit in” everywhere from industrial parks to espresso bars, what is acceptable out of these options?
 
The real question is where is the Church. Are you talking about the Church as a building or the Church as the body of believers in the body of Christ. It should not matter what the building looks like, what matters is what your heart looks like.

Don’t look at the building, look at the reason for the building.
 
strngrnrth said:
With churches now being designed to “fit in” everywhere from industrial parks to espresso bars, what is acceptable out of these options?
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There are many churches who meet in schools and other public places till they build a church building. If a pagan group can meet out in a field somewhere, why shouldn’t a Christian church do the same? What about underground churches that have to meet in various places because their government forbids open practice of the Christian faith?

I would rather that we as Christians take our faith out into the world and change the secular culture rather than wait and hope they come to a church building to receive the message of Christ.

The dividing line is when the secular overtakes the religious aspects. Thus, gambling in between hymns would be inappropriate 😉

Peace…

MW
 
Friend’s Meetings are very plain. Our benches or chairs are usually organized in a “U” configuration with the main seating gallery facing one another and the “facing bench”. All in the Meeting face “inward” the room. There may be a Clerk’s Table off to one side.

Since the Church is made of flesh and blood and not bricks, wood and mortar, the Church can meet for worship any place, any time…a building is not necessary, the Church can meet in secluded caves in the dead of night or underground tunnels…or plain abandoned structures…the Presence will be where two or three are gathered in His name. If they can gather in the noisy confines of a disco or casino, more power to them, but the focus is to be on the worship of the Eternal Light.
 
G. K. Chesterton once wrote (I’m quoting from memory): “We don’t want a Church that moves with the world but a Church that moves the world.” Casinos and bowling alleys and coffee houses might attract the curious to a church service, but it couldn’t be sustained as a place for the Body of Christ to meet. Proper worship requires a proper setting for it. And in the case of the Catholic Liturgy of the Mass, since it centers around the re-presenting of the one sacrifice of Christ, it requires an altar. You can’t sweep the chips off a casino table and use it as an altar, week after week.

As for the setting itself, statues, paintings, murals, mosaics, etc. are reminders of the wonderful things God has done for us since biblical times. They engender awe, reverence, and gratitude, besides being good tools for teaching us before we are able to read or write or for those who cannot do so as adults. A church need not be overly elaborate in its decorations, but it need not be devoid of all reminders of the faith those who have gone before us and who watch over us as a “cloud of witnesses”, praying with us and for us.
 
I have been to churches with a Coffee shop/ bookstore in a separate building next to the church. and one with a small Coffee type area in the lobby. I have no problem with that… selling stuff during service though… not ok. Both of those churches also disallowed food and drink in the sanctuary.

One church I went to had a separate area for the youth to “hang out” and they have a fuseball table and an air hockey in there. I see nothing wrong with it. They aren’t in there during services playing.

I voted its ok for a church to look like a warehouse or be an old warehouse and for public parks. Some peopel are limited in means of what they can afford to rent/buy or where they can go till their Church is built. I prefer a park over a warehouse… at least then you are out in the nature God created. I especially love some of the outdoor chapels that I have gone to to pray in the forests I attended a church service out on a beach once too. Location isn’t as important as intent and what is actually going on there.
 
Syele said:
I have been to churches with a Coffee shop/ bookstore in a separate building next to the church. and one with a small Coffee type area in the lobby. I have no problem with that… selling stuff during service though… not ok. Both of those churches also disallowed food and drink in the sanctuary.

One church I went to had a separate area for the youth to “hang out” and they have a fuseball table and an air hockey in there. I see nothing wrong with it. They aren’t in there during services playing.

I voted its ok for a church to look like a warehouse or be an old warehouse and for public parks. Some peopel are limited in means of what they can afford to rent/buy or where they can go till their Church is built. I prefer a park over a warehouse… at least then you are out in the nature God created. I especially love some of the outdoor chapels that I have gone to to pray in the forests I attended a church service out on a beach once too. Location isn’t as important as intent and what is actually going on there.
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I believe in coffee and donuts after Mass. I even believe in a church-related hangout, and in Bible study groups meeting in seamy places to change them. Of course, if resources are scarce, making a church out of any building must be OK. But I think a disco would be highly inappropriate for a regular place of worship. Churches should look as much like churches as the bdget makes possible, and be reverent atmospheres. They should stand out. That’s my opinion.
 
I don’t think the building matters, but I would be concerned if the main attraction was not religious.

If you swing by church on your to the slots or happen to have prayer and quick scripture reading before the game I don’t think the church is having the impact it is supposed to.
 
You didn’t offer a “none of the above”…which is what I’d select.
Shalom~
strngrnrth said:
With churches now being designed to “fit in” everywhere from industrial parks to espresso bars, what is acceptable out of these options?
Click to expand...
 
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