I wouldn't trust any Christian fellowship without a visible crucifix or at least a cross

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I wouldn’t trust any Christian fellowship without a visible crucifix or at least a cross both outside and inside of the place in which it gathers.

The is particularly true of “non-denominational” Protestant fellowships that take over aging Mainline Protestant buildings and actually go through the effort/expense to remove crosses/crucifixes.

If you cannot handle looking at a crucifix (with corpus) or at least a cross, you need to respectfully, study and pray more. Most places already have plenty of cafes and performing arts theaters…
 
From what I have been told directly by some Protestant pastors:

The cross “scares” some of their faith.

It makes others “sad.”

The absence of a crucifix or cross makes the fellowship more “inviting” to more people.

We focus on the “living Jesus” not the “dead Jesus.”
 
I’ve been attending mainline Protestant churches all my life (mostly Methodist) and all of them had a cross prominently displayed up front on the wall or on the altar. No crucifixes, just crosses.

However, come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing a cross in the non-denominational church that I visited once a few years ago and thought it was a little odd.
 
Yes, I don’t get it. It makes no sense for a Christian Church. There is one near me called something like “transformation fellowship” and the only symbol on the outside of the building is a weird new age-looking triangle symbol. That means…who knows what. I couldn’t imagine just passing by that one Sunday and deciding to stop in. No telling what might be going on in there! 😱
 
Funny. I have the same sentiments that I was pondering one day. I like the premise/subject of your post. But on the part of the Crucifix. Without Christ on the Cross, then no one believes He was the Lamb of God Who slain.

Thank you for this one.
 
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I think it is a false dichotomy to suggest that a crucifix is somehow better to have in church than just a cross. Do Christians like me who don’t have a crucifix in their church deny or diminish the critical significance of Christ dying for our sins on the cross? Not at all. Christ crucified is of the upmost importance and central to all Christian faith traditions who hold Christ dear. When ‘The Passion of the Christ’ movie showed in theatres, many Protestants I know flocked to see it and gained a deeper sense of appreciation for what Christ suffered for our sake.

Conversely, does showing Jesus still on the cross as portrayed on a crucifix deny or diminish Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in the eyes of Catholics? Not at all, I suspect.

I like and accept both the crucifix and the empty cross. One focuses on Christ’s painful sacrificial death for our sins while the other emphasizes His victory over death. Catholics seem to prefer the crucifix while most Protestant denominations prefer the cross. Fellow Christians shouldn’t pit one against the other, in my opinion. When joined together, they show the complete Good Friday/Easter message of Jesus dying for our sins and rising from the dead.
 
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Some people just think they are closer to the “original church” and the Apostles without the crucifix or cross. So they use the fish (ICHTIS) which was apparently the first symbol of Christians.
So I guess it’s some form of elitism, just waiting for you to criticize the lack of the cross so you get the history lesson you did not know.
Everyone knows the cross means Christians. So maybe they want to be attractive to non-Christians and thus trick them to convert them. I find it a conceited way and I am not buying that “it scares people off”. Sure people who don’t want a Christian religious background will not come there if they see the cross, but why do you have to hide the fact that you are Christian?
 
Trust them for what? What are they suspect for if they lack a crucifix or cross? It would appear that displaying those things isn’t a guarantee of trustworthiness either. People are capable of doing every evil thing no matter what signs, symbols etc they display or declare allegiance to.
 
I, too, do not understand why a church, oratory or chapel would not have any form of symbol that it was Christian and a place people go to worship God. Last year I took my mother to vote and her polling station is in a Protestant church building. When I went in with her I was absolutely shocked. It looked like a non-descript meeting room any old committee would meet in.
 
People from non-Christian backgrounds who would have been scared off by a cross would probably be scared of a great many things in the Bible as well.

I don’t see the point of converting people who would be “scared off”.

“If you sin, you go to Hell.”
“Sounds violent, I’m out.”
 
Salibi said:
People from non-Christian backgrounds who would have been scared off by a cross would probably be scared of a great many things in the Bible as well.

I don’t see the point of converting people who would be “scared off”.
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But that is exactly what Christ told us to do, to tell His message to the world. But we cannot force anyone to believe.
I don’t think people are really scared off at crosses. Just annoyed, usually atheists who used to be Christians and they regard it all as useless bigotry. But nobody is like terrified when they see a crucifix. Or terrified at the Bible. They just we presume we are, and we are being emotionally bullied into believing this horrid story when we could be believing other things since it doesn’t matter.
I think “scared off” here means “put off” or not interested in if they knew from the start it’s a Christian gathering.
My first employer was Jewish even though he had stopped practicing his faith. At one point he told me he is not fancy of crosses (I was estranged from the Church at that time, did not wear a cross) because he is Jewish and atheist and the cross reminds him of Pope, Inquisition and Hitler. However he did hire one colleague who had several religious necklaces at her neck all the time, a crucifix and Medjudorie medals. So I don’t know if he was serious about the crucifix " putting him off". It was more like a joke though an awkward one. I was stressed at that time and I did find the joke funny because it was about something else than work because that was very stressful.
 
David_Catholic said:
So you don’t trust Eastern Catholic Churches?
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My Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic parish displays a crucifix both inside and outside. So does the neighboring Greek Orthodox parish.

Crucifixes can be either 3D or icon format, like the San Damiano crucifix.
 
The first church flourished quite well not just without a cross, even a crucifix, but without any church building. Imagine that, that wherever two or more gathered in His name, there He was also. Whatever roof was over their heads, that was church.
 
Wben I grew up there used to be a small Lutheran church on one of our main roads. You could see thru the front glass doors straight to the back of the church, which was lowly lit showing just the altar and cross. It seemed so comforting and cozy. Always had to look thru when driving by at night.
 
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Front and center and massive at St. Joseph Marello, Granite Bay, CA. It’s got to be 9 or 10 feet tall.
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My (all?) orthodox parish has a large icon of the Theotokos behind the altar. There is a smaller crucifix icon to the side, outdoor building crosses are not a crucifix but an Antiochian cross. Crosses are definitely not predominant in the nave but rather iconography, though small crosses are everywhere
 
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