What does your sanctuary say about your priorities?

[Chad Williams]

The arrangement of the furniture in a church sanctuary testifies to what that church or religion believes. In Pentecostal churches, the PULPIT is placed in the center of the platform because the Gospel is the heart of the message we preach. The PLATFORM is raised because the Pastor represents the ordained ministry as the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Who is to be lifted up as the Word is preached. The ALTARS & COMMUNION TABLE are on the floor because everyone including the ministers must humble themselves before our High Priest, and there examine themselves, and confess their sins.

I found this on a Facebook group I am in, found it an interesting thought. Makes sense once you dwell on it awhile.

[boymom]

Furniture arrangement as belief system; very feng shui.

[Presbygirl]

Why Chad Why?? Why focus on such silly things. While my church's sanctuary happens to fit into that description, there are many churches who meet in transitional type places for many different reasons. Or, there are some churches who don't use pulpits at all, and yet still preach the Gospel.
God is not limited to a building and I think when you "dwell on it a while" these are the types of mindsets that become divisive and counterproductive to the Gospel.

[C_Fresh]

Our platform is raised because it makes it easier to see the speaker instead of the backs of heads. My parent's church has a sloping floor AND a platform

We don't have a pulpit. Well, actually we still do but it is sitting in an office. We use a wooden stand that you can pick up and move with one hand. Its on the platform in the AM and on the floor level for PM and Wed services.

We don't really have an altar since it is not Bible-based. The communion table spends most of its time with other stuff on it unless we are actually doing communion. Its a TABLE; nothing especially holy about it.

[senda wales]

Yeah, actually, it's a pretty valid question. Spatial structure and architecture play a huge role in shaping human behavior and expectations. You can pull out inferences about the kind of power specific individuals will have in a given setting, based on where they are located. A raised platform before thousands of seats tells you that the person standing on the platform has the power and attention over the masses. Your typical dining room table setting has everyone sitting on an equal level with each other, suggesting a more communal distribution of power in the space.

When I was still in church I'd spend a lot of the messages thinking about this. Hierarchy is very much codified into church spaces.

[Tony Mel]

(10-28-2011 11:08 AM)Donb123 Wrote:  Of course this line-up is just a throwback to the way Anglicans always did it- Anglicans being where the Presbys came from.

And Anglicans come from Papa.

[Presbygirl]

I get what you are saying Don and Senda but at the same time there is a tendency to go on a power trip too based on these externals. And Jesus himself came as a servant.

My concern about what Chad was saying is that if things like this become a big point of focus, too much of a point of focus, people will easily get sidetracked by those ideas and be divided and therefore once again people are arguing over pulpit placement and forgetting the main thing which is the Gospel.

[greg]

I'm 100% with Presbygirl on this one!

Acts7:48 "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?"

Acts 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands."

I got this quote from SFL, I can't remember the contributor.

Church - "A building with a special room, specifically designed to focus on one person." .......unfortunately that one person is usually the pastor instead of Jesus!!

[pastor's wife]

(10-28-2011 09:24 AM)Chad Williams Wrote:  The arrangement of the furniture in a church sanctuary testifies to what that church or religion believes.

It MAY symbolize what they believe, but it may also simply be pragmatic, since true worshippers worship in spirit and in truth. Personally, I love symbolize and I love beautiful buildings and pageantry, but I wouldn't say that if people don't have a particular style of building, that they do not hold to a particular doctrine.

Quote: In Pentecostal churches, the PULPIT is placed in the center of the platform because the Gospel is the heart of the message we preach.

Almost every church I've ever been in has had a pulpit in the center of the platform (except for a couple cathedrals I saw in Europe and a few modern buildings without a pulpit). Some of those pulpits, however, have pastors who are NOT preaching the Gospel, but rather their own opinions and traditions. The PULPIT really doesn't matter, except for convenience. What matters is the SUBSTANCE of what is being preached.

Quote: The PLATFORM is raised because the Pastor represents the ordained ministry as the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Who is to be lifted up as the Word is preached.

Again, it's fine to say "we choose to elevate the platform as a symbolic representation of the high calling a minister has to exalt Jesus in his preaching", but Christ can be exalted without a raised platform. Paul and Silas exalted his name quite well although locked in stocks in jail.

So while I think it is interesting to ponder why certain architectural elements are used in church and why, I think it's very important to never add to Scripture and demand that if one doesn't have a pulpit or a raised platform, they're not honoring God.

[myotch]

Sanctuaries appeal to certain cultural aesthetics. In the reality of corporate worship, a battlefield church is just as effective as the most majestic cathedral.