Does It Really Matter? No.
CRN takes as stab at the importance of a name of a room. They complain that churches are changing from calling their main meeting rooms from sanctuaries to auditoriums.
Here’s the origin of sanctuary. ORIGIN Middle English (sense 3) : from Old French sanctuaire, from Latin sanctuarium, from sanctus ‘holy.’
Here’s the origin of auditorium. ORIGIN early 17th cent.(originally in the general sense [a place for hearing] ): from Latin, neuter of auditorius ‘relating to hearing’
My question is, what happens if you meet in a house church? I imagine I’d overhear a conversation like this: “Oh hi, Fred. Why don’t you come into the living roo-I mean SANCTUARY.”
It doesn’t matter where you meet for church and it certainly doesn’t matter what you call it. Church is the people.
Talk about a case of splitting hairs.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Matt
We call ours a “Worship Center”.
BtW - your pic isn’t working for me…
August 21st, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Alright!! Mark this day down! FINALLY, something I can agree with you guys on! I call it an “auditorium.”
(PS: Don’t run in the auditorium, either)
August 21st, 2007 at 4:55 pm
We call ours “Bob”.
Welcome to our “Bob”. Isn’t it beautiful?
Actually the place we meet is called the “Upper Room”
August 21st, 2007 at 4:57 pm
BOB could stand for “Bunch of Believers.”
August 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I’ve got it….”Sanctagymatorium Center.”
August 21st, 2007 at 5:09 pm
When people have distilled their Spiritual lives down to being offended about what you call a room, you are in bondage to the useless priorities.
Let us go back now and rename our Savior’s birthplace.
“Great Room of Entrance”
“Portal of Incarnation”
“Emmanuel’s Taj Mahal”
“The Virgin’s Rotunda”
Well, I guess when God called it a cattle stall He realized that the room itself or even what is was called was not important, it was what happened in the room. Do the Chinese change the name from “living room” from Monday through Saturday, and then hang a sign on Sunday that reads “The Great and Awesome Place of Chikinah Worship”.
PS - The bathroom (Believer’s Reliever) is down the hall (Christian’s Conduit) on your left!
August 21st, 2007 at 5:13 pm
We call ours “the shed.” As for running in the shed, I’ve always believed that we’ll probably do a little running when we look down and we’re standing on a street of gold, so if we can run in God’s city, we can probably run in the house!
August 21st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I call ours the preachatorioum.
August 21st, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Whose really splitting hairs?
CRN linked to another blogpost. CRN in the post title asked, “does it matter?”
Since Christ dwells in the living temple, made up of living stones, the point is moot. The building does not contain the presence of God until at least two saints show up. Must be a slow day …eh?
August 21st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Boy I hope that the editor is not Ken this time… as he just denied his own “church” of a sanctuary…
Even so, the person hiding behind “editor” has done just that and denied Ken Silva his own “church”…. LOL! What a hoot!
Blessed,
iggy
August 21st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Chris P,
Glad to see you agree about the insignificance of this topic. Maybe you could fire an email off to your compatriots in arms that writing so vociferously about something that insignificant makes them look, well, silly at the very least.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:16 pm
A building does not a church make. Unless it has pews…
In point of fact, CRN copied the title from the source site. Also interesting to note are the categories A Curious Pilgrim put the original post: Seeker Sensitive, Holiness, Church Marketing, Church Growth
I’m still trying to figure out the connection.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Christ P…
Can you point to the scripture that states “The building does not contain the presence of God until at least two saints show up.” Or even one that is close to that… I can think of just one but you are pulling it WAY out of context…
So?
Back up your view with Scripture. Even one…
Blessings,
iggy
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:18 am
Hmm. Actually - here in the UK the word ’sanctuary’ sounds American - it is rarely used for Church meeting spaces here. Church of England church buildings are all considered sacred, sanctified or set apart, not just the meeting area. The main area is split up into the Nave, Chancel, Sanctuary (where the altar is), Trancepts, Chapels etc, all used for worship (and not always at the same time) - but then so is the vestry (prayer before the service), porch (baptismal ‘welcoming’ and wedding processions), garden (funerals) etc.
Non-conformists Churches tend to be more prosaic, and the meeting room is usually just referred to as something like the ‘main hall’.
I guess I would argue that, in baptist churches and similar, the main focus of corporate worship is the preaching (with the pulpit being central on the platform) then auditorium would reflect this. In my Church, Holy Communion is central, so the pulip is to the side and the Lord’s Table is the main focus.
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:40 am
The Apostle Paul certainly never preached in a sanctuary. In fact, he preached in temples, synagogues, marketplaces, homes, etc. But there were no sanctuaries to preach in.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 am
Leviticus 19:30: 30 ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.
Granted, this was when the tabernacle (and then later, the Temple) existed. Since the Spirit changed its place of residence from the Temple (the building) to the church (the people) on Pentecost 33 A.D., I would say that a physical building as a sanctuary hasn’t existed from almost 2000 years…
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:40 am
I have a hard time keeping track of which OT laws the critics want to keep. Sanctuaries, tattoos, graven images (in reference to art), etc.
Honestly, it’s more about being conservative (not wanting change) then it is about being Biblically right.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:41 am
By the way, the pic is a png. Older browsers don’t like it. It appears to work in Firefox, though.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:16 am
QFT.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:20 am
quantum field theory? (QFT)
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 am
The post the other day on Tattoos just cracked me up! Good for a laugh at poor scholarship.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 am
Quoted for truth.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:35 am
Can someone tell the new guy from the UK to speak english when he leaves a comment. Or at least dumb it down this American can get it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:37 am
Never mind I just visited Ian’s site and he’s reading Rob Bell, Phil Yancey, and “Colossians remixed”. No matter how speaks…er…types I love him already.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Ian, I just had a blissful moment of reliving art history classes.
Apse. Nave. Transept. Clerestory. Ambulatory.
Ahhhh.
Many thanks.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Please Julie, Paul forbids that without an interpreter!
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm
“Can someone tell the new guy from the UK to speak english when he leaves a comment.”
Funny - my wife says exactly the same thing to me
(I think I heard mention someting about ‘inflated pomposity’ but that couldn’t have been about me obviously…)
September 7th, 2007 at 10:21 am
[...] From the top link, there is this Slice Chair, which looks much more comfortable than pews, and looks far more likely to show up in an ECM church than in the proper, cold, uncomfortable sanctuary of Ingrid’s church (I’m pretty certain the pews in Jesus’ church didn’t have cushions, so why should ours?). [...]
September 7th, 2007 at 11:17 am
We stick with the Biblical model of inner and outer courts and then of course, the Holy or Holies …
September 7th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Hey Rick - Is coffee and doughnuts the equivalent of the Table of Shewbread? The electric lights the Candlestick? Ladies perfume the Altar of Incense? Bathrooms are the Laver? And the smoking section outside the Brazen Altar?
September 7th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Curious observation:
There are churches that are only open to the public for a few hours two days out of the week. The members there are not really allowed to stay and talk with each other, as the building will be locked up shortly after the benediction. Where do these people go? Often their own separate ways to Bob Evans, Panera or Starbucks, where they may run into other members. That’s okay. Then there are those chuches have a modest fellowship time. everyyone gathering after church in the foyer or basement under harsh lights swilling weak coffee and scarfing down stale donuts. That’s okay too. Then there are other churches that get derided because their buildings were constructed with the intent to be used every day of the week. And the environment is intended to keep the ministry going even after the service ends, so people are invited to stay and get to know others instead of racing to be the first one out the parking lot.
Is there anything going on in any of these cases that make one church more or less pious/worldly than the others?