If you go to many of the cathedrals in Europe you’ll notice that they are much more ornate and beautiful than modern churches. They contain skillfully crafted statues, elegant architecture and stained glass windows telling Biblical stories through visual means. It has been said that beautiful buildings can lift the spirit of anyone who enters them. I have felt this myself in many of the beautiful churches I have attended over the years. Unfortunately, these types of churches are rarely built in the modern day (except in denominations like Anglicans and Lutherans). Many denominations of Protestant Christianity have stopped building beautiful church buildings altogether. Why is this the case? And what can be done about it? This article will explain (briefly) how this happened and why we should bring beauty back into our churches.
The historical background
Much of it can be traced back to the Reformation in the 1500’s. This movement helped undo many of the issues that the Catholic church created, but removed much of the art and beauty found in Catholic church buildings. Some of the reformers went as far as to remove all visual art from their buildings. This was intended to help parishioners could focus entirely on teaching the Bible. This did have it’s intended result of teaching people to understand the Bible for themselves. Unfortunately, this had the unintended consequence of removing much of the beauty from the church buildings. This trend became especially apparent in the latter half of the 20th century. Decades of war and economic collapse prevented churches from affording the beautiful art and architecture that churches in previous times could get.
How could beautiful buildings help churches?
Many churches avoid making their buildings look different than, say, a conference building. This is simply a result of low funding available to churches now days. It can also come from worries that secular people won’t feel comfortable in a church building that looks too “church-y”. But…what if a building that looks like a church could actually attract a non-Christian to go inside? They would see that the building looks different from other buildings they’ve been into. This might help pique their curiosity and get them to take a closer look. Our churches should be a reflection of the beauty of God’s kingdom on earth. We should be preaching with the architecture of our churches just as much as we are from the pulpit.
How to bring beauty back to churches
Building beautiful churches doesn’t have to be cost-prohibitive, either. One example of this is how some churches are built to resemble the hull of a ship. This represents how the Christian church is meant to be a ship of salvation from the evils in the world. I’m not saying that churches should knock down their current building and rebuild a more beautiful building in its place. They can still use Christian-based artwork (painting, statues, etc) and high-quality music in their services to incorporate similar beauty.
