Corporate worship spaces.

Whether large or small, high tech or traditional, young or old, almost every local church (that is a group of Christians who gather together regularly) has some sort of corporate worship gathering. Whether this takes place in a living room or a 10,000 seat worship center, the idea is usually to get together for some time of corporate worship (whatever that means) some learning time and some fellowship time.

Of course there have been arguments whether or not such a gathering is necessary (or in the case of the larger gatherings, arguments stating that they should be made smaller and less formal). I'm not going to talk about that today. Nor am I going to talk about whether or not the definition of church includes a building, room, whatever. I will say that, even though groups of people (churches) often put too much emphasis on their buildings (churches) I will also say that buildings are kind of nice to have any church will have some sort of building (bought, rented, or borrowed) to meet in.

So, with that I have been thinking a lot about corporate worship spaces. That is, spaces that are set aside for people in a church community to gather and worship corporately. In most cases, (old or new) that I have seen anyway, these spaces are designed to be auditoriums or theaters.

In most contemporary churches, all of the services (mic jacks, etc) in the front of the room, the video screens are in the front of the room and all the lighting (in churches that have fancy schmancy theatrical or intelligent lighting) is placed to illuminate and spice up the stage. Contrasting the stage is the congregational area (actually the audience) with its neatly arranged rows of pews or expensive chairs that hook together in all their plain and dark boringness.

I am going to coin the word (provided someone else hasn't already)--these spaces are very "stage-centric", meaning that the 'action' and 'artistry' all take place on the stage while people in their seats watch and follow along.

Ok, so I have never met a church leader that will claim or admit that they put on a performance and a lecture on Sunday morning. Many will even go as far to call the stage a 'platform' because they claim that it isn't a stage [Mike rolling eyes]. While nobody wants to view corporate worship as a concert and a lecture, though, why do we set up our corporate worship venues like we do for a performance and a lecture? Why is all the cool lighting used on the stage? Why are there only video screens up front? Why is the congregation lighting utilitarian or darkened? Why do all the seats face the front, etc, etc, etc?

I wonder what it would be like to design our corporate worship spaces as galleries and ballrooms (such as for a dinner and a dance--I have thought that a wedding dance would be an excellent model for a corporate worship service), instead of auditoriums and lecture halls.

Seating:
I really like flexible seating that can be moved or removed for different styles of gatherings. I also like tables because it is hard to take notes on my lap. I also like when people in the congregation face each other instead of all facing one direction.

Sadly, even in places that do use tables, everyone still feels the need to all face on direction during much of the gathering because every other aspect of the room is centered on one spot (the screens are in front and a bunch of stage lights illuminate a band and a speaker on a platform at one end of the room).

Lighting
What if, instead of having all kinds of cool lighting pointed at a stage and boring white 'house lights' in the congregational area, we took all the cool lighting and distributed it out to the congregational area. What would it demonstrate if the mood of the entire room could be changed through lighting? How would that change people's view of corporate worship? Would the congregation begin to view worship as something that they are a part of, rather than watching? I think it would.

I guess the look I am going for here is like what you'd find in a dance club, where everyone in the congregation is immersed and part of the celebration. Of course, this motif doesn't necessarily jive with many churches, so I'm not saying that every church needs to look like a dance club. What I am saying is that the lighting on and around those leading the service (such as the musicians) should be no more fancy than the lighting on and around those in the congregation. Simply put, if you put color-changing digitally-controlled lighting on the stage, you should put color-changing digitally-controlled lighting in the congregational area too.

Multimedia/Visual Art
Imagine walking into an old cathedral with colorful and artistic stained glass windows all around the space. These windows, hopefully, are the fruits of an artist's worship and they often tell the story of the gospel, or at least set a certain kind of mood in the sanctuary.
Now think of how weird it would be if ancient cathedrals only had the beautiful stained glass windows in the front and replaced the glass in the congregational area, foyer, etc with clear glass (or bricks). How would that affect the mood of the worship service in that church?

Now walk into a modern church building where stories on windows have been replaced by stories on video screens. Why are all our video screens in front? Now I know that some churches might not be able to afford multiple screens, but, many can and many are building multi-million dollar worship centers from the ground up and so existing spaces and limitations are not an excuse. Besides, in a smaller, poorer church, what would be wrong with having some of the artists in the congregation (they are there, unless the have been chased away, already) create some works of art that are placed in the sanctuary and allow those of us who are visually oriented wander around before, during or after the service to take in those works and allow them to nudge our hearts to worship?

Platform/podium.
What if the band, readers, speakers were not easily visible during the corporate worship. What if they were set up in a spot among the congregation or off to the sides? What if we put them on the ground instead of a platform? I know that this bring some technical issues, but nothing that couldn't be overcome.

Why do we need to raise up the band and singers these days? Does it really matter if we see them? Does it really matter what the pastor looks like? Why can't they simply speak or sing from where they are seated? Many bigger churches have channels and channels of wireless mics so why must all the action emanate from a podium and platform?

Instead of fixing our eyes on the band or the pastor, what if we interact with others in the congregation through actual conversation, but also seeing the expressions on others faces. Think of the vulnerability and intimacy this could facilitate with others in the gathering. Think of how everybody could be preaching and responding to each other during the service.

Conclusion
I mention a lot of things that are characteristic of larger churches (fancy lighting, large worship halls, etc). I want to make sure that people don't think that I feel that these are necessary. I think that all of these things can be valid parts of a corporate worship gathering but none of them are necessary. When they are used, I think that we need to consider whether or not they are helping people enter worship corporately or separating them below the worship leaders.

I know that this isn't a perfect theory and I know that it isn't easy, but I think of how much deeper and richer our experience in community could be. I'm not necessarily even saying that we should make our gatherings more or less formal, I am just saying that we need to bring the community back to them and stop staring at the backs of peoples heads in silence on Sunday morning.

Lets turn the concert into a party so that all can be a part of the celebration!!!

Mike

Diversity

I am reading a book called "Why the Rest hates the West" by Meic Pierce. I am only into the part where he is laying the groundwork for the rest of the book, but the book brings up a lot of really interesting things that are not necessarily limited to the thesis of the book.

Here is a great quote:

"This is the irony and the emptiness of 'multiculturalism.' 'Tolerant' 'open' Western cosmopolitans can get along with anyone, anywhere, on one condition: that they be Westernized cosmopolitans like themselves."

This makes me think of the supposed desire to have 'diversity' in churches, companies and organizations that I have been a part of over the years. In almost every instance, the love of diversity ends when "the diversity" has a desire to be diverse in ways and places deeper than the leadership can handle.

One example that I think about is the desire of many churches to welcome postmodern people (yeah I know postmodern is a very tired word). Those churches are happy to install multimedia equipment, light some candles and say a creed every now and then, but it is too much to change the basic leadership structure to allow them to flourish and grow into the church. The church, in reality, wants diversity on the surface, but doesn't really want it to change how things operate.

If we are truly to seek out diversity, we need to realize that people are more different than they appear on the surface and that we are not truly championing their diversity unless we allow their difference to invade the entire depth of our organization.

Mike