I have been fortunate in God opening doors and being able to travel a fair amount in my life. During travels I try to visit as many churches as possible and to look at the sanctuaries of many churches. I have slowly formed the following opinion on the architecture with sanctuaries;
1. Baptist and protestant churches in general are too sterile in the appearance of the sanctuary.
2. Catholic churches are too ornate with structures of little meaning. Also I do not like seeing large paintings of Mary in the front and center of the sanctuary with a painting of Christ on one side, not centered.
3. The Russian Orthodox churches are most to my liking. There artwork in them, IMHO, point more to Christ and are arranged beautifully. I have not been in enough Greek Orthodox churches nor Hussite churches to include them in this discussion.
4. There are some Lutheran churches in Europe that I really like. One in Tallinn, Estonia it wonderful. At the front and center is a large painting of The Welcoming Christ. This is one aspect of the Lutheran churches in Europe that I like. They tend to have paintings of a live Christ and often a welcoming Christ. Far too often for my taste RCC churches show a dead Christ.
What is your favorite type of architecture in a sanctuary?
Actually none..... Let me explain. I am a Primitive Baptist & our churches are just functional. We get by with a roof over our heads on cold & rainy days, a few fans & if lucky an AC unit in the window. If necessary you can hold services in my living room or on a nice June day like Im having today, on my porch & picnic table. None of that ornate stuff for us thank you.
Chairs/pews.
Something to sit on.
The church is just a building.
The real "church" is the body of Christ and there is nothing more beautiful than the saints worshiping God in accord.
I couldn't care less about the decor of the sanctuary.
I understand. I am not sure how I would react if I were to worship in such a church on
a weekly basis. I do appreciate the artistic talent of those who painted the pictures and how they point to Christ.
In the Russian Orthodox Church it is tiring to go to a worship service as there are only a very few chairs or places to sit and those are for the elderly, sick or infirmed, everyone else stands for the entire service.
I agree worship can take place in a living room, under a tree .... anywhere.
I just like being around other believers and worshiping.
My travels have also allowed me to go to many different churches.
I have been to very ornate cathedrals with extremely formal liturgical services.
At the other extreme, I went to a tent revival once in a First Nations village in rural Canada.
I looked down the row of chairs where I was seated and saw a great big Indian woman sitting there holding a cat in her lap.....that was on a leash.
LOL.....like I said, I just want to hear the Word preached.....don't really care about the setting much.
My favorite type... Air Conditioned!
AC is REALLY nice.
I'm not all that formal so it really doesn't matter.
Believers can have church anywhere.:thumbs: