Why Our Churches Should be Beautiful
A beautiful church is not something that is only reserved for centuries-old mainline denominations, or congregations with resources to spare. Instead, a beautiful church can be a powerful witness to the community, connect us with the traditions of our ancient and sufficient faith, remind us of the beauty of God and his provision, and shape our spiritual formation week-in and week-out. Beauty in the church should not be an afterthought, but instead a key consideration as we design the spaces we worship our magnificent and glorious God in.
In the last few decades, American churches have gotten a new look—but don’t call it a facelift. Instead, think of it more as a toning-down, as church exteriors have ridden themselves of their steeples and other religious symbols, while their interiors can look more at home as a warehouse-turned-music-venue than a sacred space. American evangelical churches are increasingly taking on a more bare-bones and utilitarian look, often in order to save resources and better attract the unchurched. But is this bare-bones look really what churches should be aiming for? The history of church architecture, research, and our faith suggest otherwise, as beautiful sacred spaces provide powerful opportunities for witness and worship.
The History Of Church Architecture
The history of church architecture doesn’t quite align with Christian history, as churches got their start in homes, thanks to it being largely illegal or unpopular for much of its first few centuries. But once Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the state religion in 381, church architecture took off. Early churches took inspiration from Jewish and Roman architecture, though not their temples—neither Roman nor Jewish temples contained space for a gathering of people to worship, instead allowing only one or two people at a time to petition or offer up sacrifices. Instead, Christian churches mimicked Roman basilicas, which were large public spaces featuring aisles and halls that could fit a crowd.
As the centuries marched on, Christianity spread and had resources to spare, and its architecture became more cutting-edge and meticulously crafted. Churches were soon showing off building techniques that existed nowhere else, like adding a dome on top of a polygonal structure.
The Gothic architecture of the early second millennia continued this trend, as clergy, patrons and builders built taller and taller churches that seemed to reach towards the heavens. Gothic churches often featured cross-shaped floor plans and used lines of windows along the top of their walls to bounce light around and create a sense of mysticism and the Divine.
But with this greater architectural complexity also came greater separation of the public from the sacraments and the word of God. Later churches of the Middle Ages were sometimes made up of two rooms—one space would be for the public to sit in and engage in private devotion, while the other space would be for the clergy and the choir to recite Mass and partake in the sacraments. Often, the two rooms were separated by a screen, severely limiting the congregation’s ability to engage with and see the worship service.
These excesses, among other things, brought along the Reformation, which fundamentally reshaped church architecture. Protestant worship spaces were marked with an absence of saints, screens and iconography, instead preferring to minimize excess ornamentation and the distance between the clergy and their people. (Meanwhile, as a reaction to this split, Baroque-era Catholic churches only increased in decadence, at least for a time.)
Church Architecture in America
As Christianity entered the New World, its churches began to follow the architectural trends of its era, soon taking on the rational and restrained Neoclassical style in the age of Enlightenment. This eventually gave way to the Gothic Revival style, which celebrated the ‘high-church’ look as the Second Great Awakening was taking over the nation and seeding small country churches.
The 20th-century brought with it Victorian churches, Craftsman churches, and even Modernist churches, each demonstrating the architectural preferences of its time. But throughout each of these movements and trends, many things remained the same about American churches—almost all featured steeples, sloped roofs, exterior ornamentation and an overall attention to beauty, even if the buildings now look dated to our 21st-century eyes. But as the midcentury came and went, church architecture underwent a massive shift—suddenly, it was no longer in vogue to look like a church anymore.
Architectural Evangelism
American Christianity in the mid 20th-century was marked by revivalists like Billy Graham and Oral Roberts, bringing people to Christ one soul at a time. But in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the mainstream approach to evangelism changed, as church leaders wanted people to not only be saved, but to enter church life too. Thus the church-growth movement began, which focused more on drawing people into a church and focused less on going out into the community and holding large evangelistic events. And one of the ways churches sought to attract people into them was through architecture—or rather, a lack of it.
The theory was that a church building that looked more like it belonged in a strip mall or shopping center would be more accessible to those from unchurched backgrounds and it wouldn’t carry any of the visual baggage a traditional-looking church might. This approach is called ‘architectural evangelism.’ These types of ‘seeker-friendly’ churches are a dime-a-dozen now, but they can be defined by their use of low-cost materials, their repurposing or repetition of secular spaces, like theaters, warehouses, or storefronts, their boxy shapes, and their use of few or no ecclesiological markers, such a steeple, stained glass, or a cross. (It’s also interesting to note that churches started to act more business-like throughout the 20th-century and needed office spaces for additional staff—perhaps another reason for the move towards strip-mall and office-park-esque churches.)
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Bringing the Gospel to Bucharest
Some people attend the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bucharest for curiosity, but stay for its message. Corcea thinks that Reformed churches have an advantage over Eastern Orthodox because both the liturgy and the Scriptures are intelligible. Besides, the congregation can sit down, while in Eastern Orthodox churches they stand the whole time. At the same time, Reformed worship is reverent and based on historical formulas and creeds which people can recognize.
No course of study or pastoral training prepared Rev. Mihai Corcea for the loneliness he experienced on the mission field of Romania‚ even though it’s his native land. It’s not a lack of companionship (he has a lovely wife and a young, energetic son). Rather, Corcea described his loneliness as “being overwhelmed by the opposition around me,” and not having other pastors nearby that share the same experience.
The Making of a Pastor
Corcea is pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bucharest, a mission of the United Reformed Church in North America (URCNA). He was born into a nominal Eastern Orthodox family and attended the local Orthodox church with his grandparents. When he was a teenager, Corcea’s parents began attending an Evangelical church and brought him along to worship. He soon became interested in reading the Bible and some Christian books. He later became convinced of the soundness of the Reformed confessions in 2006, while spending some time in Holland with a Reformed family.
After earning a degree in business management and marrying his wife Lidia, he settled in Bucharest where they attended a mainline Lutheran church. Slowly, he met other people who were interested in the teachings of the Reformation. Together, they started a mid-week Bible study.
Soon, it was clear that Romania needed a Reformed church. Corcea contacted several churches in Europe for support and advice, and received an answer from Rev. Andrea Ferrari, pastor of the Reformed Church Filadelfia in Milan, Italy (also a URCNA mission). Mihai and Lidia became members of that church and attended as often as they could, given the distance of over 1000 miles.
The consistories of both Milan and Santee, CA (the overseeing church) agreed that Corcea was called to be a pastor. With their encouragement, in 2013 he began his studies at Westminster Seminary California (WSC) in Escondido, graduating in 2016. After his ordination as URCNA minister, Corcea returned to his country. On August 7, 2016, the first service of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Bucharest took place in an office building.
“I soon learned that the place and format of the worship service matters much in Romania,” Corcea said. The visitors were few, and rarely returned. Things changed when he moved into an actual church building which he shares with a Lutheran congregation. “The cross on the roof makes a difference,” he explained.
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PCA Minister Jayson Duane Kyle Called Home to Glory
In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities.
Jayson Duane Kyle, age 70 of Franklin, TN entered into his well-deserved heavenly rest on March 19, 2022. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. Jay devoted his life that others might hear of and place their faith in Jesus. He was surrounded by his family as he passed into glory as well as a great cloud of witnesses around the world praying for and singing with him.
Preceded in death by his father John Emory Kyle and mother Lois Rowland Kyle. Survived by this wife of 47 years Maureen Lyman Kyle, his children Jennifer Walsh of Franklin, TN, Amy Case of West Palm Beach, FL, and Jeffrey Kyle of New York, NY, nine grandchildren: Harper, Kaila, Maddie, Lily, Watson Case; Riley, Cara, Anna Walsh; and John David Kyle; as well as his siblings Arlette McGrigg (Waxhaw, NC), Marc Kyle (Atlanta, GA), Darlene Navis (Cayman Islands), along with his nieces and nephews.
Jay was born in Salem, Oregon on April 27, 1951 to John and Lois Kyle. He was the second of four kids. After John and Lois came to faith while living in San Francisco, they packed their family up and moved to the East Coast to attend Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA. Following seminary they pastored a church in Hazard, Kentucky, and then joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in Manila, Philippines where Jay spent his middle and high school years.
Jay met his wife Maureen while attending Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. He attended seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and from there they moved to Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Coming back to the States, Jay served in various roles at Mission to the World (MTW). They moved to Mexico City, Mexico in 1987 with their three kids where they served for 14 years.
In 2001 the Kyles moved to New York City where Jay began work as the Vice-President of Asia and Latin America for Redeemer City to City. While traveling the past 20 years throughout Asia and Latin America, Jay was fortunate to see fruit from his labor. What started as a partnership working in four cities in China now has a footprint of work in over 150 cities. Jay’s work in Asia led to the formation of City to City Asia Pacific and personally helped catalyze church planting efforts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India, and Thailand, among others. City to City Latin America was also formed and is currently serving in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, among others.
Jay had this wonderful love of people. He had this ability to make someone feel like there were the most important person in the room and that their life and story mattered. Jay wanted people to know the love of God through Jesus and gave his life so that more people could have that opportunity.
Jay loved his children and grandchildren. He loved being silly and serious. Jay loved people so well that he not only leaves behind Maureen, Jenny, Amy, and Jeff, and his grandchildren, but so many people count Jay as their friend, brother, father figure, and mentor.
Jay ran the race set before him with joy and determination.
A private family burial will be in Williamson Memorial Gardens on Friday, March 25. He will be laid to rest in the Memory Garden spot 78A2. Celebration of Life service will take place at 4pm, Saturday, March 26, 2022 followed by a reception at Christ Community Church, 1215 Hillsboro Road, Franklin, TN 37069. Randy Lovelace will officiate.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to Redeemer City to City.
Flowers are being arranged by Always in Bloom in Franklin. -
Do Not Forget You Are United to Christ
Union with Christ is such a glorious reality that it should transform every moment of our day. There is never a moment when we are alone. When the day ahead of us is more than we can handle, he is with us. When we turn off the TV at the end of the day, and the silence of the house feels overwhelming, he is there.
If you are a believer, at this very moment, you are united to Christ. Did you remember that this morning when you rose and began your daily routine? How will this knowledge affect you as you go about the remainder of your day? If we truly understand what it means to be united to Jesus, it should impact us profoundly.
What does it mean to be united to Christ? The basis of our union with Christ is our legal standing before the Lord. Through faith, we have been justified. The cross of Christ has satisfied the punishment our sins demanded, and his righteousness is counted as ours. This legal standing is the foundation of our union with Christ, but it is not all that union entails.
Michael Horton reminds us of the importance of both the legal and relational aspects of our union when he compares union with Jesus to marriage. He says, “To be sure, the objective fact of one’s marriage provides the security of the relationship, but there is more to marriage than the ceremony and legal documents.”
Legally, if you are married, you are married, and that does not wax or wane. However, there is more to marriage than legal standing. There is the experiential union. Fellowship and communion are part of it. Horton goes on to say, “We grow experientially in this union as we come to know, communicate with, and respond to each other.”
As you slipped out of bed this morning, you may have been mindful that your sins are forgiven, and you have been declared righteous in Christ, but did you remember that your union with Christ is to be the most intimate relationship you have. Your salvation does not wax or wane if you are a Christian, but your relationship to Jesus can grow closer.
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