The local church has gathered together to worship in corporate spaces since its beginning. While the buildings themselves may not be holy ground, the spaces serve as an important gathering place for God’s people to worship Him in community with each other. As Brian McLaren puts it, “As long as we have bodies, we’ll need spaces in which those bodies can gather.” Over the years, the design of these worship spaces has changed quite drastically due to advancements in media, technology, architecture, and engineering. As our technologies, cultures, and styles change, our worship spaces must adapt to these changes. The design of a space is a vital component of its ministerial impact.
New Space
As churches outgrow their worship spaces, some are fortunate enough to have the resources to start fresh and build a completely new one. Of course, designing and building a worship space is no simple task—it takes much planning, discussing, debating, and even some arguing. It also takes highly skilled designers to dream up a compelling space. This is why companies such as Mankin Media exist.
Mankin Media provides leadership and guidance for churches looking to integrate and install technical systems including audio, video, and lighting into worship spaces. “We work with churches that have a desire to leverage technology to communicate with their audience, and that believe in excellence and not breaking the bank,” shares Ethan Whaley, Project Management Professional for Mankin Media. So far, Mankin Media has worked with startup churches meeting in school cafeterias and megachurches with 9000-seat auditoriums.
Recently, the team at Mankin Media got the opportunity to work on their dream project, The Block Student Ministry Center at Southeast Christian Church (our Church Spotlight this issue). When thinking through the design of the space, Southeast Christian Church envisioned a unique space where students felt welcomed and free to worship. “They wanted technology that would capture the imagination of the students and be able to introduce and reinforce the content that surrounds them,” shares Whaley. So the two parties began brainstorming and dreaming about the new space.
The thing about worship spaces is that no two are alike because no two churches are alike. Whaley reminds us that, “what works for someone across the country to engage their community may not work locally for you.” He goes on to say that our worship spaces are driven by the needs of the local body as well as the number of people that attend services, the length of services, and distinct worship styles. One church can’t simply copy another church’s design and form. Each local church must determine how to best engage and communicate with its people. “Intentionality is key to creating a compelling space that people derive meaning from and want to return to,” shares Whaley. “A compelling space delivers a message that creates an irresistible pull to stay and return again and again.”
When The Block first opened its doors, thousands of students showed up in eager expectation to see this new worship space. Suffice it to say, The Block did not disappoint. This worship space combines the feel of a vintage theater with the atmosphere of a warehouse, all with a modern twist. The two-story space utilizes a U-shaped balcony to keep the intimate atmosphere while still providing a great vantage point. The lighting, projection, and sound system only enhance the welcoming environment.
Whether it’s the 28-foot widescreen behind the stage, the vintagemeets-high-tech design, or the indoor rock-climbing wall, Southeast Christian Church and Mankin Media have created a compelling space that draws in youth to worship God and keeps them coming back.
Old Space
A growing trend among churches is purchasing and redeeming old spaces such as nightclubs, movie theaters, and warehouses in order to transform them into spaces for corporate worship. One such space is Mars Hill Church’s new downtown campus.
Mars Hill Church in Seattle may be known for their passionate teaching pastor, Mark Driscoll, but the church is also known for its innovative approach to the multi-site campus movement. Led by pastor Tim Gaydos, Mars Hill’s downtown campus isn’t your typical church building. In fact, it used to be the Tabella Nightclub, which Gaydos describes as being labeled “the most notorious nightclub in Seattle by the mayor as it was host to multiple shootings, stabbings, prostitution, drugs, etc.” By the grace of God and with the help of volunteers, artists, architects, and craftsmen, a space once used for debauchery is now drawing people into a saving relationship with Jesus. But transforming and redeeming this space took a lot of thought, planning, and prayer.
Being located in downtown Seattle meant that this campus wasn’t going to look like Mars Hill’s other campuses. “We wanted to maintain the downtown Seattle ethos, [which is] urban, industrial, and artsy,” shares Gaydos. The team went about designing and dreaming what the worship space would look like. “Thankfully, we have some incredibly gifted architects, designers, and artists that got together to brainstorm and came up with a beautiful plan to utilize the space,” Gaydos says.
Before:
After:
After five months of demolition, construction, designing, nailing, and painting, the space was finished. The worship space now seats 350 people and contains state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and video equipment. Because so many factors were taken into consideration when designing the space, Gaydos shares that all people feel welcomed there. “When people come into our space, artists appreciate the art, families appreciate the attention given to children’s ministry, musicians appreciate the music … We want to break down walls for people so that they feel welcome and comfortable because when the service starts we preach Jesus boldly.”
Mars Hill isn’t the only church modifying existing buildings for corporate worship. For instance, Fellowship Bible Church in Dallas purchased an old United Artists movie theater complex and transformed it into a modern worship space. Park Community Church in Chicago remodeled an 80-yearold warehouse less than a mile from downtown and now holds nearly 1,200 attendees in its worship services. Other churches now occupy old car dealerships, grocery stores, and strip malls. Using available technology, architecture, and engineering, almost any old space can be transformed into a modern worship space.
Soul Space
There is, however, an alternative approach to designing worship spaces altogether. What if, instead of encouraging spectatorship through our worship spaces, their design fostered a participatory environment? While this concept may sound like something new, its roots run deep in church history.
Kevin Callahan of Callahan Studios has been researching and designing worship spaces for years. As an architect, liturgical design consultant, and cultural anthropologist, Callahan brings quite a unique approach to worship spaces. Callahan sees that the challenge posed by many modern day worship spaces is that they “non-verbally communicate, ‘Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show,’ which is a message counterproductive to the entire message of Jesus Christ.” Traditional worship spaces are set up in a lecture hall style while most modern spaces are set up more like concert halls. Both styles communicate a divide between the audience and the stage.
“There’s a different between loving at people and loving with people,” shares Callahan. “Jesus loved with people, he didn’t love at them.” So Callahan set out to design worship spaces that create an intimate atmosphere and body language, a space he terms a “soul space.”
Callahan’s greatest example of a soul space is Grace Community Church in Indianapolis. Grace originally planed to build a 4,000-seat auditorium but Dave Rodriguez, the senior pastor, was worried about the loss of intimacy. Rodriguez approached Callahan for his expertise. “The Grace leadership desired that the body language of the space be as welcoming as possible—they wanted the environment itself to say, ‘Welcome to Grace,’” shares Callahan.
By taking an alternative approach to designing a worship space, Callahan was able to create a level of intimacy that is rarely seen in larger churches. Rather than the stage being elevated high above the congregation, the platform is level with the ground, helping to eliminate the feeling of watching a performance. Instead of the seating all facing one direction, like in a concert or lecture hall, the chairs also wrap around the sides of the platform. The worship space also has surround video screens on each of the four walls as well as surround lighting and sound.
For Callahan, it’s all about the body language of the space. Simply move your seating around (if you can) and the body language of the space completely changes. It’s amazing how easy it is to change the environment of a space by simply moving the chairs. The worship space at Grace Community Church is proof of how a few simple adjustments to a design can make all the difference.
While worship spaces create environments for God’s people to gather in worship, there are many approaches to their design. Whether one design is better than the other is hard to judge. In the end, the one thing that truly matters is that Christ, the object of our worship, is made known in our spaces.