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Designing New Churches to Build a Sense of Community

Layout, light, and flexible seating have changed the way worship feels in Trinity’s new sanctuary.
Layout, light, and flexible seating have changed the way worship feels in Trinity’s new sanctuary.

Text by Joan Huyser-Honig
Photography by Steve Huyser-Honig

Building a new church lets you rethink the message you send through its interior and exterior design. Good architectural choices can improve worship participation, promote a sense of community, and offer your church as a welcome “third place.”

When you walk into Trinity Christian Reformed Church in Rock Valley, Iowa, the first thing you notice is smiling faces and friendly handshakes. In a way that’s no surprise. After all, Rock Valley is in a part of northwest Iowa known for close ties among churches, schools, and families.

But its small town location doesn’t totally explain the congregation’s sense of community. The architecture of its new church building plays a role as well, according to worship coordinator Deb Vogel.

As Trinity and other churches have found, architectural decisions can help or hinder a sense of community in new church buildings. Both interior and exterior design choices affect how people interact during worship and whether church neighbors feel welcome.

Understanding their congregation’s context led Trinity to place its communion table level with worshipers.
Understanding their congregation’s context led Trinity to place its communion table level with worshipers.

Knowing who you are

Trinity dedicated its new worship space in November 2003, so has had time to evaluate the difference made by its new layout, seating, light, and pulpit furniture placement.

“Our new worship space is more wide than deep. The old sanctuary was dark, long, and narrow, with straight pews all facing the pulpit. Now we can see each other’s faces during worship,” Vogel says.

Though some members had thought of pews as more sacred than chairs, Trinity chose chairs for versatility. “We are a church with a very warm greeting time during worship. You can’t climb over someone in a pew, but you can go around chairs and greet people further away. When a worshiper comes in a wheelchair, we just remove a chair so they can sit with everyone else instead of be bumped out into the aisle.

“For a Lent and Easter sermon series on the Old Testament tabernacle, we made the center aisle wider and put chair rows in a V shape, so everyone could see the big basin, showbread, and incense burner. We’ve talked about moving chairs into small groups for prayer, maybe once a month in an evening service,” Vogel says.

The new sanctuary has a light cement floor, light walls, clear windows, and a knotty pine ceiling. “It feels like being in an upside down ark together. Not that we would have said we were depressed in the old sanctuary…but lightening up everything makes worship feel more joyful,” she says.

Trinity did an extensive study of Donald Bruggink’s Christ and Architecture: Building Presbyterian/Reformed Churches before building their new worship space. “We read how the Word is central in Reformed worship so needs to be above where the sacraments are. It may seem unusual, but we put the communion table on the same level as where the people sit.

“Some of our members are in their 50s and have never taken communion. They grew up in traditions where people hardly heard the name of Jesus and struggle deeply with knowing whether they’re saved. We didn’t want to place the communion table on the platform, where it would seem high and above them,” Vogel explains.

Glass, steel, and a contemporary look invite people to come on in. Photo courtesy of Hope United Methodist Church.
Glass, steel, and a contemporary look invite people to come on in. Photo courtesy of Hope United Methodist Church.

Slowing down

In contrast to Trinity’s rural setting, Hope United Methodist Church stands in an industrial park in Voorhees, a south Jersey suburb of Philadelphia. Senior pastor Jeff Bills says the congregation asked architect Richard Conway Meyer to design a church that would appeal to a transient, secular culture.

The cross on one corner of the roof identifies Hope as a church, but the glass and steel structure also blends in well with nearby branch banks and factories. From its ample, clearly-marked parking lots, visitors can see through glass walls to the worship space and worship platform.

Bright entry spaces—including a large lobby, café, bookstore, and activity center—help non-churchgoers and lapsed ones feel comfortable stepping inside.

“Our ministry approach is to be transparent and open. Even the pulpit is transparent. Non-church people describe our facility as ‘familiar,’ ‘inviting,’ and ‘creative,’ ” Bills says.

Hope has flexible seating but mainly moves chairs for community events, weddings, or in summer, when attendance lags. “After nine years of setting up and taking down chairs in rented spaces, before we built here, we are happy not to move chairs each week,” he says.

Attendance has nearly doubled since Hope dedicated its building in 1999. Additions since then have focused on providing reasons and space for people to linger before and after worship or midweek activities. The youth room, for example, is getting computers and a small soda bar.

“We are not in competition with other churches. We are competing against Starbucks, Panera Bread, and other venues that invite people to slow down and be in community,” Bills says.

Kathy Hines, Faith Community associate pastor, welcomes neighbors to use the building, porch rockers, playground, volleyball court, and basketball hoops. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Fretts, Humane Design.
Kathy Hines, Faith Community associate pastor, welcomes neighbors to use the building, porch rockers, playground, volleyball court, and basketball hoops. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Fretts, Humane Design.

New church, new community

Faith Community Church purposely decided to build in the middle of a new residential neighborhood in Noblesville, Indiana.

“They were intentional about building a Cracker Barrel-style porch to invite people to hang out. We planned their site for eventual expansion right up to the sidewalk,” says Jeremy C. Fretts, president of Humane Design in Fishers, Indiana.

The young congregation wasn’t flush with funds, so Fretts designed a modest yet versatile building. Most of the floor space is a multipurpose room used for worship, fellowship, and other activities. “The main idea was to co-locate activities and amenities that cause people to cross paths. This is programmatic—making your facility available to community groups—and physical, creating central gathering spaces through which all users pass,” Fretts explains.

Since 2002, when Faith was dedicated, the congregation has used many ways to become part of the neighborhood. Senior pastor Al Hazen says these include regularly blanketing the neighborhood with door hangers inviting people to a church “serious in service, casual in style.”

The church’s outdoor basketball hoops and playground have proved a bigger draw for neighbors than its porch chairs or volleyball court.

“We host neighborhood association meetings. During Holy Week, we’ve set up a midweek prayer labyrinth and stayed open late.

“Lots of folks are moving into this neighborhood. Some have tried us and stayed. We’ve tried lots of seating configurations. What works best for us is putting chairs in rows in the middle, with tables on the sides. Sitting at a table feels familiar. It’s an easy way to be with friends, take notes, or let kids color,” Hazen says.

PROFILE: Steve Fridsma on the Church as a Third Place

Architects Steve Fridsma and James Vander Molen often speak at conferences such as the annual Worship Facilities Conference and Expo. But whether their topic is architecture for the emerging church or how to reuse commercial buildings as churches, Fridsma says they usually touch on a favorite subject—developing community in worship.

Fridsma has found that building a new church often pushes congregations to rethink their notions of community and assumptions about who is welcome in the church building.

Barbershops and beauty salons often function as third places in urban neighborhoods.
Barbershops and beauty salons often function as third places in urban neighborhoods.

The church as neutral ground

Researching the concept of community led Fridsma and Vander Molen to the “third place” theory developed by Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place.

“In the early to mid 20th century, most American communities had three gathering places for establishing one’s identity—first, the home; second, the workplace; and, third, the neighborhood hangout or hub. At these third places, such as a pub, general store, greasy spoon, or coffee shop, people could gather and interact on neutral ground.

“Oldenburg observed that third places are essential to a neighborhood’s identity and community vitality. Third places still exist in some gentrified communities. Tragically, third places in lower-income neighborhoods often can’t survive financially,” Fridsma says.

Further, he explains, many communities developed over the last 40 or 50 years have no third places or what he calls “social condensers.” Instead, development trends, zoning ordinances, and over-reliance on automobiles have created situations where “people must resort to driving to the mall to be a nameless face amongst the masses.

“Churches, which are a permitted use in residential land in almost all zoning ordinances, are now uniquely positioned to seize the opportunity to become their community’s third place,” Fridsma says.

Whether a congregation decides to become a third place depends in part, he says, on its answers to these questions:

Seating people around tables gives CentrePointe more chances for small group participation in worship. Photo courtesy of Steve Fridsma.
Seating people around tables gives CentrePointe more chances for small group participation in worship. Photo courtesy of Steve Fridsma.

Worship as community experience

Besides working as a project leader in the ProgressiveAE Worship Environments Studio, Fridsma leads the worship/design team at CentrePointe Church in Kentwood, Michigan.

CentrePointe aims to create worship experiences that are simultaneously relevant to people “new to God, old to God, and far from God.” Sitting at tables in a café-style atmosphere, people feel free to be active participants or distant observers.

“Tables encourage certain types of multi-sensory or communal worship activities in ways that sitting in rows or pews cannot. It also allows for small grouping to happen naturally,” Fridsma says.

Sometimes the worship team asks people to discuss topics—like their biggest fears or most recent random act of kindness—with others at their table.

“This breaks down inhibitions and involves people together, whether they are guests or members, long-time Christ followers or spiritual newbies. It works because we have lots of singles and young marrieds. It’s rare for one family to take up an entire table,” Fridsma says.

Using tables helps people “reference spiritual reality in a tangible way,” instead of just hear about it from the stage. For a spiritual disciplines theme, the service metaphor was a flower bulb. Each table had a centerpiece of flower bulbs. Worship leaders invited everyone to hold a bulb during the service, then take home and plant it as a symbol of renewed desire to seek after God.

As other churches do, Spring Lake Wesleyan will use its hub area to create connections among believers and neighbors. Photo courtesy of Hope United Methodist Church.
As other churches do, Spring Lake Wesleyan will use its hub area to create connections among believers and neighbors. Photo courtesy of Hope United Methodist Church.

Belonging before believing

Countless churches have a larger sanctuary, smaller narthex, and basement fellowship hall. According to Fridsma, this architecture suggests that “you must first come to believe. If you learn to behave like us, then we’ll let you belong.”

But his architectural team recently completed a master plan that flips the “believe to belong” hierarchy. In the new building plan for Spring Lake Wesleyan Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, all entrances will lead to a large, bright central hub.

Fridsma says, “You won’t be able to get to the worship spaces without going through a highly intentional community space. The building experience will suggest that gathering, fellowship, and community-building (belonging) is the first primary destination.”

The master plan has amenities that the community is welcome to use—coffee shop, conversation nooks, computers, prayer chapel, drop-in youth center, playgrounds, and nature trails. The church will have two different worship spaces instead of one large sanctuary.

“We unapologetically worship God. We don’t try to hide that. When Christ is lifted up, he draws people to him. But we also try to use music and explain terms so people who aren’t believers feel comfortable. Offering multiple worship venues and formats is a key way we reach the lost.

“Many people in our culture aren’t looking to worship in a huge auditorium. They are looking for worship that is more relational and intimate. Also, for people who’ve never been in church, an actual sanctuary can be a barrier,” says Dennis Jackson, senior pastor.

Spring Lake Wesleyan has already divided its current building into two worship venues. Each offers two Sunday morning services. There’s also a Sunday evening service in the lobby. Rapidly growing children and youth programs have taken over spaces meant for adults.

“In the new building, people will come out of their worship venues and connect with others in the hub. There will be room to sit and ask, ‘What did you think of that service?’ Maybe it will facilitate evangelism,” Jackson says.

Spring Lake Wesleyan intends its new building to be physically comfortable, inviting, and safe, but not elaborate.

“People in this culture are more and more wanting a third place. Fewer people have others in their home. They’re not sure where or how to connect. We hope that providing so many connecting points will help people pause and talk on a deeper level. Maybe they’ll take the next step and invite a friend to their home,” Jackson says.

Posting clear directions near entrances, as Trinity has done, helps newcomers feel more comfortable.
Posting clear directions near entrances, as Trinity has done, helps newcomers feel more comfortable.

LEARN MORE

Read profiles of Rock Valley, Iowa (pp. 48-53) and Hope United Methodist Church. Spring Lake Wesleyan Church is profiled in Jack Lynn’s Clear Vision: How 16 Churches Harnessed the Power of Shared Vision.

Check out Christian Century articles on designing distinctive churches and the history of American church architecture. Discuss these Lutheran principles for worship space.

Get ideas by comparing examples of worship architecture at The Center for Religious Architecture and in the journal Faith & Form. Look to Worship Facilities magazine for advice on operating large new churches and to Church Production Magazine for multimedia trends.

Browse these online resources to find a liturgical consultant, map out your new building project process, make your church building energy efficient, raise building funds, and welcome post moderns to worship.

Heart of America Radio did a story on developers who favor building churches in new neighborhoods as a way for people to build community bonds.

Browse related stories on accessibility in worship architecture, baptism and architecture, church renovation, creating worship visuals, and renovating churches to build a sense of community.

START A DISCUSSION

Feel free to print and distribute these stories at your council, worship, or building committee meeting. These questions will get members talking about how to create a sense of community in your new church building.

SHARE YOUR WISDOM

What is the best way you’ve found to address and talk through priorities in your church building project? Please write to us so we can identify trends and share your great ideas. Whether you do these or any other things, we’d love to learn what works for you:

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This article was first published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, http://www.calvin.edu/worship/stories/.