I regularly attend First Baptist Dallas but am not a member. Of course, the pastor and members can do as they please, however, I think it is a shame to build a new huge complex of buildings including a new sanctuary that marginalizes their traditional sanctuary. While the present sanctuary could certainly use renovation and updating, there is no reason to completely lose the weight and beauty of the older building. When I worship there I feel that I am standing with those who came before me bringing the past into the present as I enter an atmosphere that opens me onto a spiritual expanse that focuses my mind and soul on the immediate presence of God. Naturally, God is always present in and with me, but certain architectural styles and decor along with the smells, sounds, and general feel of a particular place evoke a greater awareness of spiritual connections--to God and to fellow Christians.

Prestonwood Baptist Church or my home church, First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, offer a stark contrast with the present First Baptist Dallas sanctuary. In the 1990's, First Baptist Atlanta relocated from a beautiful historic campus in mid-town Atlanta to the Avon corporate headquarters building in suburban Dunwoody. The current church building feels and looks like the modern corporate office that it is. There is nothing inspiring about the building itself. There is no sense of place historically, socially, or spiritually. When I have attended Prestonwood in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, on Saturday nights (I am more of a night person), I have gone shopping at Walmart immediately after leaving the service. I could not help but notice that the basic look, the smell, and feel of Walmart is virtually the same as where I had just come from church. Both are sterile and non-descript. If you have been in one Walmart, except for the exact layout and how well each store is cleaned, you have been in them all. There aren't any historic, emotionally evoking Walmarts. Walmart boxes are Balhaus buildings at work. In fact, the modernist movement stands in opposition to the personalistic, the idiosyncratic, the unique, the spiritual, and the beautiful. All of these were seen by modernists as bourgeois and barriers to equality and universalism. Modernist architecture deliberately removes the nooks and crannies and the ornate decorations that make particular buildings pretty and create a unique sense of place.

I believe it is a terrible mistake for Evangelicals who oppose modernist interpretations of the Bible to fall prey to modernist architecture that creates a setting that undermines the message being explicitly preached. The implicit message can very well compromise the explicit message. Unfortunately, that insight has been lost to many who plan these stark Evangelical church buildings.

Xenophon's comments were so accurately and kindly written. The analysis is so correct. We just built a new church building. It was not beneficial to try and fix the old building for a lot of reasons. As we were building, we wanted to make sure that we still LOOKED like a church rather than an office complex, mall, or megaplex theatre. We wanted people to know that they had come to church. We wanted to preserve that "church" atmosphere so that there would be no mistaking who and what we are.

It seems that there is such a church-phobia mentality among those sitting in the pews. Christianity seems afraid for a lost world to look at the church building and realize that is actually a church. Perhaps the reason is that the church has become so focused on being center for entertainment.

If I was to drive to the coast, I would expect to see a tall building with a revolving light on top. The lighthouse realizes that it has a purpose and it doesn't try to be something it isn't. The lighthouse doesn't try to confuse people into thinking that it is a shopping mall or office complex. Instead, it stands for what it is -- a lighthouse.

Christians need to realize that THEY are called to be a lighthouse in this sin darkened world. And, there is no shame in their buildings looking different and distinct. Let the church stick out and be obvious that it is truly a CHURCH. Create an atmosphere through the buildings whereby a person walks in and senses that they are in a very holy, consecrated place. Let's remind the world -- and ourselves -- that we have been called out from among the world, told to be separate, and remember that we are a chosen generation, a peculiar people, and a holy nation with the job of showing forth the praises of our Savior.

Hats off to Xenophon and Baptist Pastor's comments... I have been in the business of renovating church sanctuaries ( and their adjoing facilities for 25 years. I was a member of the historic First Baptist Church of Nashville for 25 years. I came there as a YOUTH and, as these previous comments, relished in the old sanctuary for those WHO HAD gone before us. I thought, "will anyone who comes after me delight in the heritage I feel within these walls of past believers ?"..I sure hoped so. All of the beautiful buildings that I have saved and restored are now breathing new life into simply tired bones. I am careful not to take away the history but to bring them up to a new cleanliness and better function. I could name several that now are so very thankful they can worship in the same space those who did 75 years ago.
So WHAT is today's worshipper who goes to the WAREHOUSE CONCEPT style going to be able to tell their children...and pass the heritage along ... I am WELL AWARE that nothing is holy about the building..and that a KMART can be a house of worship...but we HAVE become a society that has DUMBED DOWN to the world and made everything to worldly levels with fountains and food courts and TV screens that hang on the walls to tell us how to make a profession of faith...WHAT !!! ???
Are we losing the TOUCH ? Do we not want to communicate verbally or REACH OUT and TOUCH ?...does everything have to be electronic and waterfall driven and BIG SCREEN to SEEK THOSE ? If anything, I feel its a cop-out-evangelism... Its much easier to say we have set the food out and if they dont bite , that is all we can do.. and to make our millions go to buildings to be the Garden of Eden draw instead of spending those monies on direct outreach and help projects, we have as the Dallas group has elected to use the tithe excuse to compete AGAIN with the world who has "outdone us" in our minds,...so we will show them with "the MOST grand structure in all DALLAS"...
Wake Up ! Bigger is not better..BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME is an excuse that has never worked. Do church like it has worked for CENTURIES... Create memories rather than MALLS..

I very much appreciate the comments by Baptistpastor and hardingBro. I completely agree with you both. In response to hardingBro's title to his comments, those of us who appreciate historic church buildings do need to get our perspective out to more people so that when folks in a church consider tearing down or marginalizing an historic sanctuary, they fully weigh all of the alternatives open to them. I think once people hear and are moved by our angle on historic preservation not just as renovating old buildings for their own sake but as a way to deepen present spiritual experience and to cultivate a sense of place that spans a lifetime as well as generations, people will gradually open up to our understanding. I have found that many, but not all, respond very favorably when I present my thoughts on this matter. Most say that they have not even considered the importance of ties to the past nor the aesthetic impact that the design of a building has on the people worshiping in the building.

When people do object, one of their main concerns is the cost of updating a building versus building a new one from scratch. I have heard from pro's who specialize in preservation that restoration can be cost effective if done properly by those who are specially trained in the field. Is that your experience, hardingbro?

Restoration can be very cost effective. The problem I see with most people who have no Baptist heritage (in our case)have no sentiment for the bldgs we know have a message. First Nashville had the Baptist Sunday School Board (LifeWay) begin in the Pastor's Study. Thankfully they moved that study to the Historical area of LifeWay to keep it.
My point is, if the bldg has memories of significance to Baptist life or a community, then it becomes a biblical example to future generations. There just seems to be a scary trend away from anything of the past, and lets mow it down and move forward as it has been told us to do... This is the problem...we use worrying with the old as an excuse not to be bothered with it and new is easier on everyone.
But no memories are included with new... First Dallas had to do something. Their Sanctuary is an obstacle in many ways to growth because it cannot be changed...but spending $130 million is so far over the edge from my perspective of where we have lost sight in lots of situations to keep up with the Jones' just bothers me. Everyone can do what they want and if you dont like it how a church spends its money, move to a situation that fits your soul's desires.

What you describe so well in your most recent post, hardingbro, is the influence of modernism. The modernism of the past one hundred years emphasizes the differences that have come about in modern society and, hence, modern man that set us off from the past. They see the truths and ways of being held over from the past as archaic chains that we must be liberated from. Modernist influence presents itself not only in art and architecture but also in understandings of the Bible and the U.S. Constitution ( I do not mean to suggest that these two are on the same level as I mention the influence of modernist interpretation). I am afraid that even some conservatives have slipped into this line of thinking that is so destructive of truths that should shape all people's lives as well as destructive of our unique way of life that has developed over the centuries.