Study: Millennials not fans of trendy church buildings
“Millennials gravitate toward classic, quiet church spaces that feel authentic and provide a break from the busyness of a fast-paced, technological world, revealed a study commissioned by church architectural firms.”
Now can we stop building churches that look like office buildings….please?
One minor quibble with the article; I’ll still call it an “auditorium” because of the sacramental implications of the word “sanctuary”, but if we can have something speaking of beauty and permanence, I’m all for that.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
reading the article I’m not convinced of the value of the study. They did a study of some 800 millennials. They didn’t say whether these actually attended church, they just asked them to react to the space.
Well, sure. A cathedral looks great. Stained glass windows look great.
Now, do children’s ministry there. Or pay for those expensive windows.
I personally care little what the space looks like as long as it gets the job done and is clean.
Does this mean I do not have to learn how to use some cheesy flashy power point presentation in order to connect to millennials? From what I have been reading lately, the best way to connect with millennials is to be honest and to be myself and to care about their questions and not get mad at them for asking hard questions. That is refreshing.
[Mark_Smith]reading the article I’m not convinced of the value of the study. They did a study of some 800 millennials. They didn’t say whether these actually attended church, they just asked them to react to the space.
Well, sure. A cathedral looks great. Stained glass windows look great.
Now, do children’s ministry there. Or pay for those expensive windows.
I personally care little what the space looks like as long as it gets the job done and is clean.
I am with you. Barna and that entire movement asks the wrong people. Now if Thom Rainer said this, I would listen; he studies the success stories of people who were unchurched and then became disciples. If you just ask Joe Schmo, that doesn’t mean much.
"The Midrash Detective"
The Museum: The lobby has prominent pictures of the founding pastor and/or previous pastors.
The Mall: The lobby has stuff for sale plus a trendy coffee shop.
The Maze: Sometimes the principle meeting area can be easily found but the rest of the building is a maze to any visitor.
The Mystery: Signs point to mysterious areas like Silver Saints, Young at Hearts, Single and Satisfied, Bawl Room, etc.
Then there’s the parking lot where the pastor’s reserved spot is closer to the door than the handicapped spots.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Really loved Ron’s comment about “the maze” reminds me off too many churches where people decided to make the facility bigger to suit a dominant pastor….and end up making a rabbit warren out of the place. And yes, you’ll see the pastor’s parking space pretty close to the door in such churches, too.
And again, even with the difficulties of the implications of sacramental architecture, I love a church building that in its very architecture points to God.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Rainer has some good articles, but he is way too concerned about the plight of “the millennials”. Whatever “the millennials” want is what the church should do seems to be his philosophy. Anytime the church starts posturing itself to attract a certain group then it is no longer a church, but a religious institution.
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