Ep. 3 The History of Baptist Architecture & the Dilemma of Church Spaces
w/ Dr. David Bains, professor of Biblical and Religious studies at Howard
Church buildings don’t just house Christians—they are built to facilitate so much more—each building quietly tells a story about what your church values. Long before a word is preached, the space itself establishes the way in which people will engage—how people understand authority, worship, and the mission. For each denomination, and each tradition the building guides believers to better understand their theology in different ways.
From persecuted Anabaptists meeting in homes and fields, to simple Baptist meetinghouses in the New World, to revival-era preaching spaces, suburban church complexes, and today’s eclectic mix of megachurches, old buildings and minimalist spaces—by examining what Baptists have built—we ask a foundational question for today: what do our meeting spaces say about what we believe, prioritize and whether our buildings still serve the mission they were meant to support?
In this episode of the Postscript, we’re joined by Dr. David Bains professor at Howard College of Arts and Sciences at Samford University. Dr. Bains teaches courses that examine the interaction between theology, culture and religious life. His research has appeared in over a dozen books and journals. Today we hope that Dr. Bains will help us better understand the correlation between the historic Baptist mission and the buildings in which they met.
“The Dilemma of Church Spaces” series explores one of the most underexamined—and most formative—realities of church planting: space. Beginning with the early church’s patterns of gathering and the historic instincts that shaped Baptist meeting spaces, the series traces how theology, mission, and context have always informed where and how God’s people meet. Through conversations with pastors planting in vastly different settings, these episodes examine how meeting places shape discipleship, stewardship, leadership, and public witness. From homes and borrowed rooms to inherited buildings, to outgrowing cherished spaces, to navigating expensive global cities where traditional church buildings are increasingly inaccessible, the series surfaces both the benefits and burdens of buildings without offering simplistic answers. At its heart, the series asks a pastoral and theological question: how can churches steward space as a servant of the mission—without allowing it to become the mission itself?
If this episode challenged or equipped you, consider sharing it with a friend, pastor, or fellow student of the Word. For more resources and biblical training, visit LFBI.org.