Episode 260: The History of Baptist Architecture & the Dilemma of Church Spaces w/ Dr. David Bains
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 today’s episode of the Postscript, I’m 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.
For more information, please follow the link to read the notes for Ep. 260
Visit https://magiccityreligion.org/spaces-for-worship/varieties/classic-auditorium/combination/ to see a recent project of Dr. Bains.
For more information on the Living Faith Bible Institute and its program of study: