In comparison to the virtual alternative, in-person services offer a more vibrant and memorable emotional experience.
Nevertheless, online services are clearly here to stay. Churches have been searching for ways to expand their population of worshippers or arrest its decline, and online services can help them accomplish this vital mission.
For better or worse, the spread of virtual church services is forcing a re-evaluation of what the phrases ‘congregation’ or ‘church community’ mean.
Traditionally, a congregation or community has been comprised of people who knew each other by face and by name. Friendships would inevitably develop inside of these communities, increasing the strength of the bonds that tied congregation members together. Shared in-person services have always been communal affairs, and their collective nature has strengthened the depth of feeling they induce.
With virtual services, this type of intimate connection isn’t possible. In general, unless people have met in person at some point, they are unlikely to form meaningful relationships with people they only encounter in online environments.
And in most instances, there will be no actual encounters involved. Those who “attend” church services online will do so from the privacy of their own homes, completely isolated from each other and from those who are attending services at the facility. What was formerly a collective interaction with the divine and sublime becomes more individualized, reducing its impact.
The group spiritual experience is powerful. It enhances the worshipping experience in ways that virtual services can never match.
A well-designed church, built with both the practical and the spiritual interests of the congregation in mind, helps elicit deeply reverent feelings and makes in-person worshipping a joyful experience. The job of the church architect has always been to create a structure that is functional, yet most of all produce feelings of serenity and a profound connection with the sacred.
The Evolving Responsibilities of the Church Architect
From an architect’s perspective, it is important to recognize the ongoing evolution of the churchgoing experience. Old models of design aren’t being discarded. But they are being updated to reflect the new reality. Church buildings are being constructed for multiple uses, and worshipping areas must be designed to suit the needs of both in-person and virtual attendees.
This does make the church architect’s job more complex. In the past, we made our plans based on relatively stable attendance numbers.
Now, we must plan for attendance levels that might fluctuate over time. This could happen over the course of a few months. Or it could happen seasonally if it is assumed that many congregation members are likely to choose virtual over in-person services during extremely hot or cold weather.
Attendance could change quite a bit over long periods of time, depending on how eagerly a church decides to embrace the online service model. There could be big changes if a church first adopts the online model but decides to largely abandon it later, leading to a sudden and dramatic increase in in-person attendance.
These are factors that can determine how much square footage a new building or remodeling project should have. It will also affect design choices since facilities that will be offering online services should have superior lighting, appropriate acoustics, proper spaces to install video recording equipment, and so on.
An emphasis on online attendance can also affect a church’s choice about how much space to create for use by members of the greater (non-churchgoing) community. With physical attendance numbers in flux and the possibility that significant declines might be experienced, structures designed for worship should be adaptable for a variety of uses or be easily convertible for new uses at some point in the future.
The architect’s job is to be the facilitator for all potentialities and possibilities. In the current environment, there are more uncertainties than ever before, making flexibility a key watchword in modern church design and planning.
Planning for an Uncertain Future
Recent polls of churchgoers suggest that most of them appreciate the availability of the online option, and plan to make extensive use of it is moving forward.
However, there is no guarantee this sentiment will last. In fact, there’s good reason to assume it won’t. Eventually, the extra ingredients that make in-person services more satisfying will be noticed and missed. It seems predictable that as the intensity of the pandemic wanes and people become more prepared to leave their homes, many who say they want to attend services virtually now will change their minds later.
This means church architects shouldn’t alter the basic principles that motivate their design choices. Flexibility and versatility in building projects are more important than ever, but the architect’s ultimate responsibility is to promote and preserve the most sacred, enlightening, energizing, and inspiring aspects of the in-person attendance experience. This mission will never become obsolete, no matter what kind of technological, societal, and cultural changes occur.