Executive Summary for Making Space for Inspiration from Barna Group and Aspen

In the past, the grandeur of a church building has set it apart from its local community in a meaningful, recognizable, and invitational way, signifying a place of welcome, safety, community, and spiritual formation. As the spiritual climate of the western world changes and the number of church-going Christians declines, we need to create space not just for gathering, but for formation.

For humans—created with bodies and souls that intermingle—the built environment has the power to form our desires, whether those desires nudge us towards or pull us away from Christ. Can church design help nudge people to love God and neighbor more? What kind of space inspires people to a closer relationship with God, standing in contrast to the mundane, consumerist, and flashy which inundate and bog us down in an anxious world?

Churches have the opportunity to cultivate transcendence (historically considered as “the good, the true, and the beautiful” which point us to God) not only in words, worship, and prayer, but within the physical spaces we inhabit. Our recognition of God and our understanding of how he works can be illuminated (or not) by the atmosphere of a building, in sounds and smells, and in light and color. These types of physical spaces serve as a conduit for us to experience goodness, truth, and beauty, being met by God in a tangible way.