For Knowledge On Churches Westfield NJ Should Be Visited

By James Peterson


Depending on context, the word church has more than one meaning. The meaning used in this article is that of a building used by believers for religious activities. Even though it is often associated with Christians, church buildings can also be used by other religions for religious activities. When one is in need of getting a greater understanding about most churches Westfield NJ is the right location to check out. There are several different religious buildings in that area from which one can learn a couple of things.

The earliest church has been determined to have been established somewhere between 233 and 256. The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is among the oldest surviving churches worldwide today. The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is located in Aleppo, a Syrian city. Many ancient buildings that served as church buildings are now under other uses. Similarly, many modern buildings that were not meant to be church buildings as being used for worship.

The word church has its origins in the Greek language where it refers to anything pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ. Initially the word ecclesia was in wide usage in the English language before it started losing its popularity. However, some languages such as the Greek and Latin languages retained this initial term. As a result, all Latin-derived languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italia have retained the term up to this day.

Breton, Irish, Welsh among other Celtic languages as well as Turkish also started using the term ecclesia and they still do to this moment. Conversely, church was adopted in English instead of ecclesia. Churche was the initial spelling prior to its change to church. Derivatives of the word church are also in use in other languages like Scottish, Russian, and German.

In accordance to the Bible, construction of churches was not done by the earliest Christians. The books of Acts and both first and second Corinthians state that people who believed in Christ could gather in temples, homes, and synagogues. Western European communities are responsible of starting the construction of church buildings. This started during the 11-14 centuries.

Medieval churches served more functions apart from worshiping. Other communal activities were also performed in the buildings. Some of the activities include acting as halls for meetings and banquets. Sometimes they could be used for holding mystery plays and fairs. In addition to that, when it was harvesting period, the buildings could be used for threshing and storing grain. Renaissance saw a lot of these structures constructed in Europe before the Americas followed suit.

The architecture followed in constructing churches is the shape of a cross. The architecture is comprised of small rectangular room at the from which connects to a longer rectangle in a straight shape. This long rectangle is connected to by two medium-sized rectangles about a third of the length from the front. The front rectangle makes the sanctuary while the longer rectangle makes the sitting place for the congregation.

Church buildings are of many different types. Some of them include basilicas and cathedrals. Cathedrals are church buildings in which the seat of the bishop is housed. They are normally Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Catholic.




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