Church Shopping?

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #46

My wife and I spent the long weekend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—I’ll be writing about that more—and we passed this church in York on the way in. Usually my wife has no interest in old buildings, “What did that used to be?”, etc. But she was surprised this was a church, and wondered aloud if it used to be a store. Specifically, she guessed a La Z Boy furniture store. I thought she might be right.

I was pretty sure, anyway, that this wasn’t purpose-built as a church. Not only because the architecture is bland even for a modern suburban nondenominational church, but because the location, at the intersection of two commercial strips, is an odd location for a church.

This one was easy, both because Google Maps reveals its former use, and the church’s own website does as well! Here’s what it looked like before 2012, when the church opened:

It was a car dealership! Not much of the exterior remains recognizable, and the garage bays have been walled over or otherwise disappeared. But there are skylights that remain intact, a fitting feature for a church. It was funny that while we guessed wrong as to what exactly it was before, we were able to tell just by driving by it that it must have been a pre-existing building.

Apparently LCBC (originally Lancaster County Bible Church, later changed to Lives Changed By Christ) is one of the largest churches in the United States, with over 17,000 weekly attendance and 19 locations, referred to as “campuses.”

It is kind of interesting how the church’s Wikipedia page reads a lot like a page about a store or restaurant chain. And the fact that they bought up this vacant car dealership means the drive to expand was more important than having an ideal building or location. I’m a sure a whole book could be written, and probably has been written, about this kind of thing.

I could also make a crack about how this building embodies the two things Americans worship: God and the car. But while it’s not my ideal sacred architecture, it’s always nice to see an existing building born again.

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Related Reading:

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #2

Olive and Other Oils

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