I find great joy in hearing the stories of churches that had successful building programs. By successful I do not mean just the adequate funding and completion of the project. I mean that the church continues to have a momentum in ministry, outward focus, and internal unity.

Unfortunately, a number of churches complete a building program only to see more challenges than opportunities. They often become discouraged and disillusioned. The building program was perceived to be a significant answer to their needs. Instead the church finds itself with declining ministries and attendance, and with greater debt and facilities to underwrite.

So what is the difference between the successful and unsuccessful churches in building programs? Why do some thrive in the aftermath, while others hit difficult times? Allow me to offer six keys to successful programs.

A church building project is a huge investment of money, ministry, and time. The aftermath of such an endeavor can be new momentum in ministry and unity. Conversely, those churches that approach a building program poorly may see significant problems in the months that follow.

Let me hear from you about your experiences in church building programs. The readers of this blog have some really great insights. I hope to hear some of yours.

Here is the original post:
The Aftermath of a Church Building Program: Six Keys to ...

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Andrew in Uncategorized

One of my favorite things that I do is working with our church planters in Northern Kenya. It feels almost like taking a vacation, getting away from the busyness of ministry and actually doing ministry. To me it is all about preaching the gospel to people who may have never heard before.

Pastor Pokisa baptizing new believers last month!!!

In reaching out to the lost, you see that the scripture is uniquely powerful in different ways in different areas and contexts. In the town of Baragoi, peace and reconciliation are extremely relevant.

Tribal conflicts have been a part of life in Africa for thousands of years. This reality becomes clear as you drive through the center of Baragoi. The left side of the town is Turkana and the right side is Samburu. The main road serves as in imaginary uncrossable line. As we teach Gods Word, we take every chance possible to show that we are ALL created in the image of God, and that Jesus died to save everyone.

Upper Left: The old kitchen for the feeding program.

Upper Right: Women from the church preparing the plates of food.

Bottom: Enjoying a good meal!

Part of our plan is to develop a strategic ministry center in Baragoi. We have acquired 5 acres from the government which we pray will be a key site to reaching surrounding communities with the message of reconciliation. We have started a satellite branch of our Bible institute there to train pastors who can reach into new areas. We are also working on designing the property in a way that will bring the different communities together. We feed children from both major tribes over the weekend and are working on setting up soccer and volleyball on the property.

Youth from the community preparing the ground for volleyball. The are a lot of rocks and thorns in Baragoi.

The first step after getting the plot was building the church building. Since Baragoi is a 2 days drive offroad from where Abby and I live, making sure the leadership was prepared to oversee construction in my absence was an important step. To help, one of the founding, Kenyan missionaries, Stephen Pokisa, moved with his family to Baragoi.

This was a huge step of faith because security is not as good and access to essential resources is much more of a challenge, but Pastor Pokisa was essential in leading the project. In addition to overseeing the church construction, he is providing spiritual mentorship for the local church leaders, and as a Maasai (a sister tribe to the Samburu), he is helping the mostly Turkana leadership reach out to the Samburu people.

The church building is now complete and is really helping boost the ministry in Baragoi. The room that the church use to rent was even too small to hold everyone. I am looking forward to seeing the church in person when we have the official dedication next month, but until then, here are some of my pictures and then ones that Pastor Pokisa gave to me (Note the only camera he has is a cell phone).

A special thanks to Cielo Vista Church in El Paso, Texas for providing the needed funding (www.cielovista.org), and to everyone who has been faithfully praying for our ministry and the work in Northern Kenya.

Mixing the first batch of cement as construction begins.

Paul, the contractor, showing the workers how to do a good job.

Pastor Pokisa practicing taking pictures on his phone.

This elderly lady was collecting stones in her bucket to sell and get something to eat. Life can be very hard in Baragoi.

All the water for the project will be carried up the hill by ladies from the community. It may be faster and less strenuous to use a vehicle, but this provides jobs.

Concrete does not come premixed. You buy stones, sand, water, and cement and mix them all by hand.

With the footers poured, this is the last I have seen of the project. Baragoi town in the background.

Putting the final touches on the foundation.

The walls are starting to go up.

Ready to pour the upper ring beam.

Trusses in place.

Roof on and time to work on the front veranda.

The only hiccup in the project was a slight miscalculation on cement for the plaster. Overall, a very smooth project!

The colored windows add some beauty.

Raised pulpit in the front. No windows in the back to give a good backdrop and a few translucent panels in the roof for natural lighting. (these are some of the finer details I have picked up about designing a church in Kenya)

The completed church from the side.

Completed church from the front.

More:
Building a Church: Baragoi | A2Africa

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre[b] (Arabic: Kansatu al-Qiymah; Greek: Naos tes Anastaseos; Armenian: Surb Harut'yan taar; Latin: Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri; Hebrew: , Knesiyat ha-Kever; also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Orthodox Christians) is a church[1] in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church contains, according to traditions dating back to at least the fourth century, the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified,[2] at a place known as "Calvary" or "Golgotha", and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected.[3] The tomb is enclosed by the 19th-century shrine, called the Aedicule (Edicule). The Status Quo, a 150-year-old understanding between religious communities, applies to the site.[4][5]

Within the church proper are the last four (or, by some definitions, five) Stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus' Passion. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the traditional site of the Resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis.

Today, the wider complex accumulated during the centuries around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, while control of the church itself is shared among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. Meanwhile, Protestants, including Anglicans, have no permanent presence in the Church. Some Protestants prefer The Garden Tomb, elsewhere in Jerusalem, as a more evocative site to commemorate Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a temple dedicated to the goddess Venus in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried.[6][7] The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in about 325/326 that the temple be replaced by a church.[8] During the building of the Church, Constantine's mother, Helena, is believed to have rediscovered the tomb (although there are some discrepancies among authors).[6] Socrates Scholasticus (born c. 380), in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a full description of the discovery.[9]

Constantine's church was built as two connected churches over the two different holy sites, including a great basilica (the Martyrium visited by Egeria in the 380s), an enclosed colonnaded atrium (the Triportico) with the traditional site of Golgotha in one corner, and a rotunda, called the Anastasis ("Resurrection" in Greek), which contained the remains of a rock-cut room that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus.[citation needed]

According to tradition, Constantine arranged for the rockface to be removed from around the tomb, without harming it, in order to isolate the tomb; in the centre of the rotunda is a small building called the Kouvouklion in Greek[10] or the Aedicula in Latin,[c] which encloses this tomb. The remains are completely enveloped by a marble sheath placed some 500 years before[when?] to protect the ledge from Ottoman attacks. However, there are several thick window wells extending through the marble sheath, from the interior to the exterior that are not marble clad. They appear to reveal an underlying limestone rock, which may be part of the original living rock of the tomb.

The church was built starting in 325/326, and was consecrated on 13 September 335. From pilgrim reports it seems that the chapel housing the tomb of Jesus was freestanding at first, and that the Rotunda was only erected around the chapel in the 380s.[citation needed]

Each year, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) on 13 September.[11]

This building was damaged by fire in May of 614 when the Sassanid Empire, under Khosrau II, invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius restored it and rebuilt the church after recapturing the city. After Jerusalem came under Arab rule, it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the city's Christian sites. A story reports that the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony; but at the time of prayer, he turned away from the church and prayed outside. He feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius added that Umar wrote a decree prohibiting Muslims from praying at this location. The building suffered severe damage due to an earthquake in 746.[12]

Early in the ninth century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas. In the year 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Orthodox Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent to the Church. In 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, a riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and the Patriarch John VII was murdered.[citation needed]

On 18 October 1009, Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the complete destruction of the church as part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt.[13] The damage was extensive, with few parts of the early church remaining.[14] Christian Europe reacted with shock and expulsions of Jews (for example, Cluniac monk Rodulfus Glaber blamed the Jews, with the result that Jews were expelled from Limoges and other French towns[citation needed]) and an impetus to later Crusades.[15][16]

In wide-ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 102728, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (Al-Hakim's son) agreed to allow the rebuilding and redecoration of the Church.[17] The rebuilding was finally completed with the financing at a huge expense by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048.[18] As a concession, the mosque in Constantinople was re-opened and the khutba sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name.[17] Muslim sources say a by-product of the agreement was the recanting of Islam by many Christians who had been forced to convert under Al-Hakim's persecutions. In addition, the Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by Al-Hakim and the re-establishment of a Patriarch in Jerusalem. Contemporary sources credit the emperor with spending vast sums in an effort to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after this agreement was made.[17] Despite the Byzantines spending vast sums on the project, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins."[14] The rebuilt church site consisted of "a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it."[19] The chapels were to the east of the court of resurrection, where the wall of the great church had been. They commemorated scenes from the passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and of his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties of free movement among shrines in the streets of the city. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as 'a sort of Via Dolorosa in miniature'...since little or no rebuilding took place on the site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the eleventh century found much of the sacred site in ruins."[14] Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad) until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099.[20]

Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II, when calling for the First Crusade, was the threat to Constantinople from the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was of concern if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abassids) by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099.[14]

The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. Crusader Prince Godfrey of Bouillon, who became the first crusader monarch of Jerusalem, decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself "Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri" ("Protector [or Defender] of the Holy Sepulchre"). By the crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been the location where Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; although the cistern later became the "Chapel of the Invention of the Cross," there is no evidence of the rumour before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th century repairs by Monomachos.[citation needed]

According to the German clergyman and orient pilgrim Ludolf von Sudheim, the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient Georgians" and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given them by the pilgrims in the south door of the church.[21]

William of Tyre, chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the renovation of the Church in the mid-12th century. The crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they decided to transform this space into a chapel dedicated to Helena (the Chapel of Saint Helena), widening their original excavation tunnel into a proper staircase. The crusaders began to refurnish the church in a Romanesque style and added a bell tower.[22] These renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the Holy places under one roof for the first time. The church became the seat of the first Latin Patriarchs, and was also the site of the kingdom's scriptorium. The church was lost to Saladin,[22] along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed for Christian pilgrims to visit the site. Emperor Frederick II (r. 122050) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while he himself was under a ban of excommunication, with the curious consequence that the holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict. The church seems to have been largely in Greek Orthodox Patriarch Athanasius II of Jerusalem's hands, c. 123147, during the Latin control of Jerusalem.[23] Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians in 1244.[22]

The Franciscan friars renovated it further in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. The Franciscans rebuilt the Aedicule, extending the structure to create an ante-chamber.[24] After the renovation of 1555, control of the church oscillated between the Franciscans and the Orthodox, depending on which community could obtain a favorable "firman" from the "Sublime Porte" at a particular time, often through outright bribery, and violent clashes were not uncommon. There was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.[25] In 1767, weary of the squabbling, the "Porte" issued a "firman" that divided the church among the claimants.

A fire severely damaged the structure again in 1808, causing the dome of the Rotunda to collapse and smashing the Aedicule's exterior decoration. The Rotunda and the Aedicule's exterior were rebuilt in 18091810 by architect Nikolaos Ch. Komnenos of Mytilene in the then current Ottoman Baroque style. The fire did not reach the interior of the Aedicule, and the marble decoration of the Tomb dates mainly to the 1555 restoration, although the interior of the ante-chamber, now known as the "Chapel of the Angel," was partly rebuilt to a square ground-plan, in place of the previously semi-circular western end. Another decree in 1853 from the sultan solidified the existing territorial division among the communities and set a "status quo" for arrangements to "remain forever," causing differences of opinion about upkeep and even minor changes,[26] including disagreement on the removal of the "Immovable Ladder", an exterior ladder under one of the windows; this ladder has remained in the same position since then.

The cladding of red marble applied to the Aedicule by Komnenos has deteriorated badly and is detaching from the underlying structure; since 1947 it has been held in place with an exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities. A careful renovation is undergoing, funded by a $4 million gift from King Abdullah II of Jordan and a $1.3-million gift from Mica Ertegun.[27]

The current dome dates from 1870, although it was restored between 19941997, as part of extensive modern renovations to the church which have been ongoing since 1959. During the 19701978 restoration works and excavations inside the building, and under the nearby Muristan, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white meleke limestone was struck.[28] To the east of the Chapel of Saint Helena, the excavators discovered a void containing a 2nd-century drawing of a Roman ship, two low walls which supported the platform of Hadrian's 2nd-century temple, and a higher 4th-century wall built to support Constantine's basilica.[24][29] After the excavations of the early 1970s, the Armenian authorities converted this archaeological space into the Chapel of Saint Vartan, and created an artificial walkway over the quarry on the north of the chapel, so that the new Chapel could be accessed (by permission) from the Chapel of Saint Helena.[29]

In 2016, restoration works were performed in the Aedicule. For the first time since at least 1555, marble cladding which protected the estimated burial bed of Jesus from vandalism and souvenir takers[30] was removed.[31][32] When the cladding was first removed on 26 October, an initial inspection by the National Technical University of Athens team showed only a layer of fill material underneath. By the night of 28 October, the original limestone burial bed was revealed intact. This suggested that the tomb location has not changed through time and confirmed the existence of the original limestone cave walls within the Aedicule. The tomb was resealed shortly thereafter.[31]

The courtyard facing the entrance to the church is known as the parvis.

Located around the parvis are a few smaller structures.[citation needed]

South of the parvis, opposite the church:

On the eastern side of the parvis, south to north:

North of the parvis, in front of the church faade or against it:

A group of three chapels is bordering the parvis on its west side. They originally formed the baptistery complex of the Constantinian church. The southernmost chapel was the vestibule, the middle chapel the actual baptistery, and the north chapel the chamber in which the patriarch chrismated the newly baptized before leading them into the rotunda north of this complex.[citation needed] Now they are dedicated as (from south to north)

The church's bell tower is located to the left of the faade. It is currently almost half its original size.[33]

The entrance to the church, a single door in the south transeptthrough the crusader faadeis found past a group of streets winding through the outer Via Dolorosa, by way of a local souq in the Muristan. This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death.[34]

The "Immovable Ladder", in its latest incarnation, stands beneath a window on the faade.

Historically, two large, arched doors allowed access to the church. However, only the left-hand entrance is currently accessible, as the right door has long since been bricked up. These entrances are located in the parvis of a larger courtyard, or plaza.[citation needed]

Just inside the church is a stairway climbing to Calvary (Golgotha), traditionally regarded as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and the most lavishly decorated part of the church. The exit is via another stairway opposite the first, leading down to the ambulatory. The Golgotha and its chapels are just south of the main altar of the Catholicon.

On the ground floor, underneath the Golgotha chapel proper, are the Chapel of Adam and the Treasury of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, holding many relics including an alleged fragment of the Holy Cross.

The raised Chapel of the Calvary, or Golgotha Chapel, contains the apex of the Rock of Calvary (12th Station of the Cross). It is split into two halves, one Greek Orthodox and one Catholic, each one with its own altar. The northern half with the main altar belongs to the Greek Orthodox. The rock can be seen under glass on both sides of the altar, and beneath the altar there is a hole in the rock, said to be the place where the cross was raised. Due to the significance of this, it is the most visited site in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre along with the Tomb of Jesus. The Roman Catholic (Franciscan) Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (11th Station of the Cross) stretches south of it. Between the Catholic and the Orthodox altar, there is a statue of Mary, believed by some to be miraculous. It marks the 13th Station of the Cross, where Jesus' body was removed from the cross and given to his family and disciples.[citation needed]

Beneath the Calvary and the two chapels there, on the main floor, there is the Chapel of Adam. According to tradition, Jesus was crucified over the place where Adam's skull was buried. According to some, at the crucifixion, the blood of Christ ran down the cross and through the rocks to fill the skull of Adam.[35] The Rock of Calvary appears cracked through a window on the altar wall, with the crack traditionally claimed to be caused by the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died on the cross, while some scholars claim it to be the result of quarrying against a natural flaw in the rock.[36]

Just inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Anointing (also Stone of the Anointing or Stone of Unction), which tradition believes to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. However, this tradition is only attested since the crusader era (notably by the Italian Dominican pilgrim Riccoldo da Monte di Croce in 1288), and the present stone was only added in the 1810 reconstruction.[24]

The wall behind the stone is defined by its striking blue balconies and tau cross-bearing red banners (depicting the insignia of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre), and is decorated with lamps. The modern three-part mosaic along the wall depicts the anointing of Jesus' body, preceded on the right by the Descent from the Cross, and succeeded on the left by the Burial of Jesus.[citation needed]

The wall was a temporary addition to support the arch above it, which had been weakened after the damage in the 1808 fire; it blocks the view of the rotunda, separates the entrance from the Catholicon, sits on top of the now-empty and desecrated graves of four 12th-century crusader kingsincluding Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I of Jerusalemand is no longer structurally necessary. There is a difference of opinion as to whether it is to be seen as the 13th Station of the Cross, which others identify as the lowering of Jesus from the cross and locate between the 11th and 12th stations on Calvary.[citation needed]

The lamps that hang over the Stone of Unction, adorned with cross-bearing chain links, are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.[citation needed]

Immediately to the left of the entrance is a bench that has traditionally been used by the church's Muslim doorkeepers, along with some Christian clergy, as well as electrical wiring. To the right of the entrance is a wall along the ambulatory containing, to the very right, the staircase leading to Golgotha. Further along the same wall is the entrance to the Chapel of Adam.[citation needed]

The Rotunda is located in the centre of the Anastasis, beneath the larger of the church's two domes. In the center of the Rotunda is the chapel called the Aedicule, which contains the Holy Sepulchre itself. The Aedicule has two rooms, the first holding the Angel's Stone, which is believed to be a fragment of the large stone that sealed the tomb; the second is the tomb itself. Possibly due to the fact that pilgrims laid their hands on the tomb or to prevent eager pilgrims from removing bits of the original rock as souvenirs, a marble plaque was placed in the fourteenth century on the tomb to prevent further damage to the tomb.[37]

Under the status quo, the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and all three communities celebrate the Divine Liturgy or Holy Mass there daily. It is also used for other ceremonies on special occasions, such as the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire led by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch (with the participation of the Coptic and Armenian patriarchs).[38] To its rear, in a chapel constructed of iron latticework upon a stone base semicircular in plan, lies the altar used by the Coptic Orthodox.[citation needed] Historically, the Georgians also retained the key to the Aedicule.[39][40][41]

From May 2016 to March 2017, the Aedicule underwent restoration and repairs after the Israel Antiquities Authority declared the structure unsafe. Much of the $3 million project was funded by the World Monuments Fund.[42]

West of the Aedicule, to the rear of the Rotunda, is a chapel (see "Syriac Chapel with Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea") located in a Constantinian apse and containing an opening to a rock-cut ancient Jewish tomb. This chapel is where the Syriac Orthodox celebrate their Liturgy on Sundays.

To the right of the Sepulchre on the northwestern edge of the Rotunda is the Chapel of the Apparition, which is reserved for Roman Catholic use (see "Franciscan area north of the Aedicule").[43]

East of this is a large iconostasis demarcating the Orthodox sanctuary before which is set the throne of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem on the south side facing the throne of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch on the north side.[citation needed]

Further to the east in the ambulatory are three chapels (from south to north):[citation needed]

It is accessed from the Rotunda, by a door west of the Aedicule. On the far side of the chapel is the low entrance to an almost complete 1st-century Jewish tomb, initially holding six kokh-type funeral shafts radiating from a central chamber, of which two are still exposed. Although this space was discovered recently[when?] and contains no identifying marks, many Christians believe[vague] that Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were buried here.

Since Jews always buried their dead outside the city, the presence of this tomb proves that the Holy Sepulchre site was outside the city walls at the time of the crucifixion.

South of the Aedicule is the "Place of the Three Marys", marked by a stone canopy and a large modern wall mosaic. From here one can enter the Armenian monastery which stretches over the ground and first upper floor of the church's southeastern part.

The Sultan's firman (decree) of 1853, known as the "status quo", pinned down the now permanent statutes of property and the regulations concerning the roles of the different denominations and other custodians.[47]

The primary custodians are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Roman Catholic Churches, with the Greek Orthodox Church having the lion's share. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures in and around the building. Times and places of worship for each community are strictly regulated in common areas.[citation needed] The Greek Orthodox act through the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate as well as through the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. The Roman Catholics act through the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

The establishment of the 1853 status quo did not halt controversy and sometimes violence, which continues to break out occasionally. On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fracas.[48]

In another incident in 2004, during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured.[49]

On Palm Sunday, in April 2008, a brawl broke out when a Greek monk was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to the scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers.[50] On Sunday, 9 November 2008, a clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks during celebrations for the Feast of the Cross.[51][52]

A less grave sign of this state of affairs is located on a window ledge over the church's entrance. A wooden ladder was placed there at some time before 1852, when the status quo defined both the doors and the window ledges as common ground. This ladder, the "Immovable Ladder", in its latest incarnation, remains to this day, in almost exactly the same position it occupied in century-old photographs and engravings,[53][54] as it must be replaced whenever it falls apart. An engraving by David Roberts in 1839 also shows the same ladder in the same position.[55]

No one controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin assigned door-keeping responsibilities to the Muslim Nuseibeh family. The wooden doors that compose the main entrance are the original, highly carved doors.[56] The Joudeh Al-Goudia family were entrusted as custodian to the keys of the Holy Sepulchre by Saladin in 1187.[57]

Despite occasional disagreements, the religious services take place in the Church with regularity and coexistence is generally peaceful. An example of concord between the Church custodians is the recent (201617) full restoration of the Aedicule.

In late February 2018 after a tax dispute over 152 million euros of uncollected taxes on church properties the Church had closed until further notice. The city hall stressed that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all other churches are exempt from the taxes, with the changes only affecting establishments like "hotels, halls and businesses" owned by the churches.[58] NPR had reported that the Greek Orthodox Church calls itself the second-largest landowner in Israel, after the Israeli government.[59]

There was a lock in protest against an Israeli legislative proposal which would expropriate church lands that had been sold to private companies since 2010, a measure which church leaders assert constitutes a serious violation of their property rights and the status quo. In a joint official statement the church authorities protested what they considered to be the peak of a systematic campaign in

'a discriminatory and racist bill that targets solely the properties of the Christian community in the Holy Land,' adding, 'This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.'[60]

The 2018 Taxation affair does not cover any church buildings or religious related facilities (because they are exempt by law),[61] but commercial facilities such as the Notre Dame Hotel which was not paying the arnona tax, and any land which is owned and used as a commercial land.[61] The church hold the rights to land where private homes have been constructed, and some of the disagreement had been raised after the Knesset had proposed a bill that will make it harder for a private company not to extend a lease for land used by homeowners.[62] According to the JPost

'The stated aim of the bill is to protect homeowners against the possibility that private companies will not extend their leases of land on which their houses or apartments stand.'

The church leaders have said that such a bill will make it harder for them to sell church owned lands.[62]

The site of the Church had been a temple of Venus before Constantine's edifice was built. Hadrian's temple had actually been located there because it was the junction of the main north-south road with one of the two main east-west roads and directly adjacent to the forum (which is now the location of the (smaller) Muristan); the forum itself had been placed, as is traditional in Roman towns, at the junction of the main north-south road with the (other) main east-west road (which is now El-Bazar/David Street). The temple and forum together took up the entire space between the two main east-west roads (a few above-ground remains of the east end of the temple precinct still survive in the Alexander Nevsky Church complex of the Russian Mission in Exile)."Church of the Holy Sepulcher". Generation Word. Retrieved 31 May 2018.

From the archaeological excavations in the 1970s, it is clear that construction took over most of the site of the earlier temple enclosure and that the Triportico and Rotunda roughly overlapped with the temple building itself; the excavations indicate that the temple extended at least as far back as the Aedicule, and the temple enclosure would have reached back slightly further. Virgilio Canio Corbo, a Franciscan priest and archaeologist, who was present at the excavations, estimated from the archaeological evidence that the western retaining wall of the temple itself would have passed extremely close to the east side of the supposed tomb; if the wall had been any further west any tomb would have been crushed under the weight of the wall (which would be immediately above it) if it had not already been destroyed when foundations for the wall were made.[63]

Other archaeologists have criticized Corbo's reconstructions. Dan Bahat, the former city archaeologist of Jerusalem, regards them as unsatisfactory, as there is no known temple of Aphrodite matching Corbo's design, and no archaeological evidence for Corbo's suggestion that the temple building was on a platform raised high enough to avoid including anything sited where the Aedicule is now; indeed Bahat notes that many temples to Aphrodite have a rotunda-like design, and argues that there is no archaeological reason to assume that the present rotunda was not based on a rotunda in the temple previously on the site.[64]

The New Testament describes Jesus's tomb as being outside the city wall,[65] as was normal for burials across the ancient world, which were regarded as unclean.[66] Today, the site of the Church is within the current walls of the old city of Jerusalem. It has been well documented by archaeologists that in the time of Jesus, the walled city was smaller and the wall then was to the east of the current site of the Church.[citation needed] In other words, the city had been much narrower in Jesus' time, with the site then having been outside the walls; since Herod Agrippa (4144) is recorded by history as extending the city to the north (beyond the present northern walls), the required repositioning of the western wall is traditionally attributed to him as well.[citation needed]

The area immediately to the south and east of the sepulchre was a quarry and outside the city during the early 1st century as excavations under the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer across the street demonstrated.[67]

The church is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old City of Jerusalem.

The Christian Quarter and the (also Christian) Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem are both located in the northwestern and western part of the Old City, due to the fact that the Holy Sepulchre is located close to the northwestern corner of the walled city. The adjacent neighbourhood within the Christian Quarter is called the Muristan, a term derived from the Persian word for hospitalChristian pilgrim hospices have been maintained in this area near the Holy Sepulchre since at least the time of Charlemagne.

From the 9th century, the construction of churches inspired in the Anastasis was extended across Europe.[68] One example is Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, an agglomeration of seven churches recreating shrines of Jerusalem.[citation needed]

Several churches and monasteries in Europe, for instance, in Germany and Russia, and at least one church in the United States have been modeled on the Church of the Resurrection, some even reproducing other holy places for the benefit of pilgrims who could not travel to the Holy Land. They include the Heiliges Grab of Grlitz, constructed between 1481 and 1504, the New Jerusalem Monastery in Moscow Oblast, constructed by Patriarch Nikon between 1656 and 1666, and Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery built by the Franciscans in Washington, DC in 1898.[citation needed]

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Church in Cologne, Germany

Cologne Cathedral (German: Klner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus, English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site[3] in 1996.[4] It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day,[5] and currently the tallest twin-spired church at 157m (515ft) tall.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880.[6] The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest faade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.[7]

Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe".[3]

When construction began on the present Cologne Cathedral in 1248, the site had already been occupied by several previous structures. The earliest may have been for grain storage, and possibly was succeeded by a Roman temple built by Mercurius Augustus. From the 4th century on, however, the site was occupied by Christian buildings, including a square edifice known as the "oldest cathedral" that was commissioned by Maternus, the first bishop of Cologne. A free-standing baptistery dating back to the 7th century was located at the east end of the present cathedral but was demolished in the 9th century to build the second cathedral. During excavations of the present cathedral, graves were discovered in the location of the oldest portion of the building; including that of a boy that was richly adorned with grave goods and another of a woman, popularly thought to be Wisigard. Both graves are thought to be from the 6th century. Only ruins of the baptistery and the octagonal baptismal font remain today.[citation needed]The second church, called the "Old Cathedral", was completed in 818. It was destroyed by fire on 30 April 1248, during demolition work to prepare for a new cathedral.[8]

In 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, acquired the relics of the Three Kings which the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, had taken from the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, Milan, Italy. (Parts of the relics have since been returned to Milan.) The relics have great religious significance and drew pilgrims from all over Christendom. It was important to church officials that they be properly housed, and thus began a building program in the new style of Gothic architecture, based in particular on the French cathedral of Amiens.[citation needed]

The foundation stone was laid on 15 August 1248,[9] by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The eastern arm was completed under the direction of Master Gerhard, was consecrated in 1322 and sealed off by a temporary wall so it could be in use as the work proceeded. Eighty four misericords in the choir date from this building phase.In the mid 14th century work on the west front commenced under Master Michael. This work halted in 1473, leaving the south tower complete up to the belfry level and crowned with a huge crane that remained in place as a landmark of the Cologne skyline for 400 years.[10]

Some work proceeded intermittently on the structure of the nave between the west front and the eastern arm, but during the 16th century this ceased.[11]

With the 19th century romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, and spurred on by the discovery of the original plan for the faade, it was decided, with the commitment of the Protestant Prussian Court, to complete the cathedral. It was achieved by civic effort; the Central-Dombauverein, founded in 1842, raised two-thirds of the enormous costs, while the Prussian state supplied the remaining third.[citation needed] The state saw this as a way to improve its relations with the large number of Catholic subjects it had gained in 1815.[citation needed]

Work resumed in 1842 to the original design of the surviving medieval plans and drawings, but utilizing more modern construction techniques, including iron roof girders. The nave was completed and the towers were added. The bells were installed in the 1870s. The largest bell is St. Petersglocke.

The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, 632 years after construction had begun.[12] The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I. At 157.38 Meters or 515 feet tall, it was the tallest building in the world for four years until the completion of Washington Monument.[citation needed]

The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during World War II. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city. The twin spires were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing.

The cathedral and the immediate area surrounding it was the site of intense tank combat between American tanks of the 3rd Armored Division and a Panther Ausf. A of Panzerbrigade 106 on 6 March 1945. The Panther successfully knocked out two Shermans killing three men before it was destroyed by a T26E3 Pershing hours later. The destroyed Panther was later put on display at the base of the cathedral for the remainder of the war in Europe.[citation needed]

Repairs were completed in 1956. An emergency repair on the northwest tower's base carried out in 1944 using poor-quality brick taken from a nearby ruined building remained visible until 2005 as a reminder of the war, when it was decided to restore the section to its original appearance. The brick-filling can be seen in the photograph on the right.

Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in one or another section of the building, which is rarely completely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones. The Dombauhtte, established to build the cathedral and keep it in repair, is said to employ the best stonemasons of the Rhineland. There is a common joke in Cologne that the leader of the Dombauhtte, the Dombaumeister (master builder of the cathedral), has to be Catholic and free from giddiness. Half the costs of repair and maintenance are still borne by the Dombauverein.[citation needed]

On 25 August 2007, the cathedral received a new stained glass window in the south transept. With 113 square metres (1,220sqft) of glass, the window was created by the German artist Gerhard Richter. It is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of colored glass resembling pixels, randomly arranged by computer, which create a colorful "carpet". Since the loss of the original window in World War II, the space had been temporarily filled with plain glass.[13] The then archbishop of the cathedral, Joachim Cardinal Meisner, who had preferred a figurative depiction of 20th-century Catholic martyrs for the window, did not attend the unveiling.[14] Current holder of the office is Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki (since 2014).On 5 January 2015, the cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a demonstration by PEGIDA.[15]

In 1996, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. In 2004 it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list, as the only Western site in danger, due to plans to construct a high-rise building nearby, which would have visually impacted the site. The cathedral was removed from the List of In Danger Sites in 2006, following the authorities' decision to limit the heights of buildings constructed near and around the cathedral.

As a World Heritage Site, and with its convenient position on tourist routes, Cologne Cathedral is a major tourist attraction, the visitors including many who travel there as a Christian pilgrimage.

Visitors can climb 533 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 100m (330ft) above the ground.[16] The platform gives a scenic view over the Rhine.

On 18 August 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Germany, as part of World Youth Day 2005 festivities. An estimated one million pilgrims visited the cathedral during this time. Also as part of the events of World Youth Day, Cologne Cathedral hosted a televised gala performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir conducted by Sir Gilbert Levine.

As of 1 March 2017, a ban on bags was brought in by the German authorities in light of recent terrorist attacks in the country, meaning visitors are not allowed to carry bags inside the cathedral.[17]

The design of Cologne Cathedral was based quite closely on that of Amiens Cathedral in terms of ground plan, style and the width to height proportion of the central nave. The plan is in the shape of a Latin Cross, as is usual with Gothic cathedrals. It has two aisles on either side, which help to support one of the very highest Gothic vaults in the world, being nearly as tall as that of the Beauvais Cathedral, much of which collapsed. Externally the outward thrust of the vault is taken up by flying buttresses in the French manner. The eastern end has a single ambulatory, the second aisle resolving into a chevet of seven radiating chapels.[citation needed]

Internally, the medieval choir is more varied and less mechanical in its details than the 19th century building. It presents a French style arrangement of very tall arcade, a delicate narrow triforium gallery lit by windows and with detailed tracery merging with that of the windows above. The clerestory windows are tall and retain some old figurative glass in the lower sections. The whole is united by the tall shafts that sweep unbroken from the floor to their capitals at the spring of the vault. The vault is of plain quadripartite arrangement.

The choir retains a great many of its original fittings, including the carved stalls, which is made the more surprising by the fact that French Revolutionary troops had desecrated the building. A large stone statue of St Christopher looks down towards the place where the earlier entrance to the cathedral was, before its completion in the late 19th century.

The nave has many 19th century stained glass windows. A set of five on the south side is called the Bayernfenster, and were a gift from Ludwig I of Bavaria, and strongly represent the painterly German style of that date.

Externally, particularly from a distance, the building is dominated by its huge spires, which are entirely Germanic in character, being openwork like those of Ulm, Vienna, Strasbourg and Regensburg Cathedrals.[18]

A "Bird's eye view" shows the cruciform plan

The cathedral from the south

The exterior of one of the spires

The main entrance shows the 19th century decoration.

"Bird's eye view" from the east

The flying buttresses and pinnacles of the Medieval east end.

Interior of the Medieval east end, showing the extreme height.

This "swallows' nest" organ was built into the gallery in 1998, to celebrate the cathedral's 750 years.

19th century cross-section, south elevation of the choir

One of the treasures of the cathedral is the High Altar, which was installed in 1322. It is constructed of black marble, with a solid slab 15 feet (4.6m) long forming the top. The front and sides are overlaid with white marble niches into which are set figures, with the Coronation of the Virgin at the centre.[19]

The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, commissioned by Philip von Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191 and created by Nicholas of Verdun, begun in 1190. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at the conquest of Milan in 1164. The shrine takes the form a large reliquary in the shape of a basilican church, made of bronze and silver, gilded and ornamented with architectonic details, figurative sculpture, enamels and gemstones. The shrine was opened in 1864 and was found to contain bones and garments.

Near the sacristy is the Gero-Kreuz,[20] a large crucifix carved in oak and with traces of paint and gilding. Believed to have been commissioned around 960 for Archbishop Gero, it is the oldest large crucifix north of the Alps and the earliest-known large free-standing Northern sculpture of the medieval period.[21][full citation needed]

In the Sacrament Chapel is the Mailnder Madonna ("Milan Madonna"), dating from around 1290, a wooden sculpture depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. The altar of the patron saints of Cologne with an altar piece by the International Gothic painter Stefan Lochner is in the Marienkapelle ("St. Mary's Chapel"). Other works of art are in the Cathedral Treasury. The altar also houses the relics of Saint Irmgardis.

Embedded in the interior wall are a pair of stone tablets on which are carved the provisions formulated by Archbishop Englebert II (126267) under which Jews were permitted to reside in Cologne.[22]

Cologne Cathedral has two pipe organs by Klais Orgelbau, the Transept Organ built in 1948 and the Nave Organ built in 1998. Cathedral organists have included Josef Zimmermann, Clemens Ganz (19852001) and Winfried Bnig (2001).

The cathedral has eleven church bells, four of which are medieval. The first was the 3.8-ton Dreiknigsglocke ("Bell of the Three Kings"), cast in 1418, installed in 1437, and recast in 1880. Two of the other bells, the Pretiosa (10.5tons; at that time the largest bell in the Western world) and the Speciosa (5.6tons) were installed in 1448 and remain in place today.

During the 19th century, as the building neared completion, there was a desire to extend the number of bells. This was facilitated by Kaiser Wilhelm I who gave French bronze cannon, captured in 187071, for this purpose. The 22 pieces of artillery were displayed outside the Cathedral on 11 May 1872. Andreas Hamm in Frankenthal used them to cast a bell of over 27,000 kilos on 19 August 1873. The tone was not harmonious and another attempt was made on 13 November 1873. The Central Cathedral Association, which had agreed to take over the costs, did not want this bell either. Another attempt took place on 3 October 1874. The colossal bell was shipped to Cologne and on 13 May 1875, installed in the Cathedral. This Kaiserglocke was eventually dismantled in 1918 to support the German war effort.

The 24-ton St. Petersglocke ("Bell of St. Peter", "Decke Pitter" in the Klsch language), was cast in 1922 and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world.[23]

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For over thirty years MACO has been building relationships one church at a time. We are a Christian owned and operated firm dedicated to assisting churches in fulfilling the Great Commission. We never forget we are working for you, and that we are simply an extension of the ministry of the church.

In our projects, we always consider the future needs of the church and develop master plans for future expansion. We are accustomed to working within the parameters of the church, whether it is a complete Design/Build contract, or a phased project.

One thing is for sure- Quality is a high priority that our entire staff takes to heart. We take your ideas and communicate those priorities directly to workers on sight. Were building the Lords house. We are first and foremost working as unto the Lord.

With over 100 churches built, we are striving to create facilities that reflect each organizations outreach and ministry by making their visions a reality. We dont build monuments to ourselves. We build a monument to the Lord for the churchs sake.

MACO Construction, Inc.1718 Humble Place DriveHumble, TX 77338phone: (713) 453-1234fax: (713) 450-4499

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Building smart is building divine

When approaching church construction at The Korte Company, we know the importance of a timely build. So wed like to mention the fact that weve never delivered late.

Additionally, we understand that every penny counts so its important to note weve never gone over budget. This isnt a loaves-and-fishes proposition, as were certainly no miracle workers. But we are hard workers and were proud to always build smart.

Communication is an essential tool for any of our projects at The Korte Company and its an especially important tool when that project is an extension of the beliefs and values that define it. Additionally, like many of the buildings we construct, we understand the importance of your entire community being happy with the structure were building for them.

At The Korte Company, we work very closely with our centers-of-worship clients to make certain that any questions are addressed long before the hammer hits the nail. As that guarantees a smiling congregation.

With us, there are no Hail Marys on the job-site, as we believe in saving those for Sunday. Just well-planned and well-executed church constructionprojects with us.Lets talk well tell you more.

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Church Design and Construction | The Korte Company

PARTNERSHIP. UNDERSTANDING. COMMITMENT.

The McKnight Group, a group of experienced church builders, designs and builds dynamic churches for every community. Our facilities appeal to young and old alike and meet the many needs of vibrant, growing communities. Were a church building group, specializing in innovative church design and church building for more than 40 years. Our core service offerings include:

The Design Build process is a comprehensive approach to church design and building where we oversee and manage every phase of the project. From master planning and the initial church design through the construction of the church, our team-orientated Design Build process gives church leaders the added satisfaction of having played a meaningful role in the development of an amazing new space, while trusting the details to an experienced church building group.

Understanding and expanding the vision you have for your church is a critical phase in the overall church building process. The McKnight Groups highly skilled architecture and design team will work with you to define your vision and develop a master plan for your church design that facilitates growth, now and for the future.

Being on time and on target demands a knowledgeable, trustworthy workforce with decades of experience. After all, ministry cant wait. The McKnight Groups church construction and general contracting service ensures your new church or addition will be built on time, within budget, and handled by a company that knows what it takes to build a facility that will expand your reach.

Peace United Methodist Church, Pickerington, OH

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Ada First UMC is located at 301 N. Main St.

All are invited to join us in worship!

We meet for worship every Sunday, with all invited! There is a classic worship service at 10:00 am. This morning worship service is supported by a staffed nursery for little ones, and Christian Education activities for toddlers through third grade. Read more about our worship service under the Worship tab on this website. Planning a visit to our church? Check out our directions webpage for Google map and parking information.

Sign Up for Our Picture Directory

Everyone one has been asking, so we will be getting a new picture directory soon! Guess what, that means you are going to have to have your picture taken. It will be a time to get the whole family together and get that family portrait done by Lifetouch Photography. All families large and small will get one 8 x 10 portrait free. Even your family pet can be in the photo.

Lifetouch will be here from August 16 through August 18. Please take a moment to sign up online for your picture directory appointment by clicking here. If it is more convenient for you, you can also sign up for an appointment in the Front Porch on Sundays before and after church, or you can call the church office Monday through Friday from 9 am to noon.

All are invited to participate in our weekly ministries!

Our church building is a busy hub for the congregation and community. Weekday mornings you'll find the Ready, Set, Grow preschool in our education area. In the evenings, adults are meeting for activities that include crafts and quilting, yoga, zumba, small care groups, United Methodist women circle groups, chancel choir rehearsal, and monthly committee meetings. Youth typically meet twice a month and are invited to join the chancel choir. For those in the community, we offer meeting spaces for groups like Teens for Christ, girl scouts and brownie troops, and library events. We invite you to participate in these events, and you are encouraged to add our websitecalendarto your own Google calendar by simply clicking on the blue plus sign on the bottom edge of the calendar. Additional programming information is published in our electronic monthlly newsletter and our weekly email prayer list. If you would like to be added to our email list or need to update your information, please contact the church office.

Our website also provides information about the history of Ada First UMC, our staff, and our visioning and construction process after the fire in 2012.

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Ada First United Methodist Church

A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called stafr in Old Norse (stav in modern Norwegian). Two related church building types also named for their structural elements, the post church and palisade church, are often called 'stave churches'.

Originally much more widespread, most of the surviving stave churches are in Norway. The only remaining medieval stave churches outside Norway are those of circa 1500 at Hedared in Sweden and one Norwegian stave church relocated in 1842 to the outskirts of Krummhbel, Germany, now Karpacz in the Karkonosze mountains of Poland. (One other church, the Anglo-Saxon Greensted Church in England, exhibits many similarities with a stave church but is generally considered a palisade church.)

Archaeological excavations have shown that stave churches, best represented today by the Borgund stave church, are descended from palisade constructions and from later churches with earth-bound posts.

Similar palisade constructions are known from buildings from the Viking Age. Logs were split in two halves, set or rammed into the earth (generally called post in ground construction) and given a roof. This proved a simple but very strong form of construction. If set in gravel, the wall could last many decades, even centuries. An archaeological excavation in Lund uncovered the postholes of several such churches.

In post churches, the walls were supported by sills, leaving only the posts earth-bound. Such churches are easy to spot at archaeological sites as they leave very distinct holes where the posts were once placed. Occasionally some of the wood remains, making it possible to date the church more accurately using radiocarbon dating and/or with dendrochronology. Under the Urnes stave church, remains have been found of two such churches, with Christian graves discovered beneath the oldest church structure.

A single church of palisade construction has been discovered under the Hemse stave church.

The next design phase resulted from the observation that earthbound posts were susceptible to humidity, causing them to rot away over time. To prevent this, the posts were placed on top of large stones, significantly increasing their lifespans. The stave church in Rldal is believed to be of this type.

In still later churches, the posts were set on a raised sill frame resting on stone foundations. This is the stave church in its most mature form.

It is now common to group the churches into two categories: the first, without free-standing posts, often referred to as Type A; and the second, with a raised roof and free-standing internal posts, usually called Type B.

Those with the raised roof, Type B, are often further divided into two subgroups. The first of these, the Kaupanger group, have a whole arcade row of posts and intermediate posts along the sides and details that mimic stone capitals. These churches give an impression of a basilica.

The other subgroup is the Borgund group. In these churches the posts are connected halfway up with one or two horizontal double pincer beams with semicircular indentations, clasping the row of posts from both sides. Cross-braces are inserted between the posts and the upper and lower pincer beams (or above the single pincer beam), forming a very rigid interconnection, and resembling the triforium of stone basilicas. This design made it possible to omit the freestanding lower part of intermediate posts. In some churches in Valdres, only the four corner posts remain (see the image of Lomen stave church).

Many stave churches had or still have outer galleries or ambulatories around their whole perimeters, loosely connected to the plank walls. These probably served to protect the church from a harsh climate, and for processions.

At the base of Type A churches, there are four heavy sill beams on a low foundation of stones. These are interconnected in the corner notch, forming a rigid sill frame. The corner posts or staves (stavene in Norwegian) are cross-cut at the lower end and fit over the corner notches and cover them, protecting them from moisture.

On top of the sill beam is a groove into which the lower ends of the wall planks (veggtilene) fit. The last wall plank is wedge-shaped and rammed into place. When the wall is filled in with planks, the frame is completed by a wall plate (stavlgje) with a groove on the bottom, holding the top ends of the wall planks. The whole structure consists of framesa sill frame resting on the stone foundation, and the four wall frames made up of sills, corner posts and wall plate.

The wall plates support the roof trusses, consisting of a pair of principal rafters and an additional pair of intersecting "scissor rafters". For lateral bracing, additional wooden brackets (bueknr) are inserted between the rafters.

Every piece is locked into position by other pieces, making for a very rigid construction; yet all points otherwise susceptible to the harsh weather are covered.

Single nave churches in Norway: Grip, Haltdalen, Undredal, Hedal, Reinli, Eidsborg, Rollag, Uvdal, Nore, Hyjord, Rldal and Garmo.

The only remaining similar church in Sweden, in Hedared, is of this type and shows similarities with the one from Haltdalen.

On the stone foundation, four huge ground beams (grunnstokker) are placed like a sign, their ends protruding 12 meters from the lap joint where they intersect. The ends of these beams support the sills of the outer walls, forming a separate horizontal frame. The tall internal posts are placed on the internal frame of ground beams, and carry the main roof above the central nave (skip). On the outer frame of sills rest the main wall planks (veggtiler), carrying the roof over the pentice or aisles (omgang) surrounding the central space. The roof thus slopes down in two steps, as in a basilica.

The tall internal posts (staver) are interconnected with brackets (bueknr), and also connected to the outer walls with aisle rafters, creating a laterally rigid construction. Closer to the top of the posts (staver), shorter sills inserted between them support the upper wall (tilevegg). On top of the posts wall plates (stavlgjer) support the roof trusses, similar to those of the single nave churches.

The Kaupanger group consists of: Kaupanger, Urnes, Hopperstad and Lom.

The Borgund group consists of: Borgund, Gol, Hegge, Hre (Hurum), Lomen, Ringebu and ye.

This form of a church can also be recognized from the holes which remain from earlier earth-bound post churches built on the same sites. Little is known about what these older churches actually looked like or how they were constructed, as they were all destroyed or replaced many centuries ago.

Stave churches were once common in northern Europe. In Norway alone, it was thought about 1000 were built; recent research has upped this number and it is now believed there may have been closer to 2000.[1]

Most of the surviving stave churches in Norway were built 1150-1350.[2] Stave churches older than the 1100s are known only from written sources or from archaeological excavations, but written sources are sparse and difficult to interpret.[3] Only 271 masonry churches were constructed in Norway during the same period, 160 of these still exist, while in Sweden and Denmark there were 900 and 1800 masonry churches respectively.[4] Frostathing Law and Gulating law rules about "corner posts" shows that stave church was the standard church building in Norway, even if the catholic church preferred stone.[5] All wooden churches in Norway before the reformation were constructed with staves. Log building is younger than stave building in Norway and was introduced in residential buildings around year 1000. Stave building is not influenced by the log technique.[6][7]

The word "stave church" is unknown in Old Norse, presumably because there were no other types of wooden churches. When Norway's churches after the Reformation were constructed in log, there was a need for a separate word for the older churches. In written sources from the Middle Ages, there is a clearl distinction between "stafr" (posts) and "ili" or "vgili" (wall boards). However, in documents from the 1600-1700s, "stave" was also used for wall boards or panels. Emil Eckhoff in his Svenska stavkyrkor (1914-1916) also included wood frame church buildings without posts.[8]

According to Norway's oldest written laws and Old Norwegian Homily Book, the consecration of the church was valid as long as the four corner posts were standing.[5] One of the sermons in the old homily book is known as the "stave church sermon". The sermon dates from around 1100 and was presumably performed at consecrations, or on the anniversary of such. The sermon text is a theological interpretation of the building elements in the church. It names most of the building elements in the stave church, and can be a source of terminology and technique.[9][10] For instance, the sermon says: "The four corner posts of the church are a symbol for the four gospels, because their teachings are the strongest supports within the whole of Christianity."[11]

Church building was mentioned in the Gulatingsloven (Gulating Law), which was written down in the 1000s. In the chapter on Christianity, the 12th article states:[12]

If one man builds a church, either lendmann does it or a farmer, or whoever builds a church, shall keep the church and the plot in good condition. But if the church breaks down and corner posts fall, then he shall bring timber to the plot before twelve months; if not, he will pay three marks in punishment to the bishop and bring timber and rebuild the church anyway.

(Um einskildmenn byggjer kyrkje, anten lendmann gjer det eller bonde, eller kven det er som byggjer kyrkje, skal han halda henne i stand og inkje yda tufti. Men um kyrkja brotnar og hyrnestavane fell, d skal han fra timber p tufti innan tolv mnadar; um det ikkje kjem, skal han bta tre merker for det til biskopen og koma med timber og byggja opp kyrkja likevel."

In Norway, stave churches were gradually replaced; many survived until the 19th century when a substantial number were destroyed. Today, 28 historical stave churches remain standing in Norway. Stave churches were particularly common in less populated areas in high valleys and forest land, and fishermen's villages on islands and in minor villages along fjords. Around 1800 in Norway 322 stave churches were still known and most of these were in sparsely populated areas of Norway. If the main church was masonry the annex church could be a stave church.[5] Masonry churches were mostly built in towns, along the coast, and in rich agricultural areas in Trndelag and East Norway, as well as in the larger parishes in fjord districts i Western Norway.[4] During 1400s and 1500s no new churches were built in Norway.[13] Norway's stave churches largely disappeared until 1700 and were replaced by log buildings. Several stave churches were redesigned or enlarged in a different technique during 1600-1700, for instance Flesberg stave church were converted into cruciform church partly in log construction.[14] According to Dietrichson, most stave churches were dismantled to make room for a new church, partly because the old church had become too small for the congregation, partly because the stave church was in poor condition. Fire, storm, avalanche and decay were other reasons.[7] In 1650 there were about 270 stave churches left in Norway, and in the next hundred years 136 of these disappeared. Around 1800 there were still 95 stave churches, while over 200 former stave churches were still known by name or in written sources. From 1850 to 1885 32 stave churches fell, since then only the Fantoft stave church has been lost.[5]

Heddal stave church was the first stave church described in a scholarly publication when Johannes Flintoe wrote an essay in Samlinger til det Norske Folks Sprog og Historie (Christiania, 1834). The book also printed Flintoes drawings of the facade, the ground floor and the floor plan - the first known architectural drawing of a stave church.[15]

It is unknown how many stave churches were constructed in Iceland and in other countries in Europe.[citation needed] Some believe[who?] they were the first type of church to be constructed in Scandinavia; however, the post churches are an older type, although the difference between the two is slight. A stave church has a lower construction set on a frame, whereas a post church has earth-bound posts.

In Sweden, the stave churches were considered obsolete in the Middle Ages and were replaced. In Denmark, traces of post churches have been found at several locations, and there are also parts still in existence from some of them. A plank of one such church was found in Jutland. The plank is now on display at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and an attempt at reconstructing the church is a featured display at the Moesgrd Museum near Aarhus. Marks created by several old post churches have also been found at the old stone church in Jelling.

In Sweden, the medieval Hedared stave church was constructed c. 1500 at the same location as a previous stave church. Other notable places are Maria Minor church in Lund, with its traces of a post church with palisades, and some old parts of Hemse stave church on Gotland. In Skne alone there were around 300 such churches when Adam of Bremen visited Denmark in the first half of the 11th century, but how many of those were stave churches or post churches is unknown.

In England, there is one similar church of Saxon origin, with much debate as to whether it is a stave church or predates them. This is the Greensted Church in Essex. General consensus categorizes it as Saxon [A]. There is also another church which bears similarities to stave churches, the medieval stone church of St. Mary in Kilpeck in Herefordshire. It features a number of dragon heads.

In Germany, there is one stone church with a motif depicting a dragon similar to those often seen on Norwegian stave churches and on surviving artifacts from Denmark and Gotland. Whether this decoration can be attributed to cultural similarities or whether it indicates similar construction methods in Germany has sparked controversy.

During 1950-1970 post holes from older buildings were discovered under Lom stave church as well as under masonry churches such as Kinsarvik Church,[5] and this discovery was and important contribution to understanding the origin of stave churches. Holes for posts were first identified during excavations in Urnes stave church.[16]

Lorentz Dietrichson in his book De norske Stavkirker ("The Norwegian Stave Churches") (1892) claimed that the stave church is "a brilliant translation of the Romanesque basilica from stone to wood" (En genial oversettelse fra sten til tre av den romanske basilika). Dietrichson claimed that type B displays an influence from early Christian and Roman basilicas. The style was assumed to be transferred via Anglo-Saxon and Irish architecture, where only the particular roof construction was local. Dietrichson emphasized the clerestory, arcades and capitals.[7] The "basilica theory" was introduced by N. Nicolaysen in Mindesmrker af Middelalderens Kunst i Norge (1854). Nicolaysen worte: "Our stave churches are now the only remaining of its kind, and according to the sparse records and known circumstances, it appears that nothing similar existed except perhaps in Britain and Ireland." (Vore stavkirker er nu de eneste i sit slags, og saavidt sparsomme beretninger og andre omstndigheder lader formode, synes de heller ikke tidligere at have havt noget sidestykke med undtagelse af maaske i Storbritannien og Irland.)[17] Nicolaysen further claimed that the layout and design may have been inspired by Byzantine architecture. Nicloaysen wrote: "All facts suggest that the stave churches like the masonry churches and all medieval architecture in Western Europe originated from the Roman basilica." (Alt synes at henpege paa, at forbilledet til vore stavkirker ligesom til stenkirkerne og overhovedet til hele den vesteuropiske arkitektur i middelalderen er udgaaet fra den romerske basilika.)[18] This theory was further developed by Anders Bugge and Roar Hauglid. Peter Anker believed that the influence from foreign masonry architecture was primarily in decorative details.[19]

Per Jonas Nordhagen does not reject the basilica theory, but suggests development along two paths and that the basilical was a development towards larger and technically more sophisticated churches. The main, progressive path according to Nordhagen lead to Torpo and Borgund.[20]

Folklore and circumstantial evidence seem to suggest that stave churches were built upon old indigenous Norse worship sites, the hof. Dietrichson believed that the stave churches were closely connected to the hof and the "hof theory" attracted interest in the 1930-1940s. The theory assumed that the hofs were buildings with a square and a raised roof supported by four columns.[19] During Christianization of Norway local chiefs were forced to either dismantle the hofs or to convert hofs into churches. Bugge and Norberg-Schultz accordingly claimed that "there is no reason to believe that the last hofs and the first churches had any major differences" (og da er det liten grunn til tro at de siste hov har skilt seg synderlig fra de frste kirker).[21] This assumption has been rejected by archeological evidence several times, in the case of Iceland by ge Roussel.[22] Olaf Olsen described the hof merely as function related to ordinary buildings on major farms. If the hof was a particular building they remain to be identified, according to Olsen.[23] Olsen rejected the hof theory. Nicolay Nicolaysen also concluded that there is not a single case known of a hof that was converted to a church.[24]

Lack of historical evidence for hofs as buildings undermines the hof theory.[25] Nicolaysen also introduced the community centre hypothesis which argued that hofs were destroyed and churches constructed on the same convenient location for the local community. Location near a previous hof would then be a coincidence, according to Nicolaysen. Pope Gregory I encouraged (year 601) Augustine of Canterbury to reuse pre-Christian temples, but this had little relevance for Norway according to Nicolaysen. Jan Brendalsmo in his dissertation concluded that churches were often established on major farms or farms of local chiefs and close to feasting halls or graveyards.[26]

Stave churches appear to sometimes to have built upon or used materials from old pagan worship sites and are considered to be the best evidence for the existence of Norse Pagan temples and the best guide as to what they looked like.[27] The layout of the churches is believed to have mimicked old Pagan temples in design and was possibly designed in order to adhere to old Norse cosmological beliefs, especially as some churches were built around a central point like a world tree. Stave churches were also often located near or in the sight of large natural formations which also had a significant role in Norse Paganism, thus also suggesting a form of continuity through placement and symbolism.[28] Furthermore, dragons' heads and other clear mythological symbolism suggests the cultural blending of Norse mythological beliefs and Christianity in a non-contradictory synthesis.[clarification needed] Owing to this evidence newer research has suggested that Christianity was introduced into Norway much earlier than was previously assumed.[citation needed]

Even though the wooden churches had structural differences, they give a recognizable general impression. Formal differences may hide common features of their planning, while apparently similar buildings may turn out to have their structural elements organized completely differently. Despite this, certain basic principles must have been common to all types of building.

Basic geometrical figures, numbers that were easy to work with, one or just a few length units and simple ratios, and perhaps proportions as well were among the theoretical aids all builders inherited. The specialist was the man who knew a particular type of building so well that he could systematise its elements in a slightly different way from previous building designs, thus carrying developments a stage further.

"Exposing the timber frame on the interior and/or exterior of the structures is seen to release its matrix of timber members and its capacity to contribute architectural expression to buildings. The matrix, forming lines in space, has an expressive potential that includes the capacity to delineate proportion, direct eye-movement, suggest spatial enclosure, create patterning, permit transparency and establish continuity with landscape."[29]

Stave churches can be dated in various ways: by historical records or inscriptions, by stylistic means using construction details or ornaments, or by dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Often historical records or inscriptions will point to a year when the church is known to have existed. Archaeological excavations can yield finds which can provide relative dating for the structure, whereas absolute dating methods such as radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology can provide a more exact date. One drawback of dendrochronology is that it tends to overlook the possibility that the wood could have been reused from an older structure, or felled and left for many years before use.

A very important problem in dating the churches is that the solid ground sills are the construction elements most likely to have the outer parts of the log still preserved. Yet they are the most susceptible to humidity, and as people back then reused building parts, the church may have been rebuilt several times. If so, a dendrochronological dating may be based upon a log from a later reconstruction.

Stave churches are a very popular phenomenon and several have been built or rebuilt around the world. The two most copied are Borgund and Hedared, with some variations, and sometimes with adaptations to add elements from known stave churches from the area. In other places they are of a more free form and built for display.

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