How to set up your sanctuary

            A sanctuary is the main and most important room of your church. Songs are sung, lives are saved, people laugh, and people cry, many things are done in the sanctuary and setup is important. You need three basic things to get you started, a room, places to sit, and light. While there are many accessory’s like stages, chairs, music, flowers, paint, air conditioning, music, giant crosses, and tables not all of these are necessary. I will go over some basic formations of a church sanctuary.

            The first design is the Greek auditorium shape. It’s shaped like a scalp with rounded rows of seating that converge in the stage in the corner. This form is handy for a couple reasons, everybody has a good view of the stage, and if you have the right sound equipment the setup sounds great.  The drawbacks are that the shape is awkward in a rectangular room usually requiring a special room design, and it requires elevated platforms for the seating.

            The second design is the parliament shape where the stage is in the middle of the room with rows of seating on each side facing the stage. Like the Greek auditorium shape the view and the sound are great. The drawbacks are the fact that it puts the speaker in a weird position where they cannot look at everybody at the same time, and that there is some wasted space at the ends of the room where there is no seating.

            The third design that is most comely used around the world is the ray. The stage is at one end of the room and all the seating is facing that direction. The advantages are that the shape can conform to any room size and shape, and is remotely easy to set up. The drawbacks are the fact that due to the shape you might not be able to hear or see the person speaking, but these drawbacks can easily be fixed by better sound or alternating rows.

            There are many more shapes but these are most comely used. From here add decorations or equipment just makes sure the room is well lit. A good Sanctuary setup can go a long way in your church.

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Dealing with the decorations and events for Holidays.

            Did you know that there are ten major holidays that most churches celebrate in one way or another? It is important to know and understand what the holiday is and how to decorate for it. Decorations and holiday events are very important to churches for three reasons. They keep the spirits up, they give people a reason to celebrate, and they can be used as a teaching method to inform people about the holiday’s true meaning. I will explain in short paragraphs what four of the holidays are and how to deal with them.

            The first big one of the year is Valentine’s Day. It is a day of love and being with that special someone. In churches it’s a great time to talk about how God and Jesus love each and every one of us. It’s not that important to decorate but things you can do is get pink plates, napkins, and other dinnerware. Also other things you can do are table toppers and some banners can also bring out the love mood. Avoid anything sexualized at all cost because that stuff does not need to be in a church.

            The next one is a combination of Easter, Passover, Palm Sunday, and Good Friday. These holidays celebrate Jesus’s death and resurrection. To most churches this is the most important holiday of the year. To decorate for this holiday use flowers (especially Easter lilies), crosses, and bright colors usually bright yellows, cream whites, baby blues, and light purples. Put this stuff everywhere but do not go overboard or it will look tacky. Avoid heavy use of chickens, eggs, and bunnys; while cute in a pinch that is not what the holiday is about.

            Mother’s day and Father’s day, while not usually combined are about the same thing; honoring your parents. For mother’s day, use the same things for Easter except replace crosses and cute animals with baby bottles, more flowers, and cakes. For Father’s day, use darker somber colors with fishing, hunting, golf, tools and other manly things. Things to avoid for these holidays are things for children and mixing up the decorations.

            The final one is Christmas. The birth of Christ is the main theme. Use standard Christmas things, (ex. Trees, garland, lights, and snowflakes) blues, whites, gold, purples, and manger scenes. Santa Claus is ok but make sure it is about baby Jesus.  Avoid things like Xmas and secular decorations like television themed ornaments and candy. (Do you think Jesus would really like family guy and south park themed things inside the church?) It’s the Christmas season so go all out.

            Holidays are important to the young and old alike there is nothing like it for a church member to walk in feeling festive. So decorate, its important. 

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How to make the most of your communion at your church.

            Communion is a very important time yearly event in the Christian lifestyle that is usually done around Easter. It is also a milestone that like baptism most new Christians do to show that there now Christians. 

In Matthews it says “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)

As read above in Matthews, The communion is a symbol of Jesus’s saving grace and healing power; to understand how you should do communion in your church, you must understand the symbolism and meanings of each major part and how they retain to us.

The bread symbolizes the partaking of the word of God (Bible) daily. Like food if we do not eat it daily we will become stiff, weak, and ruff, eventually dying. When selecting the cracker of your choice there are several different factors to consider; cost, style, and likeness of what they used in the Bible. While there are several brands, kinds, and manufactures to choose from, but I will only talk about two most common ones out there. The first is the white communion wafers, they are small, round, cheap, and will last forever, but they taste like foam bricks, and are not anything like the ones used in the Bible. The other Kind is Matzo, which while not cheap, uncut, and will go bad, has its own advantages; It’s eventually the same stuff used in the Bible and tastes great (like real bread). The choice just depends on your budget and needs.

The wine symbolizes the blood of Christ and how we are covered by it to wash away our sins. Unfortunately there are only two choices for the wine portion of communion; Using actual wine or grape juice. Using wine is a overall bad idea because it’s expensive, and there are children usually doing communion too. Grape juice is cheap, purple, and kid friendly. I strongly suggest just using grape juice for this portion of communion.

Once you have everything together and ready to go put the crackers on a tray and the “wine” in little cups. Have somebody read out the story of communion while explaining the different portions of it. Then eat and drink the cracker and “wine”, while praying, then you should be done.

I hope this guide has helped you understand what is communion and selecting the best crackers and “wine” to do it with.

By John R. T. Lancon

Burkes & Doorman Delevery

The first post of hopefully many more.