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For Best Churches Westfield NJ Is Worth Visiting

By James Peterson


Depending on the context, there are many meanings of the word church. Church as a building of worship is the meanings that will be adopted in this article. The term church is often associated with Christianity, where it is a place for worship for Christian. Although mostly associated with Christianity, other religions can use these buildings to conduct their worship activities. To have a deeper knowledge regarding churches Westfield NJ offers a good place to consider visiting. One can learn many things from the various religious buildings in that location.

The establishment of the earliest church occurred somewhere from 233-256. The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites has been determined to be one of the oldest church structures in existence today. The location of this church is Aleppo in Syria. Ancient churches have been converted to other uses today including being museums. In the same way, modern non-religious buildings have often being converted to house of worship.

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

Celtic languages like Breton, Irish and Welsh as well as Turkish also adopted the word ecclesia apart from the Latin-derived languages. On the other hand, the term church was adopted in the English language in favor of ecclesia. The initial spelling of the word was churche before it became church. Derivatives of the language were also adopted in Russian, German, and Scottish languages.

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

The ancient churches were not used exclusively for worship. They were put to use in the community for other activities. For instance, they served as meeting places or halls for banquets. Cathedrals were sometimes used for fairs or mystery plays. Additionally, the church was used for the threshing and storage of grains during the harvesting season. The construction of these structures in Europe during the Renaissance before the Americas followed.

The shape of a cross is the main architecture followed in building churches. The shape comprises of a two medium-sized rectangles joining a longer rectangle three quarters of its length. This organization forms a smaller rectangular at the front and a relatively longer one at the bottom. The bottom rectangle is the audience area while the smaller one forms the sanctuary.

Many different types of church buildings exist today. Major examples are basilicas and cathedrals. Church buildings that house the seat of the bishop are often referred to using the name cathedral. Cathedrals exist in churches like Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox.




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