Customer Reviews

Re-Pitching the Tent: Re-Ordering the Church Building for Worship and Mission

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"Re-pitching the Tent, reordering the church building for worship and mission" is not just a good book for those who want to re-design, or design, their worship space - it's a great book. Written by an Englishman, Richard Giles, it is primarily for liturgical churches, but can be used by any worshipping Christian community. It is liberally illustrated with many color pictures and written in an open, sprightly, and sometimes bitingly observant manner. Our church, an Episcopal Church, is using it to re-evaluate our worship space. A member of the committee charged with leading this re-evaluation said in a recent meeting that she hated reading religious books, books on architecture, and books on church history. She went on to say that this book fit all three categories and was absolutely fantastic, and that every member of the congregation should read it! If you fit the re-evaluation category, get it. You won't regret this great process in re-pitching your worship space!

As an architect involved in the design of sacred spaces, I am extraordinarily disappointed. "Re-ordering" should be replaced by Dis-ordering". Insufficient appreciation of liturgical forms veiled behind an appeal to primitivism is an old and not very sustainable saw.

Richard Giles' "Re-Pitching the Tent" will be a read that is very intimidating to the traditional Anglican/Catholic/Lutheran who is used to (and attached to!) the traditional Sanctuary, Chancel, Choir, Nave arrangement of our Churches. The Parish I pastor meets in a small space, so making the most of what we have is important. Giles shows us through his insight ways of making your space count, and how to arrange for worship in such a manner that we express a theology that highlights the participation of the people of the Congregation while still having a very distinct president of the Assembly to lead the Liturgy.

Not all traditionalists will find themseves warming to his ideas at once, but I think, when they compare this book to the modes of the early Church, they may well find some use for the author's suggestions. I know our parish did!

Helpful to all churches or religious groups interested in looking at their buildings and worship with new eyes,and a vision of attacting new members. It addresses ways of re-organizing the building you have or looking to a new space that may be more efficient and useful for worship today. Certainly gives the reader lots to think about.

I first used this book in connection with a church reordering about 15 years ago. We are now ready to reorder again after major damage in the Christchurch NZ 4/9/2010 earthquake. The book was so good it has disappeared from the church library! I decided to purchase my own - it is as fresh and relevant today as it was then.

After a fire destroyed much of our church, a friend sent this book to our congregation. After reading it, I ordered copies for our entire Board to read. What a great guide for re-building, re-ordering, remodeling a church.

The author of Re-Pitching The Tent, the Very Reverend Richard Giles, is a liberal member of a liberal Diocese - the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. The problem we conservative Episcopalians have with our liberal leadership is that from our point of view its actions are indistinguishable from the actions of a very subtle enemy who hates our church and wants it destroyed. We have to trust them when they tell us their motives are based on love rather than hate.

I am a conservative Episcopalian deeply suspicious of our church's leadership. Yet I urge conservative Episcopalians like me to read this book carefully and with an open-mind. Reverend Giles is entirely convincing as to his motivations - and at least 80% convincing as to the various plans of action and recommendations he proposes in this book.

As much as I love our traditions, liturgy, 1928 Book Of Common Prayer, architectural splendors of our past, our saints, and our martyrs; Reverend Giles presents some truly glorious and beautiful modern worship spaces full of photographs and descriptions and plans of action which I believe might just work to save our dying church. His plans of action are a radical departure from anything I've ever associated with the Episcopal Church. And yet he is convincing in his arguments for them - and his hope for our future. He roots his arguments solidly in the distant past of our Biblical foundations. He shows appreciation and love for the Anglican liturgy of the past - and most importantly he does not engage in subtle slander of the Anglican people like so many liberals do. Richard Giles appears to love the Anglican people and want the best for our future and the future of our church.

Additionally, this is a remarkable book on church architecture. If it were only that, I would still recommend it highly. But it is more. Re-Pitching The Tent is a manifesto of a man desperate to save the Episcopal Church from old fogies like me who would keep it as a museum. Reverend Giles' point is that "our churches are not museums - they are living, breathing, growing congregations. Giles is an Englishman steeped in English learning and vocabulary. His prose is nicely written and his points have sparkle.

Now to the problems I have with this book. Giles is a fundamentalist in his view that our worship spaces be re-ordered. Sometimes he is inflexible and un-reflective to the point of being scary. He gives as an exercise for the reader to identify "from what quarter in your own community is opposition to change likely to come." This question sounds to me like a Communist Party training book. Can't we at least have an intelligent discussion about the value of change before abandoning everything we have always thought of as Episcopalian? Let's not treat people who disagree as enemies.

One conservative assumption the Reverend makes implicitly is not surprising - namely no mention of dispensing with the episcopate or with the church itself. Putting the church before the people is a bias inherent in being professionally tied to a church. Yet the end of the church seems to me not an unreasonable consideration. The Body of Christ has many forms of worship - mostly arising though ancestral tradition. To the extent that the Anglican Church is the traditional church of the Anglican people, then when the Anglican people disappear, shouldn't their church as well? The real problem with the modern Christian church is that it has lost its fertility - even the pagans understand the importance of fertility. Our modern feminized Christian churches are barren - like the people inside.

The Episcopal priesthood needs to realize that a church which does not promote marriage and children among its congregants is at odds with nature and will soon be a dead church. That issue notwithstanding, read this book - it is very good.

This book is about looking at outmoded church spaces to see what can be done to meet the needs of contemporary worshippers. Written out of a British context, using British examples and pictures (these pictures are great) the book translates quite well to the American scene, where there is a similar problem. My church in Boston chose to build a series of adult education sessions around the book, and Giles has constructed his text with this use in mind. There is an appendix that acts as a "teacher's guide." What is brilliant about the book is that he discusses pragmatics, but he provides the basis for a theological reflection on the part of the congregation so that they have a faith-basis for whatever plant and programmatic renovations they decide to make.

Recently we had the opportunity to meet Richard Giles as he was in our city giving a talk about "Re-pitching the Tent". Our firm specializes in religious facility design and we were anxious to learn what Richard Giles had to offer on the subject of liturgical space. We came away from the workshop with even more enthusiasm for our opportunities to design sacred space. We ordered his book ... and have been using it as a reference in designing two new Anglican churches. This book is not just for architects but for anyone who is interested in the Chirstian Community and the future of the Church.