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A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.
The colonial meeting house in America was typically the first public building built as new villages sprang up. A meeting-house had a dual purpose as a place of worship and for public discourse, but sometimes only for "...the service of God." As the towns grew and the separation of church and state in the United States matured the buildings which were used as the seat of local government were called a town-house or town-hall.
The nonconformist meeting houses generally do not have steeples, with the term "steeplehouses" being used to describe traditional or establishment religious buildings.
Christian denominations which use the term "meeting house" to refer to the building in which they hold their worship include:
*
A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.
Terminology
Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Christ, and; * meeting house or chapel, which is a building where the church meets. In early Methodism, meeting houses were typically called preaching houses (to distinguish it from a church house), which hosted itinerant preachers.Meeting houses in America
The colonial meeting house in America was typically the first public building built as new villages sprang up. A meeting-house had a dual purpose as a place of worship and for public discourse, but sometimes only for "...the service of God." As the towns grew and the separation of church and state in the United States matured the buildings which were used as the seat of local government were called a town-house or town-hall.
The nonconformist meeting houses generally do not have steeples, with the term "steeplehouses" being used to describe traditional or establishment religious buildings.
Christian denominations which use the term "meeting house" to refer to the building in which they hold their worship include:
*Anabaptist
Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...
congregations
** Amish congregations
** Mennonite congregations
* Congregational churches with their congregation-based system of church governance. They also use the term " mouth-houses" to emphasize their use as a place for discourse and discussion.
* Christadelphians
* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
) uses the term "meetinghouse" for the building where congregations meet for weekly worship services, recreational events, and social gatherings. A meetinghouse differs from an LDS temple
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth.
Upon completion, temples are usually ...
, which is reserved for special forms of worship.
*Provisional Movement
* Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), see Friends meeting houses
* Spiritual Christians from Russia
*Some Unitarian congregations, although some prefer the term "chapel" or "church".
*The Unification Church
The meeting house in England
In England, a meeting house is distinguished from a church or cathedral by being a place of worship for dissenters or nonconformists.Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009See also
* Moot hall * Chapel § Modern usageReferences
Sources
*Congdon, Herbert Wheaton. ''Old Vermont Houses 1763–1850.'' William L. Bauhan: 1940, 1973. . *Duffy, John J., et al. ''Vermont: An Illustrated History.'' American Historical Press: 2000. . *{{commons-inline, Meeting houses Local government Types of church buildings