A meeting house describes a building where a public meeting takes place. This includes secular buildings which function like a town hall or city hall, and buildings used for religious meetings, particularly of some non-conformist Christian denominations.
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Secular meeting houses
In New England towns, there are meeting houses, where they serve as a sort of town or city hall, and are used for public meetings, voting, and town offices.
A meeting house may have a dual purpose as a place of worship and public discourse as in early American Puritan congregations.
Religious meeting houses
Many non-conformist Christian denominations distinguish between a
- Church which is used to refer to a body of people who believe in Christ
- Meeting house or chapel which refers to the building where the church meets
Christian denominations which use the term meeting house to refer to the building in which they hold their worship include:
- Congregational churches with their congregationalist system of church governance. They also use the term mouth-houses to emphasize their use as a place for discourse and discussion.
- Religious Society of Friends, (Quakers), See Friends meeting houses for more on the meeting houses of the Religious Society of Friends
- Mennonite Church
- Amish Church
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) uses the term "meetinghouse" for the building where local congregations meet for weekly worship services,[1] recreational events, and social gatherings. The LDS Church maintains a meetinghouse locator to help members and visitors find meetinghouses and meeting times in their area.[2] A meetinghouse differs from a temple, which is a building dedicated to be a House of The Lord and is reserved for special forms of worship.
- Some Unitarian Churches (the term chapel is used to refer to the buildings of some Unitarian Churches.
- The Unification Church
- Christadelphians
- Provisional Movement
See also
References
- Congdon, Herbert Wheaton. Old Vermont Houses 1763-1850. William L. Bauhan: 1940, 1973. ISBN 87233-001-X.
- Duffy, John J., et al. Vermont: An Illustrated History. American Historical Press: 2000. ISBN 1-892724-08-1.
External links
Media related to Meetinghouses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Wikimedia Commons
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