This article is about the building. For other uses, see Church.

"Church house" redirects here. For other uses, see Church House.
"House of Prayer" redirects here. For denomination in the conservative holiness
movemenet, see House of Prayer (denomination).
Church in Austria
Church interior in the United States
La Madeleine, a Neoclassical, Roman Catholic church in Paris, France.
The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites in Aleppo, Syria, is considered to be one of
the oldest surviving church buildings in the world.

A church building, church house, or simply church, is a building used for Christian
worship services and other Christian religious activities. The term is used to
refer to the physical buildings where Christians worship and also to refer to the
community of Christians. Sometimes it is used as an analogy for the buildings of
other religions.[1] In traditional Christian architecture the plan view of a church
often forms a Christian cross; the center aisle and seating representing the
vertical beam with the bema and altar forming the horizontal. Towers or domes may
inspire contemplation of the heavens. Modern churches have a variety of
architectural styles and layouts. Some buildings designed for other purposes have
been converted to churches, while many original church buildings have been put to
other uses. The word Church, in Christian doctrine is used to describe the
Christian religious community as a whole, or a body or an assembly of Christian
believers.[2]

The earliest identified Christian church building is a house church founded between
233 and 256. From the 11th through the 14th centuries there was a wave of church
construction in western Europe. A cathedral is a church building housing a
cathedra, the seat or throne of a presiding bishop.