Methodists and Church Buildings

Came across this interesting blog post about Pastors’ Salaries and Church Buildings. Brief but resonating. Here is some historical Methodist policy that he quotes...

It shall be the duty of every preacher belonging to this conference to use his influence against constructing expensive meeting houses.
[Source: 1816 New England Conference of the Methodist Church] 

Let all our chapels be built plain and decent; but not more expensive than is absolutely unavoidable: otherwise the necessity of raising money will make rich men necessary to us. But if so, we must be dependent upon them, yea; and governed by them. And then farewell to the Methodist discipline, if not doctrine too.
[Source: Discipline (of the American Methodist Church), 1784]

The Church in the House in Dura-Europos

Came across this interesting article by Ben Witherington about the extensive archaeological evidence of one of the oldest known church meeting places. The article has lots of brief but interesting analyses of the site, as well as a few pictures and diagrams :)

There is also a wikipedia entry on oldest churches discovered. (And similar entry on oldest synogogues.)