{{short description|Building for religious, public, or private meetings}} {{for-multi|Māori meeting houses|Wharenui|Operation Meetinghouse|Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)}} [[File:Meeting house marlboro vermont 20040911.jpg|thumb|The small Vermont town of Marlboro rebuilt the Marlboro Meeting House Congregational Church after a fire in 1931.]] A '''meeting house''' (also spelled '''meetinghouse''' or<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meeting%20house "Meeting house"] in Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref> '''meeting-house'''<ref>Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press, 2009</ref>) is a building for religious, public, or private meetings. It is primarily associated with Christian worship of certain movements after the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, or later movements that developed on a Christian basis.
==Terminology== Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a church, which is a group of people who believe in Christ, and a meeting house or chapel, which is a building where the church meets.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wakeling|first1=Christopher|title=Nonconformist Places of Worship: Introductions to Heritage Assets|url=https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-nonconformist-places-of-worship/heag139-nonconformist-places-of-worshipi-iha.pdf/|publisher=Historic England|access-date=28 March 2017|date=August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328195437/https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-nonconformist-places-of-worship/heag139-nonconformist-places-of-worshipi-iha.pdf/|archive-date=28 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Anthony |title=Welsh Chapels|access-date=28 March 2017|date=1996|publisher=National Museum Wales |isbn=9780750911627 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6zjuTAnuzcC|language=en}}</ref>
In early Methodism, meeting houses were typically called "preaching houses" (to distinguish them from church houses, which hosted itinerant preachers).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Samuel J |first1=Rogal |title=Legalizing Methodism: John Wesley's Deed of Declaration and the Language of the Law |journal=Methodist History |date=January 2006 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=105–114 |url=http://archives.gcah.org/bitstream/handle/10516/6651/MH-2006-January-Rogal.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=30 January 2022 |via=United Methodist Church General Commission on Archives and History}}</ref>
==The meeting house in England== In England, where it originated, a meeting house is distinguished from a church or cathedral by being a place of worship for dissenters or nonconformists.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009</ref>
==Meeting houses in America== [[File:Baltimore Friends Meeting.JPG|thumb|Old Town Friends' Meetinghouse in Baltimore]] The colonial meeting house in America was typically the first public building erected 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."<ref>Sweeney, Kevin M.. "Meetinghouses, Town Houses, And Churches: Changing Perceptions Of Sacred And Secular Space In Southern New England, 1720–1850." ''Winterthur Portfolio'' 28.1 (1993): 59. 1. Print. {{JSTOR|1181498}}</ref> As the towns grew and the separation of church and state in the United States matured, the buildings that were used as the seat of local government were called town-houses<ref>Sewall, J. B. "[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13632/13632-h/13632-h.htm The New England Town-house]", ''The Bay State Monthly'', Vol 1, No 5. 1884. 284–290. Print. Accessed 12/6/2013</ref> or town-halls.<ref>Whitney, William D. (ed.) ''The Century Dictionary'' vol. 8. 1895. 6407. Print. Town-house may also mean a jail, poor-house, or house not in the countryside. See Century Dictionary</ref> Most communities in modern New England still have active meetinghouses, which are popular points of assembly for town meeting days and other events.[[File:PewsOldShip.jpeg|thumb|right|Sheep-pen pews, Old Ship Meeting house, Hingham, Massachusetts, ca. 1880]] [[File:Igreja SUD uruguaiana rs.jpg|thumb|A meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Uruguaiana, Brazil, used for weekly services]]
The nonconformist meeting houses generally do not have steeples, with the term "steeplehouses" referring to traditional or establishment religious buildings.<ref>{{cite book|title=Quaker Spirituality: Selected Writings|year=2005|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780060578725|page=[https://archive.org/details/quakerspirituali00harp/page/18 18]|url=https://archive.org/details/quakerspirituali00harp|url-access=registration}}</ref> Christian denominations or religions with Christian roots that use the term "meeting house" to refer to the building in which they hold their worship include: * Anabaptist congregations ** Amish congregations ** Mennonite congregations * Congregational churches have a 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 uses the term "Meetinghouse" for the building where congregations meet for weekly worship services, recreational events, and social gatherings.<ref>{{Citation |last= Hamilton |first= C. Mark |contribution= Meetinghouse |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3913 |pages= 876–878 |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishing |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2006/03/news-of-the-church/standardized-meetinghouses-give-a-place-for-more-members-to-meet-and-worship?lang=eng |title= Standardized Meetinghouses Give a Place for More Members to Meet and Worship |journal= Ensign |date=March 2006 |first= Nicole |last= Seymour |access-date= 2012-10-10 }}</ref> A meetinghouse differs from an LDS temple, which is reserved for special forms of worship.<ref>{{citation |title= Of Chapels and Temples: Explaining Mormon Worship Services |format= News Release |date= 15 November 2007 |work= Newsroom |publisher= LDS Church |url= https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/of-chapels-and-temples-explaining-mormon-worship-services |access-date= 2012-10-10 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= Topics and Background: Templaes |work= Newsroom |date= 17 September 2012 |publisher= LDS Church |url= https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/background-information/temples |access-date= 2012-10-10 }}</ref> * A 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". * Some Unitarian Universalist congregations * The Unification Church
==See also== * Moot hall * Chapel § Modern usage * Kingdom Hall
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Congdon, Herbert Wheaton. ''Old Vermont Houses 1763–1850.'' William L. Bauhan: 1940, 1973. {{ISBN|978-0-87233-001-6}}. * Duffy, John J., et al. ''Vermont: An Illustrated History.'' American Historical Press: 2000. {{ISBN|978-1-892724-08-3}}. * {{commons-inline|Category:Meeting houses}}
Category:Local government Category:Types of church buildings