Living History

The Architecture

The Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston and its suburbs is an architectural symbol of the Reformed Faith and a witness to the glory of God.

The large and substantial sanctuary is a successor to the Presbyterian meeting houses of colonial days. In that era congregations built small, usually square, places of worship that exhibited certain standard features in the interior: a central and prominent pulpit, a bare communion table, a baptismal font located in front of the pulpit, clear windows, and little ornamentation.

The Second Presbyterian Church, larger, of rectangular shape, and more ornate than the Meeting Houses, retains simplicity. The simplicity is in keeping with the Presbyterian emphasis on discipline of mind and will in the service of God. It encourages quiet reverence with little mysticism. The pulpit is prominent, emphasizing the proclamation and the hearing of the word of God as the central act of worship. This concentration on the sermon is a return to the exhibition and adoration of the Torah as the word of God in Jewish worship. The location of the communion table in front of the pulpit, in space occupied by the congregation, is in keeping with a basic belief of the Reformed Churches –the priesthood of all believers. This is not an altar on which a priest enacts the sacrifice of Jesus on behalf of the congregation. We have no altar. The bare table means that Jesus sacrificed himself once, and that his one sacrifice was effective for all time. For the same reason we invite all believers in Christ as savior to take communion with us. Our minister may say: “This is not an exclusive communion. It is open to all believers.” The baptismal font is provided for the sacrament of Baptism. Infants or adults may be baptized by sprinkling. The font is located in the congregation because the members will vow to support the baptized person in his or her growth as a Christian.