Stained Glass FAQS

As we consider our worship space we are asking how can we worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Over hundreds of years the church has considered images and their appropriate use in worship with a desire to keep the second commandment (Ex 20:4-6) and acknowledging that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). While an image of Jesus may not cause someone to break the second commandment, we do believe that not all depictions of Jesus serve the same purpose as some exalt him and help conform viewers to his image and others diminish him and deform viewers. Due to the history of our particular place and culture and combined with our church vision, we feel that the current depiction of Jesus is not the most faithful biblical representation.

Our vision as a church is to proclaim the good news to a diverse city; we desire to represent the diversity of the city in its many ways including but not limited to socio-economic, age and stage, ethnicity and nationality, and racial diversity. Based on our specific context of geography and history, a cultural specific representation of Jesus can be a barrier. By replacing this image, we can more effectively be true to the unique ways God is calling us to love our city.

We’ve considered various options using guidelines that are theologically faithful, artistically aligned with the building, and removes an euro-centric representation of Jesus. The image that will replace Jesus holding a lamb will be designed to align with the existing scene of the front window. The image will not be a human form of Jesus but rather one that communicates one aspect of God. The new image will be shared when the Building Committee and Llorens have a final design completed.

This project was announced two years ago. Our approach was initially to paint over the stained glass as a temporary solution knowing that this would not be the long term solution. As we began the research of painting and preparation, we had further discussions with stained glass experts. Over the past year we focused on sourcing, design, and funding of the project.

Sourcing: the Building Committee and other leaders are working with Llorens Stained Glass Studio who has a connection to stained glass service in our building. Read more about their history via the link. Llorens Studio has been incredibly helpful in assessing the stained glass and the plan for replacement. They also offer services for repair which will be leveraged as we repair other stained glass windows around our building.
Design: The Building Committee including skilled designers has worked to create a design along with church leadership that is theologically faithful and aligns to the existing art. A representation of the image will be made available soon and be displayed in the chapel.
Funding: Funding for this project will be done from the remaining funds from the last capital campaign from 2015.

As we complete this design phase, we will move into removal of the existing image. Once the removal of the glass is done, the new glass image will be created, and finally the installation will be done.
Removal will start in June and a temporary barrier such as plywood will be put in place until installation.
New glass creation is an artistic process and may take several months for the vendor. We will share more information as that becomes available.
Once the glass is complete the installation will be performed by the vendor. Our best estimate is that the installation will be complete by the end of 2024.