Millions of individuals visit cathedrals and historic churches within the UK and around the globe every 12 months. St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are amongst London’s hottest tourist attractions.
In many English cities, it’s the cathedral that tops the TripAdvisor list for rankings and reviews. Local churches that remain open through the week often find visitors drawn to them – to go searching, pray, reflect, or just pause amid busy lives. I call them our ‘invisible congregations’.
These visitors may not attend church services, but many are interested in places of worship searching for something spiritual … perhaps even something to which they can not give a reputation. Perhaps they’re looking for what St Paul may need called ‘the Unknown God’.
When the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report was published last 12 months, the headlines rightly focussed on the numbers of young people being drawn to church.
But, throughout the report’s pages was one other, perhaps surprising, finding. It was that considered one of the highest three places for individuals with no religion, or non-practising Christians to come across the Bible was while sightseeing in a cathedral or church.
This underlines the importance of churches making available good printed material and displays explaining the Christian gospel.
Yet it also may show the importance of a type of Christian communication that many modern-day evangelists could have ignored. The enduring appeal of stained glass.
Historian Janet Gough has recently produced ‘Divine Light’, a survey of a few of one of the best stained glass in England’s cathedrals.
She explained, “The stained-glass windows of England’s cathedrals illuminate interior spaces, communicate religious, historical and political messages, and maybe offer us a glimpse of heaven.”
Gough, a former director of cathedrals and church buildings for the Church of England, invited every cathedral, together with Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel, Windsor, to pick out one window to feature in her survey.
She looks at stained glass through the eyes of a historian, someone with a deep knowledge of church architecture and as a talented Christian communicator. Her commentaries feature all three perspectives as she points out the story behind each installation.
Earlier examples of stained glass often depicted biblical scenes, illustrating scripture for those unable to read the accounts themselves. In this fashion, the cathedrals became ‘picture palaces,’ their windows telling the stories of Jesus, the Old Testament prophets, and the creation of the world.
In today’s society, dominated by the visual image – from Instagram to YouTube, TikTok and Facebook – these vibrant windows could help introduce contemporary people to Bible narratives and gospel truths.
Much modern stained glass tends to be abstract, inviting viewers to interact their emotions and, perhaps, encounter awe within the presence of God. At Blackburn Cathedral, 56 panes of vibrant colored glass depict the biblical theme of Christ because the Light of the World.
My local cathedral, St Albans in Hertfordshire, is represented by its striking Rose Window, dedicated by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1989. Composed of 18,000 pieces of multi-coloured, hand-blown glass, it transforms throughout the day as the sunshine shifts. The window makes a direct impact on all who enter, helping visitors sense that they’ve stepped right into a place of reverence and worship.
The window is considered one of my favourite features of the cathedral where I used to be ordained as a priest.
There is way biblical truth to be present in stained glass windows for individuals who look with an enquiring mind. In many cases, some knowledge of scripture may help decipher the stories being told.
In others, the viewer is invited into an encounter with the divine: to look in awe and wonder on the artistry, and to feel an emotional – perhaps spiritual – response to what they see.
Stained glass is probably not viewed by many evangelicals as a robust technique of communicating the gospel. We often look to words slightly than images.
Yet in our supremely visual age, these artistic endeavors – each ancient and modern – can capture the eye and imagination of the tens of millions who’re drawn to our cathedrals and historic churches.
Maybe we must always pay stained glass more attention …
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, and a former communications director with the CofE.
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