Most churches combine both acoustical and electronically amplified musical sound sources which can also be combined with congregational singing. I.e. A church with a praise team with electric guitars, piano's and bass or the music director leading the congregational singing. A sanctuary is expected to perform well for both trained and untrained laypeople for speaking. A sanctuary is expected to perform well for professional and non professional musical performers. A sanctuary is expected to allow a sound system to perform well in it's space for all applications.
Churches have the largest repeating audience in the world.
Therefore acoustical conditions have a larger impact on the psycho acoustic of people and the weekly support of church members. A Sanctuary is expected to blend choral performances of a choir, the praise team and the congregation in either solo performances or combined performances. Many churches are now adding dramatic performances for special events. Again, the acoustical space of the sanctuary must allow for this too. These elements do make churches truly unique.