page_title: Meeting house
section_title: Meeting houses in America
hierarchical_section_title: Meeting house / Meeting houses in America
caption_attribution_description: English: A meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (on the Argentine border) - November 9, 2009 Português: Capela Santo dos Últimos Dias (SUD) em Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil (na fronteira com Argentina) - A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias - 9 de novembro de 2009 Address/Endereço: Marechal Setembrino de Carvalho,1552 Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil
context_page_description: A meeting house is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.
context_section_description: The colonial meeting house in America was typically the first public building built 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."  As the towns grew and the separation of church and state in the United States matured the buildings which were used as the seat of local government were called a town-house or town-hall.
  Many nonconformist Christian denominations distinguish between a
  Church, which is a body of people who believe in Christ
  Meeting house or chapel, which is a building where the church meets
  The nonconformist meeting houses generally do not have steeples, with the term "steeplehouses" being used to describe traditional or establishment religious buildings.  
  Christian denominations which 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 with their 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 (Mormons) uses the term "meetinghouse" for the building where congregations meet for weekly worship services, recreational events, and social gatherings. A meetinghouse differs from an LDS temple, which is reserved for special forms of worship.
  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".
  The Unification Church
caption: A Mormon meeting house in Uruguaiana, Brazil, used for weekly services.
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