The architecture and ambience of a church play a pivotal role in creating a sacred and serene atmosphere for worship. While various factors contribute to this, none is more crucial than the lighting. For churches, lighting remodels can enhance the spiritual experience, drawing them closer to the divine. In this blog post, we’ll explore what a lighting remodel can do for churches and offer insights into how to do it the right way with Regency Supply!

Church Lighting: Why is it so Important?

Symbolism

Lighting in a church is rich with symbolism. It represents the divine presence, guiding the parish’s spiritual journey. Proper lighting accentuates the church’s architecture, creating a sense of reverence. Candles are not the only lighting we should be focusing on in the church. An LED lighting remodel can provide the flexibility to adjust color temperature, allowing for customization based on the liturgical season or specific events. For example, warmer tones can be used during reflective and penitential seasons, while cooler tones may be chosen for celebratory occasions.

Aesthetics

The right lighting can transform the church’s interior, making it more appealing and welcoming. Thoughtfully designed lighting can enhance the beauty of stained glass windows, paintings, and other religious artwork. Upgrading the lighting in a church can contribute to a more immersive and uplifting worship experience. Properly designed lighting can create a warm and inviting atmosphere, fostering a sense of reverence and awe during religious ceremonies.

Functionality

Adequate lighting is essential for practical purposes such as reading scriptures, hymnals, and participation in rituals. Proper illumination ensures that everyone can fully engage in the service. Adequate lighting is essential for visibility, ensuring that congregants can see and participate in religious rituals, ceremonies, and readings. Upgrading to modern, efficient lighting systems can enhance visibility, making it easier for attendees to engage in worship activities.

Energy Efficiency

Modern lighting technology allows for improved energy efficiency, reducing a church’s carbon footprint and operating costs. Many older churches may have outdated lighting systems that are inefficient and costly to operate. A lighting remodel can introduce energy-efficient technologies, such as LED lighting, which not only reduces energy consumption but also lowers operational costs in the long run.

How to Get Started

Choose the Right LED

As with any element of design, color can be so subjective. With LED, the options have become almost limitless. Selecting the right color can seem overwhelming. When customers ask what the right color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI) should be for various applications, the answer is always based on the needs and function of the space.

What is Color Temperature?

Color temperature (Correlated Color Temperature, or CCT, in lighting tech jargon) is essentially a gauge of how yellow or blue the color of light emitted from a light bulb appears. It’s measured in the Kelvin unit and is most commonly found between 2200 Kelvin degrees and 6500 Kelvin degrees. 

Warm light sources, such as incandescent bulbs, have a low color temperature (2200-3000K) and feature more light in the red, orange and yellow range. When you think of a warm color temperature, think of the warm, inviting light of a fire in the fireplace or a church altar.
Cool light sources, such as some HID or fluorescent lamps, have a high color temperature (>4000K) and feature more light in the blue range. When you think of a cool color temperature, think of the crisp white or blue light of school hallways or hospitals.

Questions to Ask When Selecting Color Temperature

What atmosphere are you trying to create?

Do you want to invite people to an intimate setting? Welcome people to a cozy lobby? Keep employees or students alert? Convey an energetic, clean atmosphere? You get the idea. Think about who your audience is and how you want them to feel when they are in your facility.

What kind of colors are you highlighting in your space?

This gets further into CRI, but the color of the light still plays a role. If you have blue, silver, or white colors in your space, you may want to consider cooler color temperatures. If you have wood tones, golds, or reds, you may want to consider warmer color temperatures.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. It’s often a good idea to select a color temperature that complements the color of the environment. It’s also worth noting that if you have neutral tones in your space, the color of the lighting can easily swing the feel of your space from warm and inviting to energetic and active.

Selecting the Right Color Temperature for Your Lighting Remodel

As you can tell, cooler color temperatures (3500-5000K+) work well in environments where you want to promote alertness and calm. Similarly, warmer color temperatures (2200-3000K), especially those with high R9 values, work well with giving a sense of warmth and comfort or with rich, warm woods to bring out the detail in the grain.

There have also been tremendous improvements in the ability to make LED lighting dynamic through color tuning and field-adjustable LED fixtures. Both of these options can work well if your color temperature needs to be precisely dialed-in or changed over time.

Even with the guidelines above, the most important part of selecting the right color for your space is a mock up. Each LED has its own DNA and is unique. Each manufacturer has its own processes and designs. In short, not all 2700K or 4000K products look the same across different manufacturers, so get a few samples and install them in your space. There’s no substitute for seeing something in your own space with your own eyes.

Regency Supply has all of the resources you need to ensure quality lighting in your institution. A lighting remodel may be needed to improve the aesthetics and functionality of your institution. In order to learn more, visit our Regency landing page. Here, you can fill out a lead generation form to get in contact with a Regency Supply or a Catholic Purchasing Service representative today!