Why do churches have bells?

Churches usually contain bells. This is not the kind of door bell that modern day people uses in their home which rings on a push of a switch but this is a kind of metal bell which might be small or large in shape and produce sharp sounds. And these are usually manual bells rather than electrical. But the question is that what could be the reason behind the church’s having a bell.

It was not compulsory in the history that a church should owe a bell. But a need of some kind of permanent way of summoning people to make them remember about the prayer times or funerals or any other important aspect was felt inevitable. And the bell came out to be a good idea as there was no possibility of any damage to this until or unless there is something very serious and physically the bell was made of strong metal. It carried a spiritual feelings and thus in history the use of bells in the churches started.

There are remarks made in Catholic documents that the tower of a church symbolizes a finger towards the heaven and holds a strong spiritual feeling. And that is why the bell is usually kept in the tower. And in modern day the churches contain bells as it has become a tradition and their ancestors had used the bell in churches, and they want to follow this tradition. Then again having said this there is a term in Islamic religion in which they keep calling the Muslims for prayer five times a day and they call this term as “Azan”. From this point of view the bells are the unique way of the churches to maintain regularity in church tradition.