LONDON – Every church needs to find their own seating arrangement that matches best with their way of worship. With the options available, from theater seating, pews, in-the-round and even removable seating arrangements, there’s no doubt that the seating style and arrangement that a church chooses sets the tone for the overall worship and service experience.
Below, we’re going to look at how different church seating arrangements impact the worship experience for the congregation.
Traditional Seating Arrangement
The traditional seating style, otherwise known as the pew, has been the main seating arrangement for centuries and is well established throughout history. While churches are moving to more contemporary options, the pew is still a great option for certain environments and congregations, especially if a church wants to enhance the worship experience.
According to Seating Concepts, a leading provider of worship seating solutions, perhaps the most important aspect of the traditional seating arrangement is its traditional appeal. This seating arrangement largely makes the ultimate statement to those who enter the sanctuary of worship, a statement that says it’s different and a place set aside to worship and focus on God.
Fixed Seating Arrangement
Today, more churches have moved to modern and contemporary auditoriums that have a fixed seating arrangement to ensure a higher effective seating capacity, as well as increased comfort. Picture a fan-shaped room, with rows of theater-like seating. This is now more of a norm for large churches, where people spend more time in worship.
The good thing about a fixed theater-like seating arrangement is the fact that it supports a presentation-style of worship service pretty well, where communication is almost solely from the pulpit out to the large congregation. However, because plans for building new church facilities are on a decline, especially when you consider the size and scope involved, churches are only opting for fixed seating for spaces dedicated to worship services and presentation-style events.
Removable Seating
As mentioned above, with the economy of building new facilities seeming more far-fetched, more churches who engage their congregations in worship and different events throughout the year are turning to removable seating arrangements. For instance, more churches are opening up their facilities to serve their communities, and doing so, is only possible if the seats are not fixed. Movable seats provide the versatility and flexibility needed by modern churches.
Improving Engagement
Beyond the removable seating, theater or pew seating arrangements, there are other seating styles that churches are considering. Communication that mainly happened from the pulpit to the congregation is now shifting to a more engaged congregation and worshipping approach, where seating is designed around a deep center thrust, with platforms not raised as high, so people can interact and worship in a more close-knit configuration.
In today’s modern society, churches have to quickly adapt to changes, even as the number of people worshiping in churches decreases. While there is no perfect seating arrangement to improve the overall worship experience, churches must work towards implementing other ways they can improve value and engagement in church participation, according to Baptist News.
Conclusion
The choices in church seating arrangements, from traditional seating to fixed auditorium-style seating, movable seating to on-the-same-level seating arrangements, all have a significant impact on the impression that a church makes to visitors, as well as the worship experience and the style of communication it facilitates. There is no doubt that seating matters
