Back-Row Baptists

[12strings]

We had this problem on Sunday nights for a while...we have a sanctuary that holds 350, Morning attendance is around 200, but sunday nights were more like 30, we (whoever was speaking) would just grab one of the small black music stands and take it about 2/3 of the way back so we were right in front of them. Then we'd speak, and they could hear us.

Soon, however, we simply moved Sunday nights to the fellowship hall where they could sit around tables, and they still sat in the back, but the back wasn't so far away.

 

[Baptist Believer]

Hey, Baptist Believer, I really appreciate your input here, especially this part. I will admit to struggling with this.

Thanks for the affirmation.

I need to stress that I didn't start out with this attitude, nor am I always consistent. The attitude is the result of a long process of being transformed by Christ and getting my ego out of the way.

And I must add, I don't preach that much anymore for a variety of reasons, so I don't have the aggravation of dealing with it Sunday after Sunday.

At the same time, I teach a youth Bible study class several times a month and the youth love to hide in the back. If it seems that the youth are having trouble paying attention, I'll move around and sometimes get the youth involved in illustrating some point of the teaching.

 

[Jim1999]

In one church, I had a man who came late, sat in a back corner, and left early. I was curious about him and planned a home visit.

When I walked into his house, I found chairs all over the rooms with notes attached. I asked him about the notes. He said they were prayer lists. I was surprised.

I asked about coming late and leaving early and sitting in the back seat. He said he was hard of hearing, and he could best hear me preach in that seat. He came late and left early because he had great difficulty hearing and understanding people, so he avoided them.

We had a great visit and he was filled with love for the Lord and others. We can judge, and we may be very wrong. He was a prayer warrior!

Cheers,

Jim

 

[exscentric]

" I feel a little isolated from the fellowship because I'm the only one at the front and everyone is at the back"

We visited a small church and seated ourselves in the middle of the sanctuary. When the pastor stepped to the pulpit his wife went to the organ, the young man seated near us went to direct music and the woman that was sitting up front went to the piano, leaving my wife and I as the only ones left standing alone in the auditorium talk about isolated and see, I don't always sit in the back Just most of the time.

 

[mont974x4]

Some are shy and self conscious. They don't want people to see them raise their hands, or not, or stand...or not. Some are on duty and if a phone or pager goes off want to leave without making a scene.

I understand a retired pastor wanting to sit in back. I wouldn't want to be a distraction. People need to pay attention to the preacher, not how the retired preacher responds to the current preacher.

It does frustrate me when people take the "This is my seat and no one is making me move" attitude. There is no humility there. There is no grace. There is no hospitality. It's just plain stubbornness. I had friends attend my ordination service. Some do not attend anywhere. They were a family of 5. One elderly woman came in, scowled at them for sitting in "her seat" and threw a hissy. The family graciously moved, but will never go to church again. I remember asking someone to move to accommodate someone with health issues and the hornets nest that was. The arrogance of the "my seat" brigade is appalling.

We don't make people buy their pews like the old days.

 

[glazer1972]

I almost always sit on the front row. Pastor is the only other one who sits on the front row.

 

[abcgrad94]

On Sunday and Wednesday nights, my dh has been picking up the music stand-style pulpit and just moving it half way down the aisle to come closer to everyone. Then we turn off the lights over the platform and save a little on the electric bill. Everybody's happy that way.

Maybe we should have a church "theme song," the one that says "I shall not be, I shall not be moved. . .":laugh:

 

[SaggyWoman]

I tend to move around a lot, go to the bathroom, etc, so I will sit where it is an easy out and least distracting.

 

[Winman]

I sit in the middle, because that is where the air conditioners are. :thumbs:

It's true, I like the fresh air. I have trouble in groups, especially when the air gets stuffy.

 

[USN2Pulpit]

I want to thank everyone for their input. I know this is childish, but knowing why helps me. Not sure why, but I guess I have had some insecurities lately that I just need to get over!

 

[Sapper Woody]

I think that one problem here is that people are assuming this is a church problem. It's not isolated to churches by any means. In any meeting of people, everyone tries to sit in the back. I see it every class we have in the military; we NCOs have to order the lower enlisted to move forward and fill in from the front. You can't exactly order people to move in a church service, however.

It's not a sin problem, it's not an attitude problem. It's human nature.

I myself have to sit in the very back with my back against a wall, or I have to stand in the back. I can't stand to have movement behind me.

 

[gators_2006]

Wow, I feel like we must be an exception from this. We have a decent amount of older people in our church. The car drop off is at the back of the building, so they don't walk no farther than they have to and sit within the first 5 rows on the right of the stage. That's the door they walk in from. The youth had been told years ago to sit in the middle section starting at row 2 and going back as the seating was filled, so never more than rows 2-4 filled with youth. They've done it for so long, they just sit there now, no idea why, they just do.The regulars always start from the middle section and work their way back with some filling in the rest of the right section and some of the left section. Visitors take up the rest. And hardly anybody sits upstairs.

I teach Sunday school with the youth boys and go straight to choir afterwards and my wife does nursery sign in's so we never get to sit down before service begins. By the time she walks in and takes a seat, it's almost the end of praise and worship songs and she never has a hard time finding a seat in the middle.

On a side note. We have room for about 350-400 at least. On Wednesday prayer/bible study, we only have around 30-40 during the summer because of people traveling. We meet in the fellowship hall so that we don't have to cool off the sanctuary all day for an hour of use. Works great and saves money.

 

[saturneptune]

Part of the sermon last night was about people who worry more about sitting in "their pew" more than telling others about the Gospel. It reminds me, when I was a teen, one of our modes of entertainment at church was to ruffle the feathers of the older couples at the start of church. Each week, our group would get out of Sunday School and immediately go to the sanctuary. We memorized where various couples liked to sit, and would sit in their assigned seats. LOL. The looks we got from the couple when they walked in was priceless. If looks could kill...... Anyway, poor Dad caught the wrath of the deacons and elders. One Sunday, after church, he said, "would you guys please knock it off" so we did. To this day, even as I am just a few months short of 60, the anger expressed by these holier than thou church members amazes me. Of course, it would not have been funny if it did not bother them. It says a lot to me about where their priorites were.

Once I was assigned to the nominating committee. This is the same type of mindset. We had one class that was missing a teacher for the kids about 7 or 8 years old. For the 4-6 year olds, three teachers were in a class where ten kids might show up. When our committee tried to break up this group of three teachers and put one in the class missing a teacher, you would have thought we started WW3. Needless to say, that went over like a lead baloon, and found another person.

 

[carpro]

Pastors, I'm afraid it's a losing battle. After my beloved father-in-law retired from the pastorate, he sits on the back row.

Last Sunday night, 90% of the people there were on the last three rows of our auditorium. Lot's of open space in front of them.

However, because the design of auditorium, the back row is only 50 feet from the pulpit. So it's no big deal for us.

Saw one pastor who, after observing everyone was in the back, just picked up his Bible and preached from the aisle and from between the empty pews right in front of them.

I liked it.:thumbs: