Picture this scenario. It is about 8:00 am on a Sunday morning and you have stumbled out of bed knowing that it is your responsibility to wake up your other family members, feed them breakfast, and get them dressed in their "Sunday best." Even though you are tired an might just like to pull the covers over your head, you live up to your family's expectations and prepare them and yourself for the Sunday services at your local church.
You cook bacon and eggs, find some stockings that don't have a run, get out your pumps and flowered dress, and the do all those same things for your daughter. You find your son's tie that he can't find for himself, and tie your husband's tie straight because he can't do that either.
You are not even out the door yet, and already you are tired and your feet hurt. You pile everyone into the car and are careful to bring Cheerios for your toddler to snack on and a coloring book for the older kids so they won't misbehave during the sermon. You can't wait to get in there and slide into your favorite pew.
What would happen if you got there only to discover that your church was no longer having the congregation members sit? You discover to your shock that the church chairs and pews have been removed and you are expected to stand for the entire service. Chances are, you would be distraught, and thankfully that is not likely to happen.
Anyone who has ever walked into a modern church knows that there are either going to be church chairs or church pews to sit on. Not having any kind of seating would be unheard of in our society today. Several centuries ago, however, most churchgoers were expected to stand rather than sit, so churches did not have pews.
Most churches were built around a dome or central area where priests or preachers would preach, while the congregation stood around. It worked well for standing parishioners, but around the seventeenth century, the congregation began to be expected to participate more, and the need for seating increased. Still, however, there was not much seating, and the pews or church chairs that did exist were typically reserved for the wealthier people who could afford to pay the church rent money to hold their pew open for them until they arrived.
In the 1700s it was common for pews to have a family's name on them and everyone knew that those pews were reserved for that family. Even if a family did not arrive for worship, the pew was still theirs and remained empty while others stood.
Then, around the mid-1800s, church seating began to evolve further. It became uncommon to pay for a reserved spot on a church pew, and church pews were filled much as they are today, on a first-come/first-serve basis. Still, though, it was uncommon to find adequate pew space in churches.
As pews began to become more mainstream, there were different areas of pews for different people. Generally, the more affluent people sat closer to the altar or pulpit, while the poorer people sat farther away. There would also be special seating for black people, children, and sometimes widows. They may or may not have been labeled with the proper designation, such as Negro Pews or Widow Pews.
When slavery was still the custom in the United States, slave owners could pay for pew space in order to have their servants close to them to tend to their needs, or sometimes there would be a separate galley for slaves.
Most pew reform in the United States began around the 1930s. Black people and white people, at least in the northern states, sat next to each other if they so desired. There was no special seating for widows or other special groups of people. Children began to sit with their families, for the most part. Also, pulpits changed during this time. Pulpits began to be more important, and pews were arranged so that everyone could see the preacher behind the pulpit and the altar.
Over the course of time, some churches have come up with various ways of setting up the pews or church chairs. At one time, it was even common for members of the church to face each other. In the Catholic tradition, before the Vatican II Council changed many elements of the Catholic Mass, the priest did not face the parishioners and had their church chairs facing the same direction as the parishioner's pews faced-most likely toward the altar and/or crucifix.
Today, the world is different and all cultures and colors, both the sexes, the young and old alike, and the wealthy and less affluent are seen as equals in most churches, and the seating arrangements have accommodated that belief. Anyone can sit anywhere they want, and only on the most crowded of days will there not be enough pew space to give everyone a place to sit.
Churches go back a long way back in history. Along the way, they have under gone vast changes. The changes, in a way, depict the social changes that took place in history. The changes were based on the changing ideologies, while on the other hand the changes were depicted by the different styles of church pews that also underwent changes over the times.
Pews were non-existent in the medieval times and since then they have gradually evolved.
They were not in existent as in those times congregations were held standing. The important feature of churches in those times was their dome at the top. This was part of the centralized architectural plan of the architects of those times. The church designers usually based their plans solely on one structure or shapes like circular, polygonal or square shaped.
Gradually the pews came into existence and in the period between 1600 and 1800, when everything was about social stature, pews were also used to distinguish between the various social classes. They were a dominant feature in the church just to serve this sole purpose.
Classes of higher strata only had the opportunity to sit in the pews closest to the pulpit.
Pews were separated into groups; one for the general public and one was set-aside for the special groups of people. There was a different kind of seating order for the poor, adolescents, people deaf or hard of hearing, widows and one was also kept aside for blacks. Church pews for blacks were known as "Negro pews". Some churches went a step ahead and had numbered Negro pews or had the pews labeled as 'Negro'. Looking at this the social and racial discrimination in those times is clearly visible.
The next period saw a lot of slaves and churches therefore saw slave-owners buying pews for their servants and slaves. This was clear shift from the social discrimination.
The old parish system was set in the 12th century but now England was undergoing a vast change and was developing at a rapid rate with new cities like Liverpool, Birmingham, London and Manchester coming up. Several reforms came about and the old parish system collapsed in the 19th century. Inspire of all these happenings the seating arrangements in the church pews were still extremely haphazard an unorganized. Hence one could never be sure of finding pews in churches around. Even now there were no free pews for everyone. They were rented out to families or the pews were in the name of different houses, so that other than those families no one ever got to sit on the pews. The churches tried to solve this problem by arranging for pews for everyone along the galleries. But this wasn't sufficient, especially with the now ever-growing population as it was increasing at a rate, which the churches couldn't accommodate.
But since then church pews and churches have come a long way. The reform first began in 1930. In the period between 1840 to 1930, the private seating arrangement was banished and due to this free pews and open seating arrangements took their place. This is how the term "free church" came into being. Since 1930, there was an increasing awareness about the necessity of equality and this was especially applicable in the house of God. Along with the change in the ideologies of people in the US as well as other countries, the church also underwent change. The blacks were ceased to be discriminated again and thus this good change occurred.
In the post civil war period, most of the churches added box pews and pulpits to their furnishings. The changes at the beginning were due to theological considerations. But now, in the modern church architectural world, theological considerations find no place. Most of the significant changes took place in the post civil war era. The pulpit came to the forefront and got a position right behind the communion table. The communion table replaced the altar.
The current seating arrangement in the pews materialized from a lot of trial and error. A lot of churches experimented with the seating arrangement in order to reach, one suitable for all. At one time parishioners actually sat face to face. Church pews came into use soon after the medieval age and even then the pews were mainly for the people who really needed them, like the elderly people or informs. The development of pews started when Bishops got chairs and then pews were used for the ministers and the congregation. Now, in the modern churches, pews are used to accommodate the masses attending church.
While following the course of the church pews through history, we see that they were used as a means for discrimination between blacks and whites, between genders, between the rich and the poor. But now in the modern world, there is no place for a narrow-minded outlook. Anyone and everyone, rich or poor, black or white can use the pews and the church alike. They are all equal in the eyes of God.
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