Church pews lean toward comfort

Associated Press

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Laurie Wuerfel and her two young sons slipped their coffee and hot chocolate into the cupholders, eased into cushioned chairs and waited for the sermon to start.

"Who wants to sit in church if you're uncomfortable," said Wuerfel as she sat in the burgundy theater-style seats at CedarCreek Church in suburban Toledo. "I grew up in a Catholic church, and I hated sitting on those benches."

Some denominations are increasingly moving away from rigid, wooden pews that have been around for centuries, manufacturers say.

Chairs with cupholders, and plenty of space and padding are finding their way into churches where clergy say the seat can be as important as the message.

"For many first-timers, the only way they make contact with the church is on their behind," said Steve Korn, a teaching pastor at CedarCreek. "If they're comfortable, like the service and the building, they'll probably come back."

The 1,400 seats in the church's 2-month-old building have 4-inch padding and cupholders.

Mike Wedel, president of Garnett Church Furnishings, which has been making pews since 1879 in Garnett, Kan., said pews also have been getting wider and more comfortable in recent years.

"I don't know if it's because rumps have gotten bigger or because of the demand for more comfort," he said.

Theater-style seats are popular in large, new Christian churches, southern Baptist churches and synagogues, said Les Lundberg, worship sales manager for Irwin Seating Co.

Still, some denominations — such as the Roman Catholic church — prefer traditional pews, said Lundberg and other seat makers.

In early churches through medieval times, worshippers stood throughout services, said Duncan Stroik, an associate professor of architecture at Notre Dame University. Pews began appearing as sermons lengthened.

Stroik said the current trend of theater-style seating is a throwback to a movement in the mid-19th century, when Protestant churches in America modeled their buildings after theaters with sloping floors and individual seats.

The new boom in comfortable church seats has coincided with the growth in the past decade of mega-churches that seat thousands.