Where do you sit?

Earlier this year, I came across an article from a church down in London. It had a simple proposition: be mindful of where you sit when you’re at church. For many of us, it will have been a long time since we last visited a new church. It’s quite a big deal to visit a new church. You don’t know what it’s going to be like, you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t know the people.

Here’s a quote from the article:

But which does Jesus say is the best seat in church? In Matt 23 Jesus contrasts his disciples with the Pharisees. In v.11, Jesus says: “The greatest among you shall be your servant”. So, the best seat in church is where I will do the most good to others. So, Jesus doesn’t want me to choose where to sit by thinking about “me”. I’m not to make my seating choice based on personal preference, but on serving others. I want to sit in a place that maximises other people’s good. So, the particular seat isn’t the important thing; Jesus cares about our attitude.

As a church, we have an opportunity to lower the friction that might be experienced by visitors and that is simply to sit nearer the front. To leave whole rows of seats at the back empty so that visitors can sit there without feeling like the whole congregation is watching them.