Analyzing Place For Faith
Where do you sit for church? Do you have a favorite pew that has become your unofficial spot? Does your family like to sit together or break apart? While placement for church may not seem like a big deal, it has far-reaching implications about how to practice your faith, educate your children, and interact with your community.
Should You Sit With Your Family At Church?[/tweetthis]
Some families may think that it should be automatic to sit with your family. There are good reasons why. Sometimes small children have a difficult time paying attention to service. Parents can help teach children about patience and help provide them with instruction about how to follow traditions and understand what is being said by the pastor or priest. It can be argued that by sitting as a family you provide a model to others about how to act which can promote the importance of marriage and family.
But others would argue that it may be as important to sit apart from each other, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” Some say that it is important to sit with other people to foster a greater sense of community at the church. There are numerous stories of people seeing individuals that are new to church and sitting with them to make them feel included. It can help for churches that are trying to increase the diversity of their congregation or that exist in diverse communities.
In fact, research has shown that couples who attend church have a high percentage of being happy. Interestingly, the factor is whether the husband visited. If the couple together or just the man attended, 78% of the couples were happy, if it were only the woman attending alone it would be 59%.
So it depends on what your goals are at church and the composition of your family. But you should think about where you sit and how it can help your church community.