Church pews appear all the time in the media, if not your life every Sunday, but how much do you really know about them? Here are three things you might not know about those church pews:
1. Church Furniture Often Come with Attachments
So long as Christianity has been in the vogue with religious folk, churches have been mass produced on a huge scale. It seems that every community had to have their own, understandably enough. While it is common sense that every church would have had to have a place to sit, it is less commonly known that many churches have a big history of kneeling prayer in their services. With this in mind, many churches have their pews constructed with respect to these worshipers by equipping them with kneelers in front of the seating bench.
2. Churches Were Also Brought to their Knees by Controversy
When churches were constructing these pews, however, many were not so well off. Some churches build or buy church pews, but many churches rented second hand church pews while others could not afford even to do that. The issue of what churches built, rented, or did not posses second hand church pews was a big source of controversy among religious circles and communities in the mid 1800s.
3. Used Church Pews Appear Outside of the Church Steeples
With all the time and work that went into constructing these church pews, it would be a shame if they went to waste as soon as a church was decommissioned. Fortunately, there are a great deal of collectors and private citizens that appreciate these old pieces of furniture, either for their history if not simply their appearance. The pews commonly appear as dining room or entry way accouterments. What do you think of church pews?
