President
Integrity Furniture
Q: As church leaders come to you with questions about church seating, what are they asking most often? In contrast, what questions would you advise them to ask first — and why?
A: I think the No. 1 question we get is, “What’s the lead time?” There seem to be a lot of churches that think these seats are readily available, and they can just get them a week ahead of time. Some companies stock certain colors, but typically it’s not the color the church wants or the quantity it needs.
When we sell pews or fixed theater seating, it’s a seven- to eight-month lead time. So, seating selection almost has to be addressed when they start construction, or it needs to be part of that very early process.
Q: As you accommodate new customers, how is their existing seating failing to meet their current needs?
A: I think it’s flexibility, for the most part. Most churches are looking to create multipurpose space. They want to use that space for more than just Sunday.
We’ve probably had eight or 10 churches in the last year that have removed pews and put in chairs so they can have that flexibility. They’ve recarpeted, repainted, and then put in chairs so they can use the space for multiple things throughout the week.
Q: Are a lot of your clients building brand-new churches?
A: Yeah, we work with a lot of architects and builders throughout the U.S., so we do work on a lot of new projects. I don’t have an answer as to what percentage is new versus just replacing current seating, but it’s pretty close, I would think, neck and neck.
What we’re seeing mostly now are churches building with fixed theater seating on risers in the back of the church and stackable chairs on the floor so they can use that space for multipurpose activities. That’s kind of a trend for new builds.
As I mentioned before, we’re seeing so many churches removing pews and putting in chairs because they want that flexibility. For the most part, seating capacity increases when you take pews out because when people sit in a pew, they take up more than one seat. They put their Bible on one side, their coat on the other, and when a family does that, all of a sudden one family is on one pew.
With individual chairs, you can get a good headcount. One product from a manufacturer is a stacking chair with a seat that folds up. It gives you the appearance and accessibility of fixed theater seats because you can put the rows closer together. When you stand up, the seat folds back, and you can back up into it. With a standard chair, people awkwardly climb over one another to get to the middle, but this makes access much easier. It also increases seating capacity.
We’re working with a church right now that drew up plans for a new sanctuary to seat 1,600. They currently seat 1,200. Instead, in that same footprint, we’re putting in 1,500 of these fold-up chairs. They’re increasing capacity by about 300 chairs without having to spend millions and millions on a new building.
Q: What types of seating, options and features are trending right now? Alternatively, what types are likely to “last a lifetime” in their appeal?
A: I’m not saying pews are making a comeback, but we’ve seen an increase lately in projects where the traditional church wants traditional pews. Pews are a 50– to 75-year investment, so you definitely get your money out of them over their lifetime.
Stacking chairs might have a 15– or 20-year warranty, but you’re probably going to change the color of your carpet or walls along the way, and you’ll want to change the upholstery, too. We see a lot of churches buying new chairs to replace the ones they have because they want to update their look.
Q: Are there circumstances when a church should consider refurbishing its existing seating rather than replacing it?
A: Yeah, we’ve refurbished pews, restained them and reupholstered them. If they have a solid wood bench, we can add a padded cushion. That’s one way to increase comfort that costs far less than replacing the pews.
One issue with chairs is that the fabric is stretched so tightly over the foam to prevent bubbling that when the foam breaks down in eight, 10 or 12 years, churches think, “Well, let’s just reupholster.” Then they try to reupholster over that old foam. So, with chairs, you almost have to replace them, but you can fix up pews. And usually, it can be done on-site. It’s not like you have to take your pews out and be without them for very long.
— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh
