Segregated And Mixed Seating In Church - But Mostly Segregated

[RZehr]

What is your practice?
What Mennonite groups practice segregated seating?
When did this begin?
Are there other religions that practice this?
Does practicing segregated seating have any negative or positive affect on life outside of church?
Does practicing segregated seating have any negative or positive affect on the church services?
Other thoughts or opinions on the subject?

[Ernie]

David Bercot points out that segregated seating was an ancient Christian practice. As such he does not think it should be discarded lightly. The Jews in Jesus day would have sat segregated as I understand.

Men and women sit together in our church and will talk together after church for awhile. Often many of the men and women eventually separate into segregated groups but not always. I think this has to do with our social understanding of men and women relatedness. In a social setting where there is little reserve between men and women and where women are not expected to demonstrate a meek and quiet spirit, I would not expect the the genders to naturally separate into same gender groups.

Pros to segregated in CA settings...
1. Folks trying to learn how to stay on tune and carry a part in 4-part singing can learn better.
2. Children who have a favorite parent at the moment can sit with the non-favorite parent and not be not distracted by the favorite parent.
3. Singles do not feel as out-of-place
4. When genders are not as in close of proximity to each other, there can be less mental distractions during worship. Beautiful voices, perfume, etc. are not as noticeable.
5. Less awkwardness in finding suitable seating for one's family

Pros to non-segregated in CA settings...
1. Parents can work together at child care during the meeting.
2. It is easier for men and women to have some appropriate exchange with the women in the congregation
3. There is a better blending of all four parts during the singing.

I've advocated for a long time that we encourage a hybrid model in which people are encouraged to sit segregated or sit together depending on what would be the best plan in a particular situation.
So far I have not been in any such setting. Some churches allow both but certain people always sit segregated and others always sit together.
In the non-segregated churches I've been in, I would like the freedom to sit with a single young man visitor if I wished and would like if my wife could do the same with single women visitors.
When my girls were toddlers, I would have liked to have had some Sundays when my wife and I would have trained them separately on opposite sides of the church.
No one forbade this of course, but the social norms were such that it would have looked like you didn't like or love your partner if you would have done such a thing.

[Wade]

In our Baptist Church it is mixed. There are people that don't dress modestly, plus can be loud and flirtatious and it is nothing especially for women to approach married men to talk for some reason... It has been uncomfortable enough times that after service we don't stay to fellowship much...
I long for segragrated seating!
It is to the point if we had choices we probably wouldn't attend a church unless they had segragrated seating - although I don't think most newcomers feel as strongly as I do.

[Hats Off]

I am sure I prefer segregated seating, although I do recognize benefits to the other as well. We are completely segregated - women's lobby is at one end of building, men's lobby at the opposite end with the auditorium in the centre. We virtually never speak to or with a woman at church, not even our spouse. That is a little too segregated in my opinion.

[Heirbyadoption]

I chose "mixed seating", because probably 1/3 of our congregation sit together as families/couples/etc. This would be similar in most of our congregations (ranging from 1/3 to 2/3 of the groups sitting mixed). In our home congregation, my wife and I sit separate because it works best with the children. When we go elsewhere, it mostly depends who we're with, whether my wife knows anybody there (she's far less social than I), etc. I've experienced pros and cons both ways. I would not take much issue either way, although I do like the thought of having a place that's comfortable for visitors (especially single ones). I do struggle when it becomes a pressure thing, though, and families who choose to sit together are looked down on a bit. For all the pros and cons either way, it still strikes me as something that should happen more organically depending on the convictions of the individual members rather than being legislated. But that's just me.

[RZehr]

David Bercot points out that segregated seating was an ancient Christian practice. As such he does not think it should be discarded lightly.

Do you know his source? Does DB give any other reasons for not discarding it?

[ohio jones]

I don't know how we would go about implementing segregated seating by gender. Because of the dimensions of the room, we have three groups of pews: left, right, and center. Segregation by political (or ecclesiopolitical) persuasion would be possible, though, and might sometimes be helpful in maintaining peace.

[Karstan78]

We practice it. I’ve been told that as in biblical times (and modern orthodox) the Jewish also had gender separation by a physical partition. There is also many different resources also stating the early Christian churches practiced it.
(From our online PDF)

1. It contributes to order in the church.
2. It provides for more intimate and comprehensive fellowship.
3. It allows for compassion toward the widows, the lonely, and other single persons.
4. It contributes to reverent singing.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Mixed. I have never been in a KMF church that had segregated seating, although I have not visited all of them.

Interestingly enough the indigenous Brethern church we attended in Jordan had three sections, singles on each side and couples in the middle.

J.M.

[Neto]

Mennonite Brethren congregations traditionally practiced separate seating. In fact, the church house traditionally had separate entrances & cloak rooms for men & women. In the church house where I grew up, it is my understanding that originally there had been a low wall down the center of the room. The only places where you could cross from one side to the other without going outside and re-entering on the opposite side was where the stove sat in the center of the meeting area, and up at the front. But this all changed before I was born. They bought pews out of an area Baptist church house, and they were set up for three rows. The front of the building was remodeled, the separate entrances torn off and a single double-door entrance constructed in its place. (All of the old photos I have seen of old MB church houses show this same design.)