Thursday, August 11, 2011

What about chairs

For my money chairs offer the best seating option for most churches. There are several options. The least expensive option is typically a folding chair. These fold up and are easily moved, but sometimes they have bad interlocks or no interlocks at all. Without interlocks the rows become jumbled and your maintenance crew and or ushers are constantly adjusting the row alignment, which is a pain, but required as otherwise the worship space looks messy and cluttered. They tend to be narrow and uncomfortable too, but for an hour or two a week most churches can make due. They range from $15 on up if you look at stores like Costco.

The best option from most churches is the metal frame, stackable chair with interlocks. There are too many manufacturers to bring them up, but Chancellor is a great company out of Gainesville, TX. I sell these chairs in Illinois and sometimes in Wisconsin. Their website is www.worshipchairsonline.com in case you don't click on the link above. Chancellor's standard chairs are wide enough at 20" to work will for most churches in terms of comfort and seating capacity. Chancellor will make wider chairs, but keep in mind you lose seats with every inch you add. One competitor advertise his 22" chair. With this chair seating capacity is reduced by 10%. A 200 seat space suddenly is 180. That can be a big issue for many churches as they struggle to balance capacity, comfort and budget.

There are then laminated or stick-built wood chairs, which can run as much as pews in some cases, but offer flexibility.  These are popular for multipurpose spaces that want to have a higher-end look during worship.