When you appoint a committee for any sort of church furnishings purchase, you can be sure that among the group members will be those whose primary concern is going to be cost.  This is certainly true when it comes to church worship seating.  Over the years as I’ve worked with church furnishing manufacturers and church construction firms, one consistent refrain I’ve heard is that the top three factors for churches when making such decisions are “price, price and price”.  I’ve found the same reality as I counsel and advise churches.

If your church chooses to use a committee for such an important assignment, I would advise that you begin the process with a complete list of the seven criteria that need to be weighed in reaching a recommendation.  Without an intentional effort to do so, the issue of cost will be raised early and often at the expense of the other criteria.  Make sure that each of the criteria is discussed individually and that the committee together determines which criteria are most important to the church.  Over and over I’ve heard churches lament that price and price alone was allowed to determine their seating choice, and it was not long before that became obvious to the church constituency.  Remember, “The pain of poor quality lasts long after the joy of saving money!”

I’ll be sharing about the other six critical criteria to consider as your church chooses its worship seating over the days ahead.  I’d love to hear your comments so please share them with me.  And one more thing:  If you ‘re right now working on a church chair purchase, I’d encourage you to check out Church Furniture Partner.  Their prices are simply the lowest for every level of church seating!