At the church I attend, New Hope Community Church in Bryan, OH we have a plethora of church furniture.  With almost 60,000 square feet under roof, there are church furnishings needs throughout our facilities.  I have always been appreciative that our church leadership has chosen to purchase church furniture that is commercial-rated and designed for the heavily used environments that a church setting provides.  However, not all churches make the same choice and the results are generally not positive.

The other day I ran across Rodney Shaw’s post on shopping at IKEA for his church and it resonated with me.  Several years ago, one of our staff insisted on purchasing a few chairs from IKEA.  There was concern expressed to him about the wisdom of his choice, but he so desired the unique design of these chairs for his ministry environment, the leadership approved the purchase.  Now just a couple of years later, these chairs are simply falling apart as these photos demonstrate.

So in regards to the question at hand:  “Is IKEA a Wise Choice for Church Furnishings?” — at Church Furniture Partner we are united in stating “NO”!  The above illustration is one we experienced first-hand, but we have also heard similar stories from churches across the country.  Perhaps this post will prevent additional churches from dealing with similar results from such a purchase.

At Church Furniture Partner, one of our goals is to assist churches in being able to purchase one quality level of church furniture above what they were going to purchase for the same dollars.  While that goal is not always achievable, you can be assured we will be doing best to meet it.  Please feel free to contact us for any and all of your church furnishings needs.