The platform in Kenya Assembles of God Church, Wamuini, in Trans Nzoia County. The two blue seats are for the church elders, and the other one with the table is for the senior pastor.
Seating
by Eric Bosire • 14 September 2023
In most churches in Kenya, you'll find pastors and Church leaders taking the front row seats or having designated seats at the pulpit area. It is a tradition that has been there for ages. While this may be a way of giving identity to the leadership of the church, the separation does not look good. It can lead to some special treatment that might blemish the humility of the ministers. It would give a good picture if the church leaders can sit and integrate with the church members.
Pastor Francis Osero of Kisii Pentecostal Church says, "I will not deny that in some churches pastors are given special treatment which is sort of biblical." 1 Timothy 5:17, the Bible says, "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching."
According to Pastor Francis, having pastors and church elders sit at the pulpit is a way of showing respect and honor to them, the authority given to them by God can be distinguished by sitting at the pulpit. The work of the pastor is also cut out if he or she sits in front because it will be easier to get up and preach. However, a pastor can preach even while standing at the back, but that would not function well. That is the reason as to why they have their seats designated at the front row or at the pulpit to allow easy access. In doing so, some order will be achieved.
In some cases, there are extreme behaviors when it comes to pastors' sitting arrangements probably because of not growing in the word and wisdom. You’ll find some pastors cultivating a tendency of boastfulness and looking down upon the members of the church because of their positions. Power starts getting into their heads and they forget their mandate as men and women of God. "These extremes can be avoided but I still maintain that there is no problem as such in pastors sitting separately at the pulpit or at the front row of the church," said Pastor Francis.
Sometimes the separation can form a huge gap between the church leadership and the members that can lead to disintegration. It pleases God when the body of Christ remains united, because the Bible says that where there is unity God commands a blessing.
Similarly in big conferences held across the country, there is no equal treatment even among the leaders. You’ll find bishops and renowned pastors getting special privileges over other pastors. Case in point is a recently organized church leaders conference in Nairobi1 that drew pastors and other church leaders from across East Africa. The meeting was attended by over 3000 people.
Everybody in attendance was a church leader in their own right from different churches which meant they merited to be in that meeting. However, some preferential treatment was witnessed in the seating arrangement and during refreshment and lunch breaks. The conference had different eating points, some points were strictly for the VIP’s and other points were for the others. In the meeting we had pastors who are at an advanced age, seeing them queuing for food with young and energetic pastors left a lot to be desired.
One of the pastors in attendance (who was quick to ask to have his name not mentioned) was not happy either, “I realized special treatment to the top leadership and influential church leaders like Bishops with Big churches. First and foremost, they were recognized on arrival and taken to special seating positions. Secondly they were given a special room, where they served their food and drinks from. The rest of us had to fill the other sitting positions which if you came late in the meeting you would get the back bench seat. We had to endure long queues while serving food and drinks because of the large number in attendance.”
He continued and said, “Queuing is not a big issue but seeing pregnant women and the elderly on the queue did not look good. I felt that if it was special treatment then it would be better if it could be accorded to the most vulnerable, who were the pregnant and the elderly.”
The separation of the church leaders affects the unity of the body of Christ. Some people may feel special than others on the other hand others may feel left out and lower their sense of belonging. “This may affect future meetings because it will be difficult to bring people together since some may already have developed a negative attitude,” said the pastor in attendance.
Next: Climate change in Kenya, by Bosibori Osusu.
Notes:
1 See https://missionfield.news/2023/15_Conference . back
About the author:
Eric Bosire is a Kenyan Journalist. He is based in Kisii.
About the image:
Photograph taken by Rose Makona.
Suggested citation:
Eric Bosire: Seating, MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270)
https://missionfield.news/2023/17_Seating
2023-09-14.