Dear Members of FPC Santa Fe,

A suggestion has been made to replace pews in the Sanctuary with chairs.  A Sanctuary Seating Task Force was authorized by the Session, to explore the possibilities and problems of the idea and to make a recommendation to the Congregation and to Session about whether to take this action and, if so, how to proceed.

With our vision of growing the beloved community, chairs offer greater flexibility that can contribute to different worship styles (MorningSong and the 11 o’clock service are examples) and present a more welcoming environment to visitors and potential new members.  With flexibility we can expand the currently limited use of our most beautiful space to other church activities. Chairs also offer greater comfort than hard-backed pews and in case of fire or other emergency can be evacuated more quickly than crowded pews.  At the same time, there are concerns such as maintaining the sanctity of our Sanctuary, financing the purchase of chairs, protecting our hardwood floors with chairs that will be moved frequently, and disposal of the pews.

We desire your thoughts and ideas about this project.  As we do our work we will provide updates through church eNews and sponsor forums and open meetings in which all can express their views.  Our members include Bill Eklund, Liesl Gonzales, Tom Kingston, Caroline Minton, Juanita Thorne-Connerty, and Jim Toevs.

Thank you,
The Sanctuary Seating Task Force

Outcome

Although some people like the idea of changing to chairs, the majority of those who responded preferred to keep the pews. The decision was made to stay with pews.