Mourner's Bench on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The mourners' bench, also known as the mercy seat or anxious bench, in
Methodist History: The Mourners' Bench
Church architecture Methodism {{Church-architecture-stub
The mourners' bench, also known as the mercy seat or anxious bench, in Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
and other evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
Christian churches is a bench located in front of the chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
. The practice was instituted by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. Individuals kneel at the mourners' bench to experience the New Birth
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
and some of those who have already had the New Birth go there to receive entire sanctification, while others, especially backsliders
Backsliding, also known as falling away or described as "committing apostasy", is a term used within Evangelical Christianity to describe a process by which an individual who has converted to Christianity reverts to pre-conversion habits and/or ...
, use the mourners' bench to confess
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
their sins and receive forgiveness, in order to continue the process of sanctification. At the mourners' bench, individuals receive spiritual counsel from a minister. In keeping with the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh, penitents do not kneel on kneeler
A kneeler is a cushion (also called a tuffet or hassock) or a piece of furniture used for resting in a kneeling position during Christian prayer.
In many churches, pews are equipped with kneelers in front of the seating bench so members of ...
cushions but instead kneel on the floor. Today many, but not all, Methodist churches supplant the mourners' bench with chancel rails, where Methodists (as well as other evangelical Christians) receive Holy Communion, in addition to experiencing the New Birth, repenting of their sins, and praying.
See also
*Altar call
An altar call is a tradition in some Christian churches in which those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ are invited to come forward publicly. It is so named because the supplicants gather at the altar located at the ...
*Conditional preservation of the saints
The conditional preservation of the saints, or conditional perseverance of the saints, or commonly conditional security, is the Arminian Christian belief that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with him upon the ''conditio ...
References
External links
Methodist History: The Mourners' Bench
Church architecture Methodism {{Church-architecture-stub