Mourner's bench

The mourner's bench or mourners' bench, also known as the mercy seat or anxious bench, is a bench located in front of the chancel in the Methodist Church (inclusive of the Holiness movement) and other Evangelical Christian denominations.^[4]

The practice was instituted by the 18th-century English preacher and theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.^[5] Today many, but not all,^[6] Methodist churches supplant the mourners' bench with chancel rails,^[7] where Methodists and other Evangelical Christians receive Holy Communion, in addition to experiencing the New Birth, repenting of their sins, and praying.^[8]

Individuals kneel at the mourners' bench to experience the two works of grace in Methodism: (1) the New Birth and (2) entire sanctification. Others, especially backsliders,^[9] use the mourners' bench to confess, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness from God, in order to continue the process of sanctification.^[12] At the mourners' bench, individuals receive spiritual counsel from a Christian minister.^[5] In keeping with the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh, penitents do not kneel on kneeler cushions but instead kneel on the floor.^[13]

References

[1]
Winton, George Beverly (1913). The Junaluska Conference: A Report of the Second General Missionary Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. p. 195.
[2]
Campbell, Ted (2011). Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press. p. 43. ISBN 9781426727016.
[3]
Bradshaw, Paul F. (24 April 2013). New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. p. 421. ISBN 9780334049326.
[4]
^[1]^[2]^[3]
[5]
Streett, R. Alan (1984). The Effective Invitation: A Practical Guide for the Pastor. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Academic. p. 92. ISBN 9780825494765.
[6]
Upper Cumberland Country. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 1993. p. 91. ISBN 9781617035319. When salvation comes, the seeker sits erect on the mourner's bench, either crying from joy or smiling, thus announcing to others present what has happened.
[7]
Methodist History. Commission on Archives and History. United Methodist Church. 2002. p. 149. Methodist preachers invited them to come forward and kneel at the altar rail...
[8]
Airhart, Phyllis D. (1992). "New Horizons and A New Evangelism". Serving the Present Age: Revivalism, Progressivism, and the Methodist Tradition in Canada. McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. Montreal, Quebec: McGill–Queen's University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780773563193.
[9]
Childress, Richard T. (22 December 2016). A Historical Lottery: Europe to Appalachia and Beyond - A Ramsey Family Through 1500 Years of Social and Cultural Change. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Dorrance Publishing. p. 751. ISBN 9781480927926.
[10]
Heath, Elaine A. (1 January 2009). Naked Faith: The Mystical Theology of Phoebe Palmer. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. p. 17. ISBN 9781630877170. Penitents came forward to the "mourners' bench," a long bench near the pulpit where sins were confessed and forgiveness received.
[11]
Atkin, Pippa (2003). Flexi-RE Evaluation. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Nelson Thornes. p. 8. ISBN 9780748763542. Their sermons done, revivalists like Caughey and Marsden, following time-honoured Methodist procedure, would urge people to the communion rail - called also the mourners' bench, a kind of Protestant confessional - in public acceptance of Christ.
[12]
^[10]^[11]
[13]
Clark, Davis W. (1856). The Methodist Episcopal pulpit: a collection of original sermons from living ministers of the M.E. Church. Carlton & Phillips. p. 226.

See also

References

External links

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