Talking during church

[Peaksprt]

The scenario I want to discuss is people who hang outside of the sanctuary during the service and talk. I was out in the hallway with my 18 month son because he was being too disruptive in the service. He's not noisy but just very active and wants to run around. We don't put him in the nursery because we don't trust it (another story). We aren't the only ones that keep our little one in there. Anyway, they play the sermon out in the hallway so I am still able to listen. However, there were a group of 3 women and two teenage girls out there talking. Not about the sermon or anything along those lines just random stuff. Then come out two men, one being a deacon, and do the same. So I can no longer hear the sermon even though I am underneath the speaker. So i turn to the guys and ask them if there is a reason why they are just standing out there talking. They say no and walk away but not to the sanctuary. I don't know if the women hear me but two of them go into the sanctuary. The last woman is now talking with the girls and getting louder as well as goofing off. So I ask them the same question. The woman gets upset and defensive. Granted I may not have said it with the best tone (my wife is working on me with that) but when she got defensive I stayed calm and just tried to reiterate the question of why they are out there just talking during the service.

I will admit that I was thinking partially of myself because I wanted to listen to the sermon but, I was also trying to get them to think about what they were doing and for the woman to see the example she was setting. I don't think it is a sin to sit out there and talk but shouldn't it make us think about why we wouldn't want to be in the service.

I don't say all this to discuss anything about the woman's behavior but I will ask a question of myself. Was it unreasonable to ask that question? Or, reasonable or not, should I have even broached it?

Thank you for any thoughts. Just trying to gain more perspective.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

Was it unreasonable to ask that question?

It was a perfectly valid question. The church needs more people like you.

 

[JIMINZ]

Your reasons were totally within the realm of the question asked, "why are you not inside worshiping instead of out here talking" why did they even bother to come to Church if all they came for is to stand in the hall and talk?

I think of some of the old wood Church buildings I have attended, 1 room, those halls don't exist in them, maybe they need to redesign Churches for worship like it use to be, should be.

Anyway you were correct, anyone who would get upset, only feels the guilt for not being where they know they should be, you were in the hall for a reason, your child would cause others to not be able to hear, but you were hindered from hearing by people who should have been inside in the first place.

 

[Humble me Lord]

I think you did fine.

Sadly it reminds me that many people only attend church for the status or the social aspect, not to actually learn anything or grow in their walk.

 

[Anguspure]

The scenario I want to discuss is people who hang outside of the sanctuary during the service and talk. I was out in the hallway with my 18 month son because he was being too disruptive in the service. He's not noisy but just very active and wants to run around. We don't put him in the nursery because we don't trust it (another story). We aren't the only ones that keep our little one in there. Anyway, they play the sermon out in the hallway so I am still able to listen. However, there were a group of 3 women and two teenage girls out there talking. Not about the sermon or anything along those lines just random stuff. Then come out two men, one being a deacon, and do the same. So I can no longer hear the sermon even though I am underneath the speaker. So i turn to the guys and ask them if there is a reason why they are just standing out there talking. They say no and walk away but not to the sanctuary. I don't know if the women hear me but two of them go into the sanctuary. The last woman is now talking with the girls and getting louder as well as goofing off. So I ask them the same question. The woman gets upset and defensive. Granted I may not have said it with the best tone (my wife is working on me with that) but when she got defensive I stayed calm and just tried to reiterate the question of why they are out there just talking during the service.

I will admit that I was thinking partially of myself because I wanted to listen to the sermon but, I was also trying to get them to think about what they were doing and for the woman to see the example she was setting. I don't think it is a sin to sit out there and talk but shouldn't it make us think about why we wouldn't want to be in the service.

I don't say all this to discuss anything about the woman's behavior but I will ask a question of myself. Was it unreasonable to ask that question? Or, reasonable or not, should I have even broached it?

Thank you for any thoughts. Just trying to gain more perspective.

Notwithstanding the need for people to repectfully listen to a person who has something to say to the Church, the meeting of the Church should be a community social occasion where real fellowship and friendship is encouraged.

 

[Anguspure]

I think you did fine.

Sadly it reminds me that many people only attend church for the status or the social aspect, not to actually learn anything or grow in their walk.

Nobody grows in a service, at best they learn about the tools that they can take with them to grow. But the Church is full of those who hear much but do little.

 

[rockytopva]

My great uncle got threw in jail one time when he was 16 years old and his mother, my great grandmother, had to bail him out. And that was for talking in church. He swore along it was Neut Shelor all along.

 

[RaymondG]

Though you give your body to be burned, if you have not charity, it will profit you nothing.

It would be wise for one not to question others who are in the same position they are in. Fact was, you all were outside the church, instead of in. You had your reasons, and they theirs. Whose to say one reason is good, and the other aren't.

You determined that you had a good reason and they did not. They could say you had no reason since there is a nursery. So whose right?

Questioning of those in the hall should be done by an usher or, at the very least, one who is in the santuary.....who maybe passing by to use the bathroom.....and who can do it in love....maybe mention how good the message is....and ask them about a specific part.....after a few weeks of this, they will want to listen to have an answer for them.....

 

[DamianWarS]

My great uncle got threw in jail one time when he was 16 years old and his mother, my great grandmother, had to bail him out. And that was for talking in church. He swore along it was Neut Shelor all along.

those were the days

 

[DamianWarS]

maybe they need to redesign Churches for worship like it use to be, should be.

you mean in homes like what we read about in Acts?

 

[JIMINZ]

you mean in homes like what we read about in Acts?

.
No, churches don't need to be built to accommodate 3,4,500 people.
The Pastor can not handle that many people, the Flock is too big for him.

Sound and Recording Systems are not needed, if the Church is of such a size it needs HALLWAY then the Church is to big.

A Church only needs to be big enough a Worship Service to take place, when every Parishioner is there on Christmas, Easter.

Although Home meetings would be the ideal, in today's Society, I don't think people would attend, it's not big and flashy, it's become more about the show than God.