Mourners' bench
Illustration — Christian worshipers at Mount Zion United Methodist Church praying at the mourners' bench and chancel rails, located in front of the altar (Pasadena, Maryland, U.S.) 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. The practice was instituted by the 18th-century English preacher and theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Today many, but not all, Methodist churches supplant the mourners' bench with chancel rails, where Methodists and other Evangelical Christians receive Holy Communion, in addition to experiencing the New Birth, repenting of their sins, and praying.
Mourners' bench
Edwin Remsberg · The uploader on Wikimedia Commons received this from the author/copyright holder via Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Illustration — Christian worshipers at Mount Zion United Methodist Church praying at the mourners' bench and chancel rails, located in front of the altar (Pasadena, Maryland, U.S.) 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. The practice was instituted by the 18th-century English preacher and theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Today many, but not all, Methodist churches supplant the mourners' bench with chancel rails, where Methodists and other Evangelical Christians receive Holy Communion, in addition to experiencing the New Birth, repenting of their sins, and praying.
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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, use the mourners' bench to confess, repent of their sins, and receive forgiveness from God, in order to continue the process of sanctification. At the mourners' bench, individuals receive spiritual counsel from a Christian minister. In keeping with the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh, penitents do not kneel on kneeler cushions but instead kneel on the floor.
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These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Junaluska Conference: A Report of the Second General Missionary Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 195. 1913.
- 2.Abingdon Press. Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials. 43. 2011. 9781426727016.
- 3.Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship. 421. 24 April 2013. 9780334049326.
- 4.Kregel Academic. The Effective Invitation: A Practical Guide for the Pastor. 92. 1984. 9780825494765.
- 5.University Press of Mississippi. Upper Cumberland Country. 91. 1993. 9781617035319.
- 6.United Methodist Church. Methodist History. 149. 2002.
- 7.McGill–Queen's University Press. Serving the Present Age: Revivalism, Progressivism, and the Methodist Tradition in Canada. 69. 1992. 9780773563193.
- 8.Childress, Richard T. A Historical Lottery: Europe to Appalachia and Beyond - A Ramsey Family Through 1500 Years of Social and Cultural Change. Dorrance Publishing. 751. 22 December 2016. 9781480927926.
- 9.Heath, Elaine A. Naked Faith: The Mystical Theology of Phoebe Palmer. Wipf and Stock. 17. 1 January 2009. 9781630877170.
- 10.Atkin, Pippa. Flexi-RE Evaluation. Nelson Thornes. 8. 2003. 9780748763542.
- 11.Clark, Davis W. The Methodist Episcopal pulpit: a collection of original sermons from living ministers of the M.E. Church. Carlton & Phillips. 226. 1856.
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