adults talking during services

There's a few senior adults that have been know to carry on a bit of a conversation from time to time during the preaching. The problem is that they are somewhat hard of hearing, and yes, it does bother those right around them. But no one dares say anything...

I never notice them, but I'm kind of busy during the sermon.

 

WE have two ladies in our Sunday school class who are always talking to each other during the lesson, (not about the lesson) it is very distracting. They are school teachers, try doing that in there class and see what happens.:tonofbricks:

 

A few churches I have attended are not always quiet during the preaching and singing. They are always amening and talking .... but, of course, there are those talkers. I find them highly annoying. I have yet to get up and move---I would if there was space. hehehe.

 

When preaching in a small church the deacons cell phone rang ---- and he answered it :laugh: Very short answer but totally blew me away. Thought about just stopping till he hung up but figured two rudes wouldn't make a rude right :laugh:

 

So do I.. I teach the senior adult class, and a couple dear saints that over the card ministry does this... they don't realize how loud they are because they are up in yrs and bad hearing... I just get louder... unless it is really distracting, then I have been known to just shut up until they finish... I stand there and smile at them....

Then they say something funny... and we go on... for a couple weeks all is well... and they forget and do it again...

I love people!

 

People who talk during the service are rude, inconsiderate, and just plain lacking in manners. I've especially noticed that with elderly people. They're talking when the song leader is trying to get people's attention to start the singing, and they're still talking when the pastor gets up to preach. I never talk during any part of the service. If I want to visit, I do it before or after the service. Of course, too many people come late to the service and can't get out of the building fast enough at the last Amen, and it's impossible to even shake their hand. Then they probably go home and complain about about how unfriendly the people were.

 

As a pastor, it is interesting to hear parishioners talk about other parishioners behaving in the pulpits during a service. You should stand at the pulpit and watch it......

Cheers,

Jim

 

What is funny is watching people trying to stay awake!

I want to video tape a service with a helmet cam on one day, and play it back to them...

 

The church I have been a part of for the last 3 years seems to have developed a culture where there is always...ALWAYS...a low mumur in the room from people talking. Not everyone, but maybe 10% of the crowd. Allthough its a low mumur, its always there. I play with the worship band, and we stay sitting up there after the music is done, so I hear what the pastor or teacher hears.

In this particular church it is the norm, it is expected, and no attempt is made quiet it. The attitude seems to be that when we gather we are a "family" coming together, not pupils coming to a class or study hall. At yearly family reunions there is no "demanded" silence at any time, and the culture at this particular chuch is the same way

Those who want to listen closely to the preaching/teaching/testimonies(about 90%) are free to, and those who wish to chat are free to.

Personally, I find it somewhat refershing. And it never has bothered me at all. I choose to open the sciptures and "dig in" with the rest of the 90% who do, and the murmur has never bothered me in the least.

And it doesnt seem to bother the pastor or teachers, either.



:godisgood:

 

I would recommend something that happened to me & a cousin when we were about 7-8 YO. (some 65+/- years ago)

We were sitting down front, 2-4th row, while the choir as doing their "special". They were at a point where there was a tremendous crescendo and we were trying to talk to each other. We were speaking at least in a normal conversation level just so we could hear each other, when the director cut the choir off abruptly.

Needless to say one of us got out about three words before it could be stopped, and the entire church heard us.

This was back in the days when embarrassment was in vogue, and we sure were!

So maybe if you plan a few choir numbers that can use this tactic, and they follow you real good, you could, I believe, put a quick stop to the chatterers.

But then embarrassment is not in style to-day so this may not work! Might be worth a try tho!:thumbs:

 

If one watches the telly talk shows, you will see that it is normal for four or five people to all talk at the same time. Frankly, I don't hear anyone!

In one church, there were two people who not only talked, but they turned around in the pew to talk. They couldn't even sit together.

I decided to enter the church from the back and I announced the first hymn from there, I offered the opening prayer, read scripture and then preached,,needless to say, I conducted the whole service from the back......Not one person turned around to talk....maybe some things do work.....*smile*

Cheers,

Jim

 

We've had a few discussions about this before in my single adults' class for 30's and 40's, although it's usually more in regard to our own assembly and classes. In particular, the director has interrupted 'prayer requests and praises' time a few times because people continue to talk when others are "sharing" their tragedies or extolling their magnificent blessings. But if you know singles' departments in medium-to-large churches, you might guess that the director herself does a lot of talking and whispering in the worship services about activities, contacts, absences, et al. It's the same general story that lasts from nursery school to nursing home extension ... the message 'we' need to convey is important and now. More so than hearing about Annie Jo's cousin's sprained toe, or the 'miracle' of getting a promotion someone's been after for 5 years; or the pastor reading John 3:16 or Romans 8:28 or Jeremiah 29:11.

I remember one such discussion about this, and some concluded that's just one of the 'flaws' about the 'system' that it's hard to do anything about. While some in our group talk to their close fellow members every day or 2 and keep up with what's happening, most of us only see each other that one day a week, so we tend to think of that as "our time," and we delay the formalities of assembly too long in 'fellowshipping' with each other and sometimes don't make visitors feel welcome by that behavior, besides not being respectful when others are sharing for the whole group their matters of concern.

I know this thread was meant to be more about the worship assembly than Bible Study departments, but it comes down to the same things ... see friends who had something going on the past week, and we want to find out what happened, for example, instead of sit silently getting preached at. The casual attitudes of society-- reflected in this way, as well as in casual dress and a distaste for rigidity-- have just pushed us in that direction.

 

Tim, that must be a tough church if you have to preach in a helmet!

 

I personally find it rude and distracting.

But I've been to churches in other cultures where it was normal for people to walk in and out during the sermon and have their fellowship time during the sermon. Part of that is because the tradition of the church culture in that region was to have very long sermons and there simply was not enough time for fellowship so that is when it happened.

I don't think I would be able to handle regularly attending there, but their members find a way to make it work.

 

We had a deacon in one church who would fall asleep as soon as the service started and wake up when it was over. At another church we had a man who had his wristwatch alarm set to go off at 12 noon. Every Sunday you would hear a loud alarm go off. Then there are all the cell phones ringing during the service.