Are food and drink permitted in your church assembly area?

We have signs posted outside the auditorium that request people not to bring in any food or drinks. We just got this building and the rule was not set in place immediately. We had a problem with little cups being crammed into the hymnal racks and finding crumbs under the pews. The problem has been solved now and the church stays much cleaner.

We have a water cooler in the lobby and everybody just gathers there before service and chats while sipping on some water. During service I have to slip out to take my meds but there is no problem with it. Everybody agrees it is for the best now.

 

We have food and drink in the aduitorium every time we have the Lord's supper That grape juice sure is hard to get out of the carpet.

The pastor keeps bottles water under the podium. As a general rule of thumb, we do bring foods or drinks into the services.

 

No food and drink allowed outside the fellowship hall. Two small exceptions to that rule. Water for the preacher, and snacks for little kids durring Sunday School, and/or Jr. Chruch.

Bill

 

Wehad a strict rule, but that kind of went by the wayside. First, choir membes could drink water during choir practice. That led to drinking water during services, now people bring their coffee into the services.

It leaves an awful mess in the sanctuary.

 

When the room is a sanctuary, the theory is no one is to bring food and drinks in there.

The reality is that it happens.

 

No one brings in food or drinks into our sanctuary (except the pastor has water), but I wish we could have coffee, especially for the 8:30 service! I buy my cappucino beforehand, leave it in the car, then go get it and take it to SS.

I voted yes to #2, but I would drink coffee, not a coke, in the sanctuary, but only if it were allowed.

I have taken sips of water from a water bottle before when I was really thirsty but I don't usually do this and I am not carrying a water bottle with me to church anymore.

 

My old church in Columbus used to have a small coffee shop near their bookstore, which was really a blessing when I had to work extra late on Saturday nights. So yes, as long as our hearts were on the Lord's work, they really didn't care if we had anything with us to drink or snack on.

 

Reminds me of the old story about the old woman complaining to the pastor that, "The children are chewing gum in the sanctuary." To which the Pastor replied, "Madam, the sanctuaries are the ones chewing the gum". We had a problem with the mess because the children (and a few adults) were making the most mess. So we told the kids they couldn't bring any food or drinks into the main auditorium and then we "guilted" the adults into "setting a good example" for the kids. Worked real well.

 

We are allowed to bring bottled water into the auditorium during services. There are several members, (including the former pastor's wife before they retired), who for health reasons needed to have ready access to water. But, no other food or drinks (although wrapped mints or lifesavers are quite popular)

 

This is a new phenomena for me. I had never seen the drinking of bottled water in church before I was back in the States last autumn. I suppose because I was not used to it I found it distracting while I was preaching. I don't have a valid reason, I just don't like it.

 

We meet in a theater. We serve coffee and donuts from our cafe prior to the service which are allowed into the theater. It's a very casual, "come as you are" environment.

 

I guess I've always taken it as an unwritten rule that one shouldn't eat or drink in the sanctuary. As a general rule I don't, but now that I think of it I have brought a half-cup of coffee in to the hymn sing before the service before. Some days I have to drink some coffee or I'll fall asleep in the service, and that would be bad since the choir sits behind the pastor!

 

I would drink a coke during a sermon for one reason, I am diabetic and if I am crashing I would need the sugar. Other wise I would not drink during the sermon.

 

We meet in a large gym for now, and set up our padded chairs for services. Nooooo, we never are to bring food and drink around the padded chairs, but because the place where we meet also functions as our "fellowship hall" we do sometimes have food and drink in there.

Then of course, when we are using it as a basketball gym, we eat our hearts out. lol

 

I wouldn't mind bringing in my big gulp.

 

A friend attends a church (Baptist) on Saturday evening that is a "cafe service." They sit around tables and eat and drink during the service. They even get up and go get more coffee during the preaching. I think that is more of today's style of making church more "user friendly."

This is a trend - unfortunately - of making church so much more man-centered rather than God-centered. It seems that fewer and fewer churches today actually have worship services --- time where we go to the sanctuary (not the assembly hall) to worship our God.

Sorry to sound like a staid, dyed in the wool conservative Presbyterian on this.

 

Is that their regular service? or a fellowship service?

I think Id be right there with ya if it was their Sunday service...but Saturday it seems like they are just having a fellowship time.

 

They have a regular Saturday evening service in addition to their Sunday am services (similar to many Catholic churches). In other words, you can attend their Saturday service instead of going on Sunday.