How to Furnish a Church: The Complete Room-by-Room Guide

Let me guess: you're on the building committee. Or the remodeling committee. Or you're the one person who said "I can look into furniture" at a meeting, and now there's a list.

And the list keeps growing. Pulpit. Communion table. Chairs for the platform. Something for the baptism. Flower stands, because someone will ask. Chairs for the fellowship hall. Something for the youth room. Something for the classroom where the projector lives.

It's a lot! But it's much less overwhelming once you know the order to do it in. This guide walks you through it one decision at a time, then room by room, with a real price example and a checklist at the end.

Already know your style? Build your set

Start with four decisions

Make these four decisions first, and every other choice gets easier.

1. Start with the pulpit

The pulpit is the biggest, most visible piece in the room, so everything else takes its cue from it. Choose the pulpit first, then pick a communion table, chairs, and the rest to match it. Our church pulpit buyer's guide goes deep on this one decision.

2. Pick one style and stick with it

Here's the cheat code: almost all of our church furniture comes in families. A family is a pulpit, communion table, chairs, flower stand, and often a font and tithe box, all with the same details. Pick the family and you're done mixing and matching. Here are the main ones:

• Traditional: straight lines, raised panels, and an optional cross on the front. The NO 400 series is a good example. It suits most sanctuaries and most budgets.
• Colonial: fluted columns, scrollwork, and often a white two-tone finish with a stained top. The T-600 series is lovely in a bright sanctuary with white trim.
• Gothic: pointed arches and carved tracery, for sanctuaries with arched windows and high ceilings. See the NO 900 and NO 200 series.
• Grapevine: a carved band of grapes and leaves, a nod to the vine and the cup. The NO 500 series is our most detailed carving.
• Column: round or square fluted columns and dentil molding, with a stately, architectural look.
• Wood and acrylic: solid oak with clear or smoked acrylic panels, for a church that wants to look current without going full glass. The Proclaimer and Exhorter series live here.

Prefer something completely modern? Our best modern pulpits list covers clear acrylic and glass.

3. Measure the platform

Grab a tape measure and sketch your platform on paper: the width, the depth, where the steps are, and where people walk. Then sketch where each piece will go. Leave room for the pastor to walk to the pulpit, for servers to stand behind the communion table, and for people to gather around the font. A 70 inch communion table and a winged pulpit can fill a small platform fast, so check widths before you fall in love with anything.

4. Order it all together

This is the one most people miss. When you order the pieces of a set together, they go into production together and are stained in the same batch, so the oak matches from piece to piece. They also arrive together, on one delivery. And with our set builder, the more pieces you add, the bigger the discount (more on that below).

Ordering one piece now and another next year works, but stain can look a little different from batch to batch, and wood darkens as it ages. If you can, order the set at once.

The platform, piece by piece

Okay, here's everything that usually lives up front, and what to think about for each.

The NO 400 family: one look, four pieces.

The pulpit

One per sanctuary, center stage or off to one side. Single pulpits are compact, wing pulpits stretch wide with side panels, and pedestal pulpits stand on a central column. If several people of very different heights preach, ask about adjustable options.

A second stand for readings

Many churches have a pulpit for the sermon and a smaller lectern for scripture readings, announcements, or a worship leader. If that's your tradition, pick a lectern or preaching stand from the same family, like the 704 Proclaimer preaching stand alongside a Proclaimer pulpit. If it's not your tradition, skip it.

The communion table

One per sanctuary, usually centered in front of the pulpit. Open tables (legs and a front rail) keep the platform feeling light. Closed tables (solid panels) look more substantial, and most of ours have storage behind sliding doors on the back for trays and linens. Our best communion tables list has the details.

Clergy chairs

The classic arrangement is two side chairs and a taller center chair. Buy them as a set of three: they ship on one pallet, cost about $1,000 less than three single chairs, and are built in the same stain and fabric. Our best pulpit chairs list walks through the styles.

The baptismal font

If your church baptizes by sprinkling or pouring, a font holds the water bowl, often with a cover between services. Pick one from your family so it looks like part of the set. Our baptismal font guide covers the history and the options.

Flower stands

Usually a pair, one on each side of the platform. They're easy to overlook until Easter morning, when every lily in town needs a place to sit. Matching flower stands make the whole platform look finished.

Offering table and tithe box

An offering table holds the plates before and after the offering, and a tithe and prayer box (often near the entrance) collects gifts and prayer requests through the week. Both come in several of our families, so they can match the rest of the room too.

A real example: what a matching set costs

Here's a complete traditional platform from the NO 400 family, at today's prices and in one of the three no-extra-charge stains:

Piece	Price
NO 401 single pulpit	$1,800.00
NO 405 open communion table	$1,450.00
NO 400 clergy chairs, set of 3	$2,998.00
NO 400 baptismal font	$2,395.00
Subtotal	$8,643.00
Set of 4 discount (6%)	-$518.58
Your price, with free shipping	$8,124.42

The set builder discount starts at 2% off for two pieces and goes up 2% with each piece, to 10% off for six or more. (Flower stands and tithe boxes can join the set at full price, but they don't count toward the discount.)

A smaller church could start with just the pulpit and table for $3,250 before the discount, then add chairs and a font later. A larger one might add the NO 400W wing pulpit and the closed NO 400 table with storage instead.

Price out your own set

Beyond the sanctuary

Sound

If your sanctuary already has a sound system, you're set. If it doesn't, or if you hold services in a fellowship hall, gym, or rented space, a lectern with a built-in sound system is the simplest fix. Our sound lectern guide explains how much power your room needs.

The fellowship hall

This room works hard: potlucks, funerals, VBS, youth nights, and the occasional wedding reception. You need chairs that stack or fold, and plenty of them. Our banquet and folding chairs start at $49 a chair and come in boxes of 2 or 4. Buying a hall's worth? Discounts apply automatically: 5% off at 8 chairs, 10% at 24, and 15% at 48. For 100 or more, call us for a quote.

Add a lightweight or folding lectern for announcements, and a sound lectern if the hall has no PA.

Classrooms and the youth room

Sunday school rooms and youth rooms rarely need a full pulpit. A tabletop lectern on a table, a light acrylic lectern, or an AV cart for the projector and laptop will cover most of what happens in there, for a lot less.

When to order

Work backward from your date. Our solid oak church furniture is built to order, usually in about 14 weeks, and arrives assembled. So:

• For Easter, order by early December.
• For Christmas, order by early September.
• For a dedication or a building opening, order as soon as your platform dimensions are final.

Plan for delivery day too. Larger pieces arrive by freight truck on pallets, so someone needs to be there to receive them. If your building has a loading dock, tell us when you order. If it doesn't, we'll arrange liftgate delivery.

What you can skip (for now)

You do not have to furnish everything at once, and honestly, you shouldn't stretch the budget trying to. Start with what you use every Sunday: the pulpit and the communion table. Chairs, a font, and flower stands can come in the second round. Ordering them from the same family keeps the style consistent, even if a later piece's stain is a shade different from the first.

And if your current piece is solid wood, sturdy, and just looks tired, consider having it refinished instead of replaced. The most budget-friendly piece of furniture is always the one you already own.

Your church furnishing checklist

• Measure the platform and sketch where each piece goes.
• Choose the pulpit.
• Pick the family (traditional, colonial, Gothic, grapevine, column, or wood and acrylic).
• Add a communion table from the same family.
• Add clergy chairs as a set of three.
• Add a baptismal font, if your tradition uses one.
• Add flower stands, an offering table, and a tithe box.
• Pick one stain for everything.
• Check sound in the sanctuary and fellowship hall.
• Count chairs for the fellowship hall.
• Work back from your date: about 14 weeks for built-to-order pieces.
• Note whether your building has a loading dock.