mourners' bench

plural mourners' benches

1. A bench, seat, rail, pew, etc. set aside for mourners and repentant sinners, and is usually found at the front of a revival meeting or evangelical church.

   1992 - The Mourner's Bench from the album But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter? by Death in June Something got hold of me / It ratttled around my head / Early one morning / On the mourner's bench.

   2 more examples

   That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners' bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.

   1940, Langston Hughes, Salvation

   But what annoyed Fred was having the christening of his son in the very best church in town spoiled by the attendance of any revivalists of the mourners’ bench sort.

   1958, William Humphrey, Home From The Hill

   Synonyms: anxious bench, mercy seat, mourner's bench, mourner's row, mourner's seat, mourner's stool, mourner's pew