It must go without saying – I don’t really know any church that is completely satisfied with the attendance figures they see at their services. Assuming that a church’s Sunday morning worship attendance is the standard for average presence you can typically figure that anywhere between 25%-50% less will show up to any of that church’s other services. There are exceptions to that rule, I know, but that seems to be the normal trend.
I can sympathize with any group of leaders who sit and rack their brains trying to figure out what they can do to somehow and in some way persuade that percentage, however small it may be, to just come and make Sunday school, Sunday night worship, and midweek services a priority as well. I’ve found myself sitting at times thinking to myself what we can do to make these other times more “appealing” in hopes these supposed Christians would decide to be there. My conclusion is that I don’t know that there’s anything the church can do to persuade people to be there when it is pretty clear that they just don’t want to be. Church attendance is just not that important to them because Christianity it just not that important to them. To many people “going to church” is just not that serious of a matter. I am of the opinion that we ought to take church attendance far more seriously than we sometimes do and here’s a few reasons why:
- Our attitude toward church attendance reflects our attitude toward God. What is it that we do when we assemble with the church? We are supposed to be worshipping God (John 4:23-24; Acts 20:7). But when assembling with the church is not a priority to us then what does that say about our attitude toward God? Is it that He only deserves so much praise? Is it that He only deserves so much of our time? What exactly is it we are otherwise doing during those times that is more important than offering worship to our God? God is either a priority in our lives or not and just how much of a priority He is to us is made pretty clear by how much time we want to spend in His presence.
- Our attitude toward church attendance reflects our attitude toward Bible study. Considering that the big drop in number that is typically experienced encompasses two times that are set aside exclusively for Bible study I think this is pretty obvious. Why is it that a person (or family) can regularly come into the church building between after Bible class is already over and sit in a pew for worship like there’s nothing wrong unless there’s something wrong with their attitude toward Bible study? To combat that some congregations have chosen to have worship first and then Bible classes. Amazingly many of the same people who would come late to worship to miss Bible class will come to worship early and then leave before Bible class even starts! Why? I know the answer could be multifaceted with either scenario but I can’t help but assume that in most every case there is just little concern for studying the Bible altogether. I wonder what God thinks about a people to whom He gave a book containing His infinite wisdom who allow it to sit idly by without any care for what it contains? Honestly we don’t have to wonder because I think we already know.
- Our attitude toward church attendance reflects our attitude toward sacrifice. Increasingly today Sundays are being looked at more as days for leisure, fun, and recovering from Saturday night more so than as a day primarily for worship. The mindset is “I work hard all week and Sunday is one of the few days I have that is totally mine.” And with a day that is totally theirs many people’s choice of what to do with it does not include regular attendance at church services. Why? Because they are unwilling to take time that is theirs and give it to God. In other words they understand the mentality behind true sacrifice (Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:5). They claim that it just isn’t convenient to have to give up parts of their free time throughout the week to “go to church.” But you know what? It isn’t supposed to be convenient. That’s what sacrifice is all about.
- Our attitude toward church attendance reflects our attitude toward eternity. What is eternity going to be all about for the Christian? Worshipping in the presence of God (Revelation 7:9ff). The pearly gate, streets of gold, mansion over the hilltop? Those are nothing compared to the incredible reality that we will be in the presence of God offering Him glory and praise. That is what we are striving for every single day. So could you imagine a “Christian” not concerned with getting to be in God’s presence? The Bible makes it pretty clear that when we worship God we enter into His presence (Psalm 100:4). He is there as the audience of our praise. In that way our time spent together in worship to God is like a foretaste of heaven. Thus our attitude toward worship is largely telling of our attitude toward eternity. If we have little care for spending time offering God worship in His presence here then we obviously have little care for spending time offering God worship in His presence there. Are we serious about going to heaven or not?
I don’t try to trick people into thinking I’m a perfect Christian. I have my faults as much as anybody. But I’ve never understood the mentality among some Christians that our attendance as periods of worship and Bible study among fellow Christians just isn’t that important. For these reasons and many, many more the Bible makes it pretty clear that our presence and participation in worship is far more important than many realize. It is telling of what we treasure the most. And where that treasure is, there will our hearts be also (Matthew 6:21).
-Andy