I
have noticed a tendency for attendance to fluctuate
back-and-forth from week to week in most churches. There will be a decent attendance one week and, when the next week comes, there will
be something like a 20 person drop-off.
This
back-and-forth issue has been going on for a long time in most churches.
I started researching this issue
in other sources. I have learned that this is not only an RHCC
problem, but it is an epidemic in American churches across all denominations and
traditions. For example, one friend from
a United Methodist, city church of decent size said that the average attendance
for their young adults is 1 of 4 Sundays per month. Another friend from a Southern Baptist, rural
church with an attendance of 1,400 per week said that folks come 2 of 4 Sundays
per month.
Now, I have already presented this attendance issue as a
“problem.” Over the next several weeks,
I plan to write articles addressing this issue and why I think it is a problem
that must be fixed. I am not concerned
about this out of impure motives, I do not think, and maybe I can prove that in
these articles. I do not want to be
legalistic or judgmental about attendance.
Attending church does not get someone to heaven, at least not directly
(more about that later); and I am not one to only focus on “the numbers.” Attendance, I will say from the start, is
vitally important to the life of the Christian and the Christian community, and
it must not be neglected or abandoned.
Can this problem be fixed? I do not know. It takes a lot to undue a culture that has
been cultivated for decades. Yet, my
task as the pastor-teacher of the church is to share with you what the Bible
says about the Christian life. I figured
that I had three options: continually stress over the issue; learn to ignore
it; or tackle it head-on. I am not one
to shy away from a challenge, so I have decided to tackle the issue head
on. I will do what I can to teach our
church what the Bible says about these things and to encourage everyone in
their Christian Faith.
The go-to passage for church attendance is Hebrews
10:24-25. There will most likely be many
other things that I will share outside of this passage, but let us park here
for a few weeks. The author begins his final
commands with the words, “Let us consider one another. . . .” The term “consider” is the controlling verb for
these two important verses. The word
means “to take notice;” or “pay attention to;” or “look closely at;” or
“concentrate by fixing one’s thinking on something.” What is it that we are to concentrate
on? Well, it is actually a Who.
We are to consider “one another.”
Christians are to set their minds on other Christians. We are to look out for the well-being of
fellow believers. The Christian life is
not an isolated life. It is not an
independent life. We should not, and
really cannot, go at it alone. We need
to pay attention to others, and, wait for it, we need others to pay attention
to us. This is where we start, “Christians,
let us consider one another.”