Worship Attendance ???

As a youth in Lamesa, Texas I remember attending First Christian Church every Sunday. That was a time when church attendance was high as that is what you did on Sunday morning. Most of our membership was in worship on any given Sunday. Today church attendance has declined all across America. Even the very large congregations only have about fifty percent in attendance.

There are a lot of reasons for this decline in average attendance. For one in the fifties and sixties nothing else was happening on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Nothing was planned because no one would attend as we were all at church. Today soccer practice is held on Sunday morning and kids and parents skip worship for that. Lots of other choices are offered on Sunday morning and many just choose to sleep in. You can forget about Wednesday night as many congregations have given up trying to have worship on that night. The culture we live in has changed and church is not the only game in town.

In an interesting way those who do attend worship are there because they really want to be in worship. It is an important event in their lives to gather with others to worship God. There is a significant value that comes with consciously choosing God over all the glitz of our modern culture. It is not just what you do on Sunday morning as it was in the fifties but a gathering of people who love God and remember what God has done for them. The core of the church can be stronger because of their commitment.

It has been noted that in many congregations older people make up most of the congregation. Perhaps that is true because when you reach a certain age you begin to realize that the day of accounting is getting closer and it is time to cram for your final exam. This is really true for all of us because young or old we never know when that day will come. Where are you when worship hour is on for your church?