Aside from the gospel, the good news in our congregation is that there are many visitors each week. The not so good news is that they are simply replacing members who are regularly absent.

I have noticed that the top five reasons given to me for missing services (on Sunday or Wednesday) are the following:

• I have to work or work late
• It is inconvenient / (live too far, traffic, etc.)
• Other commitments (family, events, sports, travel, etc.)
• Illness (of member or someone in the family is sick so everyone stays home)
• I don’t feel like coming (not in the mood)

At least 25% of the congregation is absent on Sunday mornings and an embarrassing 85% don’t show up for mid-week service – even when it’s available “live” on the internet!

Of course there are legitimate reasons for not coming to church just as there are good reasons for missing work or failing to attend weddings. However the excuses we are using to avoid worship and Bible study would be grounds for losing our jobs and an insult to our family and friends if we were to use these with them.

It’s an old problem. Everything in this unbelieving world works against us remaining faithful to Christ. Even Christians in the first century had trouble being regular at church. This is why the Hebrew writer plainly warns those early Christians about this problem:

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Heb. 10:23-25

Being faithful in attending Bible study and worship is not the total of our Christian experience, but it is a good indicator of our spiritual health in general. Those who are faithful in the small matter of church attendance are usually strong and faithful in the other areas of Christian life as well. I have also found that those who are sporadic on Sunday and completely absent on Wednesday struggle much more in other areas of their spiritual lives, and I have the list of those who have completely abandoned the church, the faith, and the Lord to prove it.

Many prayer requests were made recently as part of our prayer & fasting weekend. The prayer that I put on the list was that the entire church be faithful to the assembly. I’m convinced that this will be the key to the answering of all the other prayers on the clipboard and that would be pretty good news.