Monday, July 14, 2008

Summer Church Attendance

I welcome each of your feedback on this.

Our attendance drops 20% or so during the summer. It's not the numbers that are important, rather the implication that up to 20% of our body each week misses out on regular teaching, fellowship, prayer and other vital aspects of being the family of God together.

Some people vanish for almost the whole summer. Others are gone a few weeks. Some take a weekend or two.

On one hand I fully appreciate and understand the need for family vacations and events. On the other hand I think about scripture like:

* Hebrews 10:25, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

* Acts 2:42, 44, 46, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...All the believers were together...Every day they continued to meet together...."

Do our needs for each other - for support & service, for relationship, for prayer, for meeting with God corporately - take the summer off?

Please allow me to encourage you - join with us this summer as we seek Him together.

2 comments:

Qtpies7 said...

Ah the guilt!!! Now I feel really guilty for just telling you I skipped church to sleep!

I am not sure about this Sunday, either. But not for sleeping. We have family picutures set up for right after church, and I forgot church was moved.

I think we do need the fellowship and teaching, though.

Grandma J said...

We've only missed one Sunday so far this summer, and that was while we were camping with the rest of the church. But I do have to admit we decided to sleep in and skip Sunday school last Sunday. Although, by the looks of your last post, it sounds like this Sunday might be rather "interesting", so I guess we'll plan on being there.