CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

November 9, 2003 return to main page

KEEP PRAYING FOR:

Our congregation                                                     Our nation, military and leaders

Our college students                                                David and Leon in the Navy

George, Jolene and others looking for jobs              The Stolte’s in Germany

various friends and co-workers                                The Cruthirds as they deal with family situations

Keith will be in Switzerland this week

COMMITMENT AND ATTENDANCE

“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

I recently read an article called “Commitment” in an admittedly conservative, traditional paper.  The author expressed concern that among some there is a lack of commitment.  “What are the signs that there is a commitment crisis?  What else could we attribute many attendance trends in our congregations to?” (Dale Hubbert, Vigil, 9/2003).  He laments that Sunday night and Wednesday night attendance is less than half of what it is on Sunday mornings, that there is a lack of support for various congregational events such as vacation Bible schools and gospel meetings, that there is more support for local or national sporting events, and that contributions are down because of a lack of commitment.

In part I agree.  There is a lack of commitment on the part of some, though we should not be surprised by that.  That lack of commitment is seen more than in one’s attendance or lack thereof.  It is seen in how they live their everyday lives before God.  But I also think the author misses the reasons for low attendance because of misplaced emphasis on attendance and a misunderstanding of two key points: worship and fellowship.

The idea that attendance shows one’s commitment or lack thereof has been around for a long time.  We often look at attendance as a gauge to one’s faithfulness.  In fact, numbers have become very important in the minds of leadership; how often one comes and how much one gives.  I have often been asked to preach on attendance (and some on giving) when the elders got fed up enough with attendance.  There are only so many ways one can say that others must attend.  There is no examination of why people are not coming, or to say it another way, no one goes and talks to people about attendance.  The expectation is that the sermon will convince people to change their minds and attend better.  While denying that numbers are important, in really that is the chief concern.  As long as people are present, then everything it okay. 

I think that the lack of attendance and commitment occurs because there is a misunderstanding of worship and fellowship.  What is worship?  Again, it has been turned into what we do during a specific time period or two on Sunday.  As long as we get the “five points of worship” in our “service,” everything is fine.  Then we ask people to go out and practice what they heard or prayed for without any understanding of the presence of God.  The complaint of the Hebrew prophets was that God was not happy with the worship of Israel because their hearts were not right before Him (see Isaiah 1, Amos 5, et al).  Jesus too stated that their worship was but the traditions of men (Matthew 15). 

Worship in the New Testament is a lifestyle.  “So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him.  Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship” (Romans 12:1).  “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.  And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).  We live to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).  Our commitment isn’t to attendance but to live before God daily to His glory.  Worship involves our walk, talk, and lifestyle.  We see God active in our daily lives.  This is seen in Jesus’ statement that we are to take up our crosses daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).  In emphasizing attendance and one or two hours of worship, we have separated our lives from our worshipful living.  Hence, we can do whatever we want throughout the week, and then think we are pleasing to God because we are sitting in an auditorium on Sunday.  We have become more like the ancient Israelites than Jesus.  And we have made worship an individual affair on Sundays.  “I’m here to worship God.” 

We do come together in continuing worship to God as a congregation but not as individuals.  We come together in fellowship, something that is not understood well either.  Fellowship is the time we spend together encouraging and strengthening one another, praying for, serving, loving, honoring one another.  Our assembly is a time to share what we have in common with one another in Christ.  We are there to support one another, to remember what God has done for all of us, to share joys and difficulties, hopes and sufferings.  It is a time where we can find songs that praise God for His blessings or for His comforts.  We can say things that help others to go another day.  We can tell others how God has help me this past week.  We can seek guidance from the more experienced or wisdom from the young and old.  It is a time to study and learn from God how to live before God.

We have often heard the phrase “worship service,” a phrase not found in scripture.  Service is included in worship but there is more to it.  We have turned fellowship into a time to sit and do or listen to five things and called it worship.  In so doing, we have made it a legal exercise.  Hence the emphasis is on attendance and giving.  People see this and conclude that if they are there one time on Sunday, then they have fulfilled the stated purpose of the assembly.  Why come back and do it again?  Why be beaten down at church when I’m beaten down daily by other events?  “I’ll do what is necessary and survive some other way.”  Rather than seeing the church as a family that struggles together, hurts together, and supports one another, many see it as an institution to support. 

People do not attend well because they do not receive help.  When they are considered just a number to make the preacher or elders look good, then they have difficulty believing that God can help them.  They don’t get it through God’s people.  The congregational assembly is a place for repentance, confession, joy and hope, a place where someone can complain before God, to cry out for help, and to know that there are people who will stand with them.  It is easy to complain about the lack of attendance and reason that it is a lack of commitment.  When people are seeking comfort, help or peace and not finding it among God’s people, then something is wrong.  Until we come to grips with worship and fellowship, these problems will continue to exist.  We are a family, not an institution.

                                                                                                      George B. Mearns