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Church Attendance: Watch the TIDE, not the WAVES

Acts-celerate Owner Posts: 6957 **2/16/16 2:07 pm**

As every pastor knows, on any given Sunday, church attendance can be up or down. There are times when you expect a better than usual attendance, and it seems the bottom falls out for no reason. Every now and then, attendance is surprisingly beyond expectations.

Many are the times when concerned pastors drive home from church thinking, "Where was everybody?" On the way home from church, I was brooding over why this one or that one was not at church. I had expected a better attendance that day. Finally, in frustration, Linda said, "Doyle, would you please stop. I was blessed by the service today and you're starting to rob me of the joy of being there."

Are all pastors like this? No matter how many we had on any given Sunday, I wanted to have more the next Sunday. I was disappointed when that didn't happen. Meaning, there were numerous times when I left the church disappointed instead of rejoicing over who was there and the worship time we had.

It took years in God's slow-learner class before I began to realize that it was important to watch the TIDE and not the WAVES. Oh yes, the waves are meaningful too but sometimes, they wash out as much as they wash in. Wise fishermen watch the tide. They adjust their time and efforts to the tide.

For pastors, Sunday is often the height of their week. A lot of their sense of accomplishment depends on attendance. Much of their work peaks or not, on Sunday. For most other people, Sunday is their day off.

What is the overall trend of attendance? Is it trending up or not? Is the core group growing even if total attendance is off at times? Are the people enjoying being there and being in fellowship with each other? Are the worship services alive and joyous?

Attendance is important, but the size of the crowd is not always the most important sign of whether a church is moving forward or not. Call me old-fashioned, but one trend I watched is how the people were responding to the altar time. Had it become just a formality or did there seem to be a genuine desire to pray together and for each other. Were people being won to Christ either inside the church building or outside? What was the general trend of the church spiritually?

Were visitors returning and becoming part of the fellowship? Were we actively reaching out to others - loving them whether they came regularly or not? Were our church members beginning to form into what could be described as a community of believers? Did

The waves will wash in and out. Watch the tide and the waves will take care of themselves. That's my opinion. What's yours?

Doyle
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The largest room in the world is the room for improvement.