Attendance ‘excuses’

I saw the front-page article on church attendance (“Alabama Baptists, others consider why only half of US adults say attending church is important”) in the April 3 issue of The Alabama Baptist and just had to read it all the way through. That is a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately.

I was raised with the understanding you went to church three times a week — Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening — as a means of remaining spiritually strong in the face of the culture. Now it looks to me like a lot of Christians would rather be sitting in their easy chairs watching TV on Sunday nights. I get the sense that our commitment to the Lord is lessening as we find excuses to not attend.

Our idea of consistent attendance is showing up on Sunday mornings to be seen in church and have our one feeding out of God’s Word. 

Are we slowly but surely slipping our way into the Laodicean church as we balance our commitment against our comfort?

Bob Van Elsberg

Enterprise, Ala.