Why The Variance Between Sunday Morning and Sunday Night?
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesWe have now brought up the permanent problem in the congregations. We’ve known only two or three congregations, usually quite small and rural, that had virtually no change in the attendance figures between Sunday morning and Sunday evening. And, we certainly cannot point to the visitors on Sunday morning only as the reason for the variance, for it is clear that it’s our own members who are the absentees.
When we ask, “Why?” there are many answers given, and perhaps all of them play some part in the whole picture. If one could find the cure, and implement it, he would have done something far greater than building a better mouse-trap, and elders and preachers would indeed beat a path to his door! Naturally, in thinking of the cause of it all, when men say, “Lack of conversion….lack of love….lack of dedication….etc.,” it is all true.
But look at it also from a practical view – and the matter of priority. There is the conviction that worship must be done on the Lord’s day. On Sunday morning, no demands are upon us, television offers very little, and thus worship is before us. But when Sunday evening comes, there have already been abundant opportunities for involvement in other things and one must choose worship above all else, purposely pushing other things aside that he then will be in attendance on Sunday evenings. To be sure, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening, calls for more direct arranging of priorities. That explains the variance, at least in part: Priorities. Matthew 6:33 says it better: “Seek ye first the kingdom….”
The Southwesterner, May 3, 1989