What do you do on a rainy Sunday?

Many preachers dread rainy Sundays. Rain makes the flowers grow and church members disappear. Actually, even the threat of rain often affects Sunday attendance. For some, if the Weather Channel says “rain likely,” then that translates into “church going unlikely.”

As one of our staff members says about rainy Sundays, “Our roof doesn’t leak. It’s dry inside.”

It’s not necessarily the rain that keeps church members away. Some can handle the Sunday morning rain, but never have become accustomed to the Sunday evening air. Everyone knows the night air surrounding the church house is dangerous. That’s why only about a third of the Sunday morning crowd is brave enough to venture back out on Sunday evening.

Many churches are plagued by inconsistent attenders and sporadic support. Let’s make it clear that going to church is not an automatic ticket to heaven, but it should point you in the right direction. The mature believer delights in being with God’s people on God’s day in God’s house.

Hebrews 10:25 reads, “Forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some ...” The Lord intends for His people to assemble together in worship and study. He expects us to come together and encourage one another and enjoy a good experience in Bible study and worship. That’s what Sunday is for.

Of course, some folks in public service have to miss some Sundays. People get sick on Sundays, so hospitals must be staffed. Public safety is a concern on Sundays, also, as is fire protection. And some people work in retail. It would be great if retail operators would rotate Sundays among employees so workers can join their families in church as often as possible. Or just not open for business until after the noon hour. However, other folks just plain-out miss without very good reasons.

How folks can make it through the week without that weekly pit stop for spiritual re-energizing I’ll never understand. That may be one reason that many people are running on empty.

I recently read an article that made clear the need for commitment to faithful attendance in the activities and services of your church. The article asked seven simple questions:

1. If your car starts one out of three times, do you consider it faithful?

2. If your newspaper carrier skips Monday and Thursday, would you miss the paper and consider him undependable?

3. If you failed to show up for work two or three days a month, would your boss think you were faithful?

4. If your refrigerator quit for a day now and then, do you excuse it and say, “Oh, well, it works most of the time.”

5. If your water heater greets you with cold water twice a week, would that be acceptable?

6. If you miss a couple of house payments in a year’s time, would the mortgage company say, “Oh, 10 out of 12 is pretty good.”

7. If you miss the services of your church consistently and only show up periodically, do you feel you are faithful?

Can your church family count on you?

Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, 352 McDonough Road, Fayetteville. The church family invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. Visit them on the web at www.mcdonoughroad.org.