going to church 3 times a week

Do you hold down a full time job in addition to being a pastor?

 

This guy sounds like a tyrant!

If my pastor called me up and asked me why I wasn't at church, he would get an earful to say the least!

 

Yeah, it is amazing what a dose of 'real world living' will do.

Personally I am a 'three to thrive' type of guy and encourage my folks to try to make all three. I don't normally go around asking WHY they aren't there. I figure it is between them and the Lord.

I also believe that immediate family comes before the church. I have too many pastor friends who minister to dozens or hundreds and have lost their own families. So there definitely needs to be a balance.

Sometimes when I see my flock is weary I will cancel a Sunday p.m. service just so we can all rest.

 

:laugh: Terry, I gotta say, I love your commentary. It's one of the reasons I keep coming back.

 

Amen!

Of course, if you want to go to all of them, that's great.

 

I can't even imagine that call coming.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by drfuss
After reading these posts, I just could not resist telling about my Father-in-Law. He was a Pastor for many years. If a deacon or other church officer did not attend a service (three a week) without first telling him, he called them the next day and ask them why. He saw no reason why the lay officials were not at church every service.


Terry: This guy sounds like a tyrant!

drfuss: He considered it accountability. I hear a lot about the need for accountability on BB. I often wonder just what accountability the posters really mean.

 

Well, maybe the reason I can't imagine the call coming is because if I'm not going to be there - for whatever reason - sick, out of town - I've called someone to tell them what's up ahead of time. On the rare emergency, I've called someone pretty quickly.

Of course, I'm there six days a week.

 

In actuality this would never be a problem since I would never be a member of a church where someone like this pastored.

 

Putting pressure on me would be enough to make me move my letter.

Once a week is plenty.

 

Very legalistic.

I know of several churches that have only one service per week. Usually because they have to share space, so can only have it in the morning or the evening. They usually will have a social afterwards.

At my church, I was at every meeting. Sunday and Wednesday evenings, I would preach, then we would break bread and socialize.

However, if my son had football practice, he was at practice. If he had a game that required travel, neither of us were there because I drive the bus and do the radio show. Sometimes, he simply has too much homework.

I work 30 hours per week driving a school bus, drive charters in the Summer and some during the school year, and run a business of my own.

Everything is a family affair. We work together, we play together, we go to church together. We enjoy going. If we don't feel like it, we don't go. (Well, I had no choice, since I had to preach, but my wife and son were not obligated to.)

But, I enjoy preaching and teaching, so it's not a burden to me.

Oh, and if I ever call up someone to find out why they weren't there, it's because it's someone who is usually there and I want to make sure they're OK.

 

Let's look at this logically... This is from a sermon I preached a while back...

1 hour for Sunday School
1 hour for worship…..
That is only 104 hours a year…. Or
4.3 days.. a year!! ​

And that is if you come every Sunday to Sunday School AND Worship.

But wait... There are some that come to Sunday School, Sunday morning Worship, Sunday evening Worship,and Wednesday evening…Surely they are spending a lot more time serving God…..
Really?

So we’ll add an extra 1 hour each for Sunday evening and Wednesday
we have…
a whopping 208 hours!!

Or only 8.6 days a year.

WOW 4 days vs 8 days a year....

Is that what we are debating?
Does 4 more days make you more holier?

The point is, even if you come all services, you are not super Christian.
Yes you should be there when you can. But don't measure your spirituality on this alone. If you think 1 hour a week is sufficient to worship God, and thank Him for everything He has done for you, then that is between you and God. I personally don't think it is sufficient for me.

God doesn't want only 3 services a week... he wants your life, 24/7/365!

I usually give my congregation 3 weeks AWOL before I start asking questions... I always hated it when the pastor was on my door Sunday afternoon! But if someone doesn't show for 3 weeks, without telling someone why, I am held responsible to find out why... there may be a problem, and as pastor, I want to help!​

 

I agree the pastor's stance is a very legalistic one.

However, I would also add that the excuse of "family time" does not always hold up either. If it is sincere family time then that is wonderful. Yet the reality is in many places family time means the dad is in one room watching sports, the mom is another room doing something, and the kids are in their room playing video games, talking on the telephone, etc.

 

In my mind, consistency should be the rule of the day. One should not make a pattern of forsaking the assembly.

IMO, not attending on Wednesdays does not constitute forsaking the assembly.

I think that one should attend Sunday morning service unless one has a very strong reason not to do so (i.e. illness, travel, unavoidable schedule conflicts etc.). Sunday evening service is also a very good opportunity to gather on a weekend-day.

Wednesday night or other weekday opportunities are typically the lowest attended services for a reason. When people have been at work all day long, sometimes that leaves little time for other worthy pursuits/responsibilities. These things are not necessarily more important than church, but if one regularly attends on Sundays, then I can see the rationale for taking care of them instead of attending the weekday service. I can also see the difficulty in getting a family ready for church in a very short period of time after work.

 

Wow, super interesting post. I must say that I am at church most every time the doors are open when my schedule allows. I have had to miss almost every Wednesday night service this semester because I had class but other than that I am on the pew. In fact in 2006 I did not miss one service and that includes Sunday school. Church attendence is one of the few things that I guess I am kind of legalisitc towards. I have just always thought that if you were in love with Jesus that you should look forward to going to every service. I mean I need the fellowship of believers, prayer, preacher, etc...

Wow, this is tough, I must say that I feel we should go to church and that the Lord will bless us for doing so. That is not to say that you are less of a Christian if you don't go to every service. My pastor quotes Hebrews 10:25 a lot. That verse reads "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much more, as ye see the day approaching. (KJV)

 

Wow. Wednesday night prayer meeting takes precedence over your son? It's not SOCCER...it's your CHILD!
Having the opportunity to be a witness to a lost family member takes second to hanging with a bunch of men at church?
I think your priorities are really screwed up!

 

All depends, webdog.
An argument could be made that you would be better off with your child in a Tuesday-Thursday night practice setup for soccer and going to Awanas on Wednesday nights.

The most important thing your child can learn from you is seeing you live out your faith. PART, only part, but a part, is your consistently taking that child to church.
Far easier than we mean to, we can teach our kids that they must go to school every day, and they must brush their teeth several times a day, but church is optional. I know you don't think church is optional, but that is the impression we can leave them. We have to consciously teach them what they need to know.

Now do I go to church every single time? No. I go on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings and often Sunday nights. But yes, there are things that come up every now and then that I don't make it.

But corndogggy, I think you ought to try harder to get to know the people in your church. One of the best family times you could have would be getting to know some of these people in your home and/or ministering to church member needs as a family. See above: the most important thing you can do for your family is model and teach your faith.
As an example, in the ice storms here a couple of months ago, my husband took our youngest son out to clear the driveway of a church member. They had a great time together. Better than what PastorSBC alluded to, with my husband in one room with tv, son in his room, and calling it family time.

 

Around here, some of the churches have their mid-week meeting on Tuesday or Thursday, but, Karen, what makes you think that the individual parent can set the schedule for the sports programs?

Here, we have a lot of people involved in churches, so we set our football schedule to be played on Saturdays. However, when we are away, the teams usually set the games for Sunday. Saturday is their "family" day. (Which usually means fishing around here.)

So, we go to the games, and we are able to witness to them, just as we are able to witness to those who come here and complain about playing on Saturday.

Of course, when the team has to fly to a game or go on one of the 5 day bus trips, that usually blows the entire week.

We try to encourage our children to do everything to the best of their ability, and that requires practice 5 days per week, which is what the law allows.

If you don't enjoy going to church, then something's wrong somewhere.

But, if you make it legalistic, you will resent it, and your kids will resent it as well. I know I did when I was younger. There were no exceptions made for anything to miss a service if the door was open.

 

I just got back from spending 2 days with 200+ zealous Baptists and had the blessing of listening to great preaching, beautiful music, prayer and fellowshipping with saints, many of whom I met for the first time. If I could spend every day of my life doing this I would be a blessed and happy man and would consider it to be a foreshadow of Heaven.

During a regular week, I anxiously anticipate Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for it is better to be in the Lord's House than my own and it is a blessed escape from this wretched world. Accept for street-preaching, none of these events interfere with my family time with my immediate family and they only enhance my time with my church family.

Your preacher "being on a kick" about lukewarmness is a blessed thing. There is a church that God spits out of his mouth because of their lukewarmness and this should be a frightful thing to Christians. How blessed you are, if you have a preacher who preaches on such things and doesn't give you itchy ear preachin like so many are throwing out today.

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" - Revelation 3:15-17
​

Further, what you call a "social happening" some Christians call "fellowshipping". Being surrounded by like-minded Christians who love the Lord and desire to share their praises and burdens with you should be a joyous opportunity. If you don't know 95% of their names, go find out. Ask them their name and how they got to know the Lord and share with them your testimony and how He's working in your life today. If you don't want to talk with the laymen go take the time to talk to your pastor and discuss with him your frustrations relative to his crazy ideas that Christians should assemble for more than an hour a week.