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 "churchgoing

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 half of the Sunday morning crowd is brave enough to venture

back out on Sunday evening. Many churches are plagued by inconsistent

attenders. 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. 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 His house. 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. However, other folks just plain-out miss without very good

reasons. I recently read an article that made clear the need for commitment

to faithful attendence 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,

ten out of twelve 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. )

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