In a recent post to his blog “Jump Start Church”, Steve Sjogren asked (and gave his opinion on) “Why is it that when your weekend services start, only 15-20% are present?” This piqued my interest since I realize I am a habitual late comer to our church service.
This last Sunday I stood in the back (I was on time, for a change) and counted the number of people arriving late. I estimate 30-40% of the attenders came in late. Probably 20% of the people came late enough that they missed all or part of the service given to outlining church activities, purposes, and future goals. This is unfortunate since our church is in the process of establishing a new vision and direction under new leadership.
Clearly, some people seem to be habitually late. I can think of some friends who we have come to expect to arrive about a half hour late to any activity. We’ve learned to compensate for their nature. But why do people do this? What accounts for lateness?
In considering my own behavior, I realize there are many kinds of activities that I’m late for, but some for which I’ve never been late. For instance, I’ve never been late for jury duty, a meeting with my boss (and on the few occasions when I crossed into the stratospheric territory of top level management I was in the building at least 15 minutes early). I’m not late for concerts or plays that I pay a lot of money for. All of which leads me to believe that my punctuality or lack thereof reflects my values. If the penalty or reward is too great to ignore, I will not be late.
Now if I were asked, “Do you value your church’s worship service,” I would reply, “Of course I do.” But if I consistently miss a portion of that worship service by being late, does that not more truthfully indicate how much I value that part of the service? In the same way, my conclusion is the late comers to a church service don’t believe there is either a penalty or a reward. The early part of the service just doesn’t matter to them.
I believe it is easy, and wrong, to criticize folks for their choice in arriving late to church. It’s equally tempting for church leaders to rationalize this issue by assuming lateness is just part of some people’s nature. The really difficult question for church leadership is how to do better at leading people to full participation in church services.
I am a little bit late to the conversation but had a few comments.
I am curious as to how many of those that arrive late arrive late due to fellowshipping with others. How do you carry that fellowship into the worship center? Do newcomers walk right through the lobby, plop themselves down only to find that all the activity is out in the lobby? Can we do a better job a mixing fellowship and worship? Should we?
I could take the easy road myself and say that my own lateness is due to the age of my kids and getting out of the house on time for church or anything else is a miracle!
As I have grown as a Christian, being on time for service has become a commitment for all the reasons you stated… I want to be a part of the church family and understand what activities and future goals are discussed.
Perhaps there are reasons for lateness that each church can address effectively:
– Change the start time to include a 15 minute fellowship session before service… that way the late ones will arrive on-time.
– Make the early part of service more engaging. Rather than a listing of what is happening, encourage people through testimony and perhaps breakup the worship service so that it is not so long at the start.
– It may be that some people are uncomfortable with fellowship and arriving late gives them anonymity. Address this with a friendlier and open environment to deal with shyness.
– I can not end without including a comment on kids… there are times we are 10 minutes early but then 5 minutes late to service as we get caught up with something in children’s ministry. Including the children in the first 15 minutes of the service would help.
Ultimately it is up to each person to decide and make the effort necessary to be on-time. All a church can do is foster a love of Christ that means you would move mountains to be on-time!