Church Attendance

I have noticed that our attendance has developed an unusual pattern. It seems to developed an every other Sunday cycle. This Sunday we had about half the attendance that we had week before. If things follow the pattern of the last few months, we'll have a full house next Sunday.

Has anyone else had this problem, and what are you doing to deal with it?

for starters it might depend on how big the church is, I've noticed this to some degree at some of the smaller churches with only a few dozen members tops. big churches not so much.

I would suggest you look beyond the symptom and seek out the cause(s). Do you have alternating preachers or music teams? Do many of the people have job requirements on the same schedule? Finally, why is it a ‘problem’ at all?

Other than the message, things are the same, with the same people, every Sunday.

We are a small church with an average attendance of about sixty. Before Covid19 we were averaging about ninety.

To be honest with you, I don't know if it is a problem or not. We have a lot of teachers and school staff members. We'll see what happens when school is out, and they take vacations.

It seems many churches are experiencing the same thing but with smaller churches it is noticed much more.
Seems with covet it became more easy to just skip a service more often.
There are so many out there now that do not believe regular attendance is necessary.
Many on this forum believe that and some freely admit they never attend.
I am sure Jesus is not pleased with such an attitude.
Guess it is a sign of the times we are living in.

Another thing that is very evident today.
People today are more into what can the church do for me instead of what can I do to help this church's effort to reach the lost.
We recently had a family leave because they did not believe we were offering enough programs for their children.
And some just want to be entertained and not hear a message that convicts them of their sin.

I noticed fluctuating attendance for years during the onset of summer. College is letting out, but most families will start vacation season when grade schools and highschools end their semesters.

Since it's not summer yet, the other thing I've seen are non members who attended our evangelical mega church I used to be a member of. There was another mega church that didn't have an evening service and many of them would come to that service . They usually showed up and for whatever reasons they sometimes wouldn't.

A lot of us quit going when they required those stupid suffocation masks a few years ago. The doctrine was waining anyhow when I heard sermons like why we should not use offensive KJV Bible words with the lost. The term Saved might offend someone because it implies they are lost!
How in the world is someone going to get saved from the wages of sin, death in hell, if we don't teach like Jesus?? That's what happened to my church attendance there.

Permanent hearing loss and ringing of the ears from the pastor blasting the rock music! For crying out loud. One more reason.

In a previous church my pastor got offended because I had to wear ear plugs because he'd shout at the top of his lungs out if the blue and the speakers were cranked way up.
What is it with morbidly obese preachers that think they have to overcompensate by hurting everyone's ears?
I can't speak for others. But I don't want to go there anymore either. I'm not a church bouncer. I attended those for a long time.
There's just a few reasons, like gross heresy and a false gospel that are non negotiable.
There's a few reasons for attendance dropping off.

Hello HealthAndHappiness. There are many articles online, believers in various countries saying the same thing. Church music has been pumped up to such a degree that it is causing pain and hearing loss to some members. A counter argument is often presented that loud pop or rock music brings people, especially younger people into the church and is needed to make the church 'relevant', or to get people pumped up.

My own opinion is that I think some churches understand the potential pschyosomatic and even psychedelic qualities of music. Extremely loud, sometimes repetitive music, designed to have those effects, often with other sensory manipulative techniques like lowering the lighting. Getting people fired up to lower their inhibitions and mental thought processes, then can come questionable and even false teaching. I think the cranking up of the volume in music can be related to the dumbing down of the biblical content in sermons. Churches that use extreme forms of music aren't often recognized for their strong, expository bible teaching. Renewing the mind or switching it off.

Jesus said: Matthew 13: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it"

Therefore I personally don't think that pop music is necessary to make a church relevant. When a person finds the Kingdom of God they will be all in, like the merchant in the above parable, gimmicks will not be necessary to get them or keep them in the Kingdom.

God Bless You

I agree with your observations too Fillan.
The same techniques that are used for worldly rock concerts are imitated by those churches to attract the worldly crowds. I'm not opposed to the lost coming to special services to share the gospel with them. I used God's creation to share the Creator, the Savior with others too. It's that the sensual ways that they do so is continually outdone or changed to appeal to the flesh with the smoke machines, special scent dispensers, laser light shows, then the sound so loud that it rattles the internal organs if you sit too close to the front. If I wasn't sitting in the back with friends, I was out in the lobby oftentimes until the sermon began. That was a progression. Many of us complained and they responded with signs stating that decibel levels were within safe limits according to OSHA. They had a big container of disposable foam ear plugs on the counter at the information desk.

I didn't go to hear musicians every week, but went to serve the Lord and to listen to the teaching. The fluff was overlooked for a long time because I realized that there are no perfect churches. I also hoped to find and maintain some fellowship with other believers. I think there are many others who are in my shoes too, so it's worth mentioning, but does no good for me to complain. The damage has been done and all I can do is learn from the past and move forward.

Blessings

In your church pews --How many do you thing are true Christians -----that is they have received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour

Many call themselves Christians but they are not true Christians ----many are leaving the Church today -----Why --because they are not true Christians ----they are professed Christians

This is predicted in Scripture before the Rapture happens ----

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 AMP

Man of Lawlessness
2 Now in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our [a]gathering together to meet Him, we ask you, [b]brothers and sisters,

2 not to be quickly unsettled or alarmed either by a [so-called prophetic revelation of a] spirit or a message or a letter [alleged to be] from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has [already] come.

3 Let no one in any way deceive or entrap you, for that day will not come unless the [c]apostasy comes first [that is, the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by professed Christians],

This trend makes absolutely no sense. It completely ignores the Bible and how the Gospel must be preached. The problem is that these churches will not accept any rebuke of their foolishness.

Hello! I agree 100% with your post. I would just like to add that some faithful believers are sadly having to leave a church because that church is apostate. Some are finding fellowship where they can. I was in that position for a time after I left an AOG church that had completely gone off the path.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves"

In the scriptures above apostates and wolves are making a bee-line for the leadership posts and are being permitted to function there in the End Times Church. If the church promotes wolves the sheep have to leg it. God Bless You

I certainly agree with you here ---it is very important for true believers to know the Scriptures so they know when truth is being preached and when it is not -----and if True Believers find they are in a Church who's Minister is preaching a different Gospel --I say Run Forest Run -----

Holy Spirit indwelled Ministers are had to come by in Churches today -----False preaching is very dominate in our world and True Believers need to be weary of who they listen to ---

Many Ministers water down Scripture and like to sugar coat it so as to not upset people in the pews ---don't want to preach the truth as people will take offence and leave ----

We need Teachers of the Word in Churches --not mere Preachers of the Word ----

Greek word for Preacher ---

Strong's Concordance
kérux: a herald
Definition: a herald
Usage: a herald, preacher, proclaimer.

2783 /kḗryks ("a preacher, herald") proclaims Christ (His work) with passion and a binding sense of authority.


Greek word for Teacher

Strong's Concordance
paideutés: a teacher, one who disciplines
Definition: a teacher, one who disciplines
Usage: an instructor, trainer

HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 3810 paideutḗs – one who constructively corrects (disciplines) in order to train. an instructor, preceptor, teacher:

It is all well and good to preach that we need to Love God and our neighbour ------but without teaching what kind of Love this is and how we obtain it and how we can keep it --the preaching is useless ---same goes with Preaching on faith --peace----joy --patience etc ---preaching on these things is futile without the teaching on how to obtain them and keep them in our midst ---

One staff member that's been there a long time said it was the tithes. The pastor occasionally brings up his sad childhood of how hard his Dad worked for the church, but we're the poorest in their neighborhood. I get that. A laborer is certainly worthy of his hire. Then he brings up how he's not going to live like that. It doesn't bother me that he doesn't want to live in poverty. He shouldn't. The thing that seems relevant, to use a new evangelical term, is that the entertainment aspect of over the top light shows, etc, is for the desire for money.
If it was simply reaching the lost, then why is every time I offer to train staff on how to win souls In our community met with resistance and defamation? That question isn't for you, but one I ask rhetoricaly. I would be thrilled to have people going outside the church to share the gospel with the lost.

This is simply not right nor biblical. Yes the laborer is worthy of his hire, and the church board could have -- and should -- have taken everything into account and paid him a decent salary to begin with, so that he does not ever have to bring this up to the congregation. This is really sad.

Tithes should not even be taught in view of NT giving, but it is up to the elders and deacons to speak honestly to the congregation and ask that the man be supported properly (provided he is really preaching and teaching as he should). All extraneous expenses should be slashed and the congregation should be made aware that if they have hired a pastor then the whole church needs to help out with finances.

At the same time the board of elders and deacons should request that all the loud music etc come to and end, and the church go back to simply focusing on preaching, teaching, prayer, Gospel propagation, and fellowship ( This has to be addressed to the pastor, and if he will not agree, then I guess there will be a parting of ways). But why would he not agree if he knows the Word and if the church board pays him more than enough to live reasonably well (taking inflation into account)?

As to the way churches are organized (different from the NT pattern), that is another issue and there is no point in going there.

From what I understand, there was a church split before I started attending over this issue. The pastor wouldn't repent and part of the church left. Although the pastor told me they were Baptist in doctrine and independent, he follows Andy Stanley's church model for growth. I've since learned a little more about that and Stanley s teaching. Nobody's perfect, but there were teachings that went overboard that were repeated by my former pastor. That's a shame, but it is what it is and I won't be part of it.

Andy Stanley is a false teacher, so any pastor following him is not following Scripture. That was sufficient to terminate him.

With the advent of digital technology church attendance may have gone the way of
the 8 track tape player. You can down stream about any church service online. We quit
going to church, because we can down stream our services at home.

The best way to hold and grow your congregation is to feed the sheep. How many actually teach God's word chapter by chapter and verse by verse so the congregation hears what God has to say rather than listening to the words of men? The famine of the end times is not for food but for hearing the word of God, (Amos 8:11-13.) FEED THEM God's word and they will come.