Bible Class Attendance

By: Stephen Wiggins

I stand in utter amazement as to why so many members of the Lord's church neglect our Bible study classes on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. By their lack of attendance these Christians show that they obviously do not attach very much importance to studying the Bible together with God's saints. They seem not to know that it has always been characteristic of faithful Christians everywhere to attend and take part in, if at all possible, these periods of Bible study every time the church comes together for such a purpose. These sporadic and infrequent Bible study attendees, who purposely fail, refuse, and neglect to be regular in attendance, seem not to know that by their actions they are telling the whole world that they are the weak, lukewarm, and worldly-minded bunch among God's people!

What? You say you do not attend because you do not like the teachers and that they are boring and uninteresting. Well, bless your heart! My dear brother and sister, why do you not then become a teacher yourself and help improve our teaching staff? Be good now and set the proper example before us as a top teacher and we are bound to follow. No, we do not intend to let you lukewarmers use this as an excuse when you yourselves do not and will not teach.

What? You say you never get anything out of our Bible classes therefore you do not intend to come. Well, my friend, has it ever occurred to you that you do not get anything out of class because you never put anything into it? Do you come to class prepared and informed enough yourself on the day's lesson so as to be able to speak up and make intelligent comments and ask questions to prompt interest in the study? If you do not, then we kindly ask you to hush and never open your mouth again to criticize a boring class of which you are a major contribution. Please do not complain about that which you do not intend to lift a finger to make better.

What? You say that you have little children and that you cannot get up and get ready on time for Sunday morning Bible classes. I do not believe this is a valid excuse and neither do you. My own mother reared four kids and never missed a worship service. Nor do I ever remember being late for Bible study the whole time I was growing up. Thousands of other godly men and women can testify that their parents reared them the same way. The problem you have is that your priorities are not in the right order. Here God has blessed you with precious children and given you the responsibility of bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And then you turn right around and rob them of the most important thing you could ever help your children attain - spiritual development. I would be ashamed to even call myself a Christian parent if I were not interested in the spiritual welfare of my own children!

What? You say you do haphazardly attend Bible classes but when you do you are never on time but always a few minutes late so as to interrupt the class in progress; you never bring a Bible because you don't know what we are studying and really could care less; you also never bring your workbook and never make one syllable of preparation in study that you might learn some of God's Word. Rather, you say, that you just come to whisper, have fun, and giggle with your friends on the back row; and, of course, you tell me that your infrequent attendance does wonders to help soothe your guilt-ridden conscience. Sound like anybody you know?

If you, my brother or sister, are not faithful in attending Bible study, how then can you think of yourself as letting your light shine as a proper example to others? How then can you be seeking first God's kingdom? And how can you say that your best interests are for the welfare of the church here? Brethren, let us seriously think on these things.