“Recently, I heard that a person is considered a regular churchgoer in the USA if they attend one of out of every three weeks. In the UK it was said that church ministry was greatly hampered, especially in spring and summer, by the numbers of church members who regularly go away for weekends. Empty seats are a great discouragement to pastor and people alike. A fellow pastor told me of the man who told him that he wouldn’t be in church next Sunday but would be there in spirit. My friend replied, ‘I’d rather have 10 bodies than 100 spirits any day!’
[Christians] provide enormous doses of strength and health-giving vitality to their pastors by:
– being there
– being there awake and alert
– being there awake and alert to ministry opportunities”
p.212, Going the Distance, Peter Brain
