Church Attendance

[Lev]

I gave birth to my son on a Wednesday morning. I HAD to be at services on Sunday.

Wait, you got to skip that Wednesday night? Slacker.

Lev

[Lev]

I know a large congregation that tracks data on attendance. So they have this big magnetic whiteboard on the wall with every member/photo in a grid and alphabetical. As you arrive you mark your name as "present" with a colored dot (green I think but maybe black). (surprised it is not a check mark icon) And then if you know someone is sick you mark their name with a color to indicate sick. Long term sick "shut-ins" have their own color dot. I guess those who do not show just have no marker??? I guess.

This is a major reason why, long before leaving the COC, I stopped "placing membership" when I would move to a new church and/or a new town.

Lev

[berrybug]

I recall this kind of rule when I was a child. My dad is a long distance truck driver, so he was out of the state during the week. My grandparents (his parents) didn't approve that my mom didn't take us kids on Wednesdays, so they called my dad on the road and complained. Next thing I know, we're all suddenly present on Wednesdays every week, even though I know my mom didn't want to be there. Weekends were mandatory, both Sunday morning and evening. And my sister and I always had to wear a dress, even though I hated them, because the women in the congregation expected it and would comment on it if I wore pants, or God forbid, JEANS. When I married at 18, my husband and I moved to a neighboring town. My paternal grandparents had the neighborhood preacher stop in and see why we weren't attending church. I was livid.

[Ashes64]

I came down with 5ths disease on a Sunday afternoon when I was 9 or 10. Best sickness EVER!!!! I couldn't go to church Sunday evening and finally, FINALLY got to see the beginning of "The Wizard of Oz", because you could never get home in time for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and go to services.

We had rules for missing church when I was a teenager/young adult. You could miss 2 Sunday mornings and or 4 Sunday/Wednesday nights without reporting to the elders before being dechurched. They really couldn't do it whole cloth because we had a bunch of plumbers and heating/cooling guys and they were always getting calls during church hours.

[Melanie]

Ashes64, I was a grown ass woman with kids of my own before I ever saw The Wizard of Oz in its entirety. The only reason I got to see it then was because one of my kids had chicken pox over the weekend so I got to stay home with her on the Sunday night it aired (once a year, you know!)

[Ivy]

Wow....y'all have brought back lots of memories.......the Wizard of Oz...... you couldn't see it unless you
managed to be home sick on Sunday night.

The attendance policing was pretty much that everyone was "concerned" if someone wasn't there and
generally several would call to be sure people were ok. Never heard of the weighting of services missed and
unscriptural policy stating how many absences one gets of each kind before being called out and dismembered.

***Edited; I believe Wizard of Oz came on on Sunday night, not Wednesday night.

[Opie]

Yes this brings back the memories! I'm another one of those folks who never got to see the Wizard of Oz in its entirety until I was an adult.

[Ivy]

grown ass woman

Love it!!!

[OneStrike_ur_out]

At my last cOC, we did not have deacons or elders, so the preacher appointed himself the head of the place. He would get mad if people weren't there. He would say that people's priorities were all out of whack. And the real kick in the head was, it was EASY for him to say that, given that he was retired and living the good life! It's easy to judge others and say that their priorites are all wrong when you yourself have nothing but time on your hands. What preacher man never seemed to get was, where he had it easy, others did not. Not everybody was retired like him. Others worked long hours. His kids were all grown with families of their own, while others had school aged children at home. Not everybody had the luxury of living directly across the street from the church building like he did. Others had to get off of work and haul ass just to make it on time (or even a little late) while he just stops whatever it is he is causually doing, walks out his front door, walks across the street, and he is at church! Others had a lot going in and VERY limited time to get essential things done while he chilled out all day every day, doing shit like going to baseball games in the spring and summer and playing golf and whatever else he felt like doing. Yet, he had the audacity to slam others because they would miss a service here or there.

[B.H.]

grown ass woman

Love it!!!

That made me think she has a big butt.