Where Two or Three Are Gathered...

We have had evening worship services at the Oakfield and Tabor church for the last month or so. These services have had mixed results as far as attendance goes. At the Oakfield church, we have had ten and 11 folks at the first two worship services. I feel as though we are gaining a relatively consistent group of folks that will attend this service. It still makes singing difficult with such a small group, but I appreciate the atmosphere and community that we have with a small group.

At Tabor church, our attendance has been less. Our first service had three folks and last night I had two folks. I had a young person from confirmation and her mother come to worship. As the three of us moved from the spacious sanctuary to my office, I couldn't help but be reminded of Matthew 20:18: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them."

It would be easy to be discouraged by the lack of attendance at the service. What pastor doesn't want to see large attendance at their worship services. It was easy to get discouraged by only having two people come to worship. As we began to read from the Bible, and study together the importance of Sabbath rest in our lives, I realized that Christ was present with us in worship. We read the Word and shared the Cup together.

Although more brief because some parts of the service would not work with three people, we still spent 30 minutes in worship. From now on, I won't mind smaller church service. In fact, they can be just as, or more, meaningful than a larger service.