If anyone anywhere is going to go to church, Christmas is the most likely season that they will feel compelled to go. I’d be surprised if anyone reading this hasn’t been in a church service in the past week.
After all, it’s family, and candle light and sweet baby Jesus. All the warm fuzzy feels. And most churches put on a pretty good show. There’s special music and sometimes cookies.
But the Christmas season is the exception. Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church, and church attendance is declining. 
In the past few months, these are actual reasons people have told me that they weren’t in church:
- We had to re-grout our bathroom.
- My tennis coach had an opening for a lesson at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
- We had to go watch our son do mountain bike racing.
- I had to go to a baby shower scheduled during church.
- We had a friend in from out of town.
