Approximately 20-40% of Americans attend church on any given Sunday and that’s a lot of folks sitting in the pews on Sunday.  Where do people go to get “churched” if it is another day of the week?

I recently spent two days riding the streets attempting to conduct some ministry business.  I visited and/or drove by no less than a dozen churches on days other than a Sunday.  Two of the churches had members who answered the door (they were eating in the church hall) but no pastor or associate pastor was there.  The other churches were locked up tight with no one in sight.  I thought to myself, where do members go to find an open sanctuary? 

Many years ago, I was going through some tough issues.  I probably had not been in a church in over a dozen years but at that time, I happened to live across the street from a church.  I was in “a way” one day and knew I had to get in that church.  For several days in a row, I walked into the sanctuary and sat in one of the pews.  No one else was there.  I knew I needed to be in the comfort zone of that church and that is where I had some of my most serious talks with the Lord I ever had up to that point.  I do not know what I would have done if that church sanctuary had not been open.

It got me to thinking-if the Lord has ordained that someone pastor a church and they in fact have a church body, why are the doors of that church closed to that body (and anyone else who happens upon that church) except on Sundays?  I understand that the pastor ministers to shut-ins, to those in hospitals, and conducts other business.  Why though are the doors to the sanctuary closed and locked?  Where are the volunteers in your church who are manning it in the pastor’s absence? 

Keep the lights on and the doors open.  A church is the only safe haven for many.

Use our 24-hour prayer line- (910) 228-5282 in case you need help.

 Katie