Let Your Church Know that You'll Be Absent This Sunday
5 Reasons You (as a Church Member) Should Not Go “AWOM”
Editor’s note: This post was originally written on March 28, 2011.
I’m thankful for church members who don’t go “Absent With Out a Message” (AWOM). In our church, as it is still small, we’ve tried to cultivate a culture of accountability where members message (email or text) the church or pastor when they won’t be making it to our Sunday gathering. Here are 5 reasons why CrossViewers should never go AWOM.
1. Connection
First, this decreases the disconnect from not seeing a member for 13 days. If you miss a Sunday and you only see another member on Sundays, to miss two weeks is to go 13 days without seeing them and 20 days if they miss two consecutive Sundays. That’s a lot of life, experiences, trials, and things to experience without connecting. When a member misses two or three consecutive Sundays they can feel disconnected from the church, and so messaging the church regarding where God is sending you this coming Sunday and how the church can pray for you keeps you connected and sharing life with the body.
2. Encouragement for (less secure) Pastors
Second, this encourages the pastors. Now for better or worse, some pastors (like me), get discouraged when members don’t come to a Sunday gathering. We have our own issues to work through with pride and misplaced encouragement. My point here is that when members are aware of their pastor’s care and responsibility for them, their message helps pastors to know that the absent member is aware of God’s leadership in their absence. It also helps pastors to know how shepherd them. Maybe they don’t have a good reason for being absent and need guidance on how to better think about it. Even when it is a good reason for absence, the pastors can now be more aware of intentionally encouraging the member since they missed the stirring up to love and good works from the Sunday gathering (Hebrews 10:24-25).
3. Encouragement for Other Members
Third, messaging the church encourages other members. It is an act of love to open yourself to the church members to be known by them. It helps them to hold you accountable. It reminds them that we are connected to each other. Our church covenant is more than words. We actually mean and want to live according to the promise, “We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25).
4. Example
Fourth, it serves as an example to younger and less mature members about staying connected to their church family. Many new members (and some old ones) don’t understand the nature of being committed to a church body as a family. When they read a message from one of the members whom God sent elsewhere, it serves as a model to imitate.
5. Discernment
Fifth, messaging the church helps members assess whether it was a good reason to miss the gathering. Was God really wanting you to miss the Sunday gathering to go where you went? Maybe. Maybe not. Messaging the church and telling them (1) where you think God is sending you this Sunday, (2) why you think he’s sending you there, and (3) how other members can pray for you requires thought and sensitivity to God’s leading. This helps discourage silly or illegitimate absences. It also strengthens gospel intentionality and a spirit of worshipping God as you go elsewhere.
So message the church when you think God is sending you elsewhere telling the church (1) why he’s sending you, (2) where he’s sending you, and (3) how we can pray for you.
REFLECT (please bring back leaving comments on blog posts): Do you think it’s a good idea to email the church and/or pastors when you’ll be absent on a Sunday? Why or why not? How has reading the emails of other members missing Sundays affected you?