If church is important enough to come to, it’s important enough to arrive early to.
If you’re going to set an alarm, wake everyone out of bed, fix breakfast, get ready, get dressed, and battle the sibling spats on Sunday morning, you might as well get all you can get out of church.
We’re not just going to give 7 reasons to arrive early because it’s helpful, but we will argue it’s biblical.
1. Arrive early to make a difference.
Visitors are already nervous. First time in a new place. Maybe first time going to church in years or ever! You get to be the one who shakes their hand or gives them a hug and smile to let them know they are seen and welcomed. Over and over again, I hear visitors communicate with me how much of a difference that has made for them.
If you’re late, you can’t do that. If you’re late, you’ll never end up in a conversation where their prayer need comes up. If you’re late, it’s a lot harder to be an encourager.
“Always be eager to practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:13b, NLT)
2. Arrive early to get your heart right.
Arriving early allows you to get mentally ready to be a good receiver of the Word.
After we sit down, it still takes us another 3-5 minutes to turn off our mind from all the events that have already transpired that morning (e.g., the bad driver in front of you). Arriving early allows time to shut all that out, and to get focused.
I admit it’s happened to me where I am singing a song, but I don’t even know what words I am singing. I’m not mentally there yet. You can be physically in a place, but not mentally in a place. It takes a few minutes for our minds to become present in each other’s presence.
“Prepare your hearts for the LORD.” (1 Samuel 7:3, NKJV)
“Prepare your hearts for the LORD.”
3. Arrive early to teach your children.
You arrive to work on time, and your kids know it. You get tickets to a Beyonce concert, and you’re willing to wait in line to get in, and your kids know it.
Our kids get a front row seat to our life, decisions, and priorities. Are we professing to them that the Lord’s Church is a delight and not a burden? Arriving early week after week is communicating the message to our children that the Lord is a big deal and so is His Church.
“The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.” (Proverbs 20:7, NLT)
4. Arrive early to respect your spiritual leaders.
If your child or grandchild was reading a passage or singing a song to open the service, would you arrive 10 minutes early to make sure you had a seat for it? Nope. You’d arrive 20 minutes early to make sure you got the best seat! You are aware they poured their heart out in preparation for that big moment, and you want to be there to support them.
Your church staff has been praying and preparing for this all week—for YOU. To feed you. To love you. Arriving early shows a level of “I respect what you’re doing for us.”
“Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” (Hebrews 13:17, NIV)
“Arriving early shows a level of ‘I respect what you’re doing for us.'”
5. Arrive early to not distract others.
Distractions happen. Sometimes there’s nothing we can do to avoid it. However, as far as it depends upon me, I don’t want to be the distraction. During church, the Holy Spirit is working on people’s hearts. Eternity is hanging in the balance. I don’t want to be the reason everyone turns their head to see who’s coming in—and thus distract them from the moment where God was pulling on their heart.
Remember, we are called to place others’ interests above our own.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, NIV)
6. Arrive early to communicate a love for the church.
Those who arrive early are saying, “I want to be here.” “This is valuable to me.” “We don’t just go to this church, we are invested in this church.”
Consistently arriving late communicates the opposite—and that church is a burden.
“God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:8, NIV)
“Those who arrive early are saying, ‘I want to be here.'”
7. Arrive early to catch everything in the service.
All activities in the service are purposeful. There are no spots in the service where the staff says, “Ehhh, let’s add a song just to add a song. Let’s pray just to pray. We’ve always done the Lord’s Supper, so we’ll keep doing it.” No, each part is specifically designed to take us somewhere—preferably to the feet of Christ.
Personally, I don’t want to miss any of that.
Arriving early reflects a person’s priorities. As I think about it, we’ve never chosen someone to go through the eldership training process who wasn’t an early arriver. Something is communicated when one arrives early. A sense of caring—a sense of priority—a love for the church.
We meet only one time as a collective group all week. Let’s make the most of this time!
