My church recently changed its Sunday morning schedule, and the members of my LIFE Group are finding it harder and harder to be in class at our start time of 8:45AM.

I find myself making a common mistake many teachers make, and I know better. This past Sunday only seven people were in class at our designated start time of 8:45 AM. I engaged in small talk with the people who were there. I kept delaying the start time to give people a few more minutes to arrive. And there’s the mistake – I delayed the start of our Bible study to accommodate the late arrivers, rather than starting with the ones who were there on time.

Starting on time:

1. Sets a good precedence.
2. Honors the group members who make the effort to be on time themselves.
3. Signals to the group members that our Bible study time is valuable – too valuable to waste delaying the start of the study.
4. Grooms the people to arrive on time – few people like coming in after the Bible study has started, and it’s just awkward for everyone when that happens.