The price of punctuality

Church. Work. School... 
One of these does not belong.

For only one of the options is it okay to be late.

Late to work? You get busted.
Ditto for school.

But turn up late for church? Meh, no big deal.

Constantly late for work? You'll get fired.
Constantly late for school? The consequences will get progressively more dire.

But constantly turn up late for church? We'll consider changing the service to accommodate you!

Now I want to make it clear that I understand that sometimes you're actually late. It happens. 
If you have a family, and leaving the house is almost a military operation, fair enough if it takes a tad longer than you expected.

But I wonder how churches should deal with those who are perpetually tardy.
What should they do with those who always arrive to the church service two songs in?

One option is to elevate the price of punctuality.
You could reward those who are on time. I don't know how this would work (you get half your offering back!), but there's a part of me which thinks, for some, this still wouldn't make a difference.

Another solution could be to teach on the topic of priorities and the significance of church.

Whatever the answer is, and I'm not sure there's an easy fix, there are two things I think churches SHOULDN'T do.


The first misstep, and the most common option, is to lower the value of the start of the service.

Some churches will put some of the less exciting elements, like the notices, at the start or load up the beginning with less popular music since "some will miss out on it anyway."


Another "solution" has been to shift the service just a bit later since "that's when people are arriving anyway."

I think these are not the appropriate course of action since, instead of trying to correct a problem, they send the massage that it is acceptable and accommodated for.

Further, these "solutions" can subtly "penalise" those who are on time.

Finally, what message does this send to visitors to your church when they arrive at the advertised start time and half the congregation are absent?