The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Sunday night services

My question is this: Is it wrong for a church to just have a Sunday morning service and a Wednesday prayer service? I would say no, but that's because I see nowhere in Scripture where we are commanded to meet twice on the Lord's Day.

My question is this: Why include the Wednesday night prayer service? I see no where in Scripture where we are commanded to meet on Wednesday evening for prayer meeting.

I remember listening to a speaker from South Korea, they met every morning for prayer before going to work. He did not make a specific mention of it, you gathered by what he shared, and assumed this is the norm.

I recently sat in on a seminary class where the pastor said as an aside, "Be sure to have a Sunday night service, because I don't know how you expect to keep the Lord's day without it." While the number of services are not expressly commanded, why would a church want to stray away from such an event? If a church decides to leave out a Sunday night service then what are they doing in the mean time to keep the Lord's day. It has been my experience when a church misses a Sunday night that I think to myself, now I have time to do the things that I want to do. I think the Sunday night service is very useful for keeping our hearts and actions in the right place. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/BigThumbUp.gif" alt="" />

Ehud

Ehud,

I agree with your arguments. It has been the tradition in my church to prepare Sunday worship services both morning and evening. Today churches seem to be straying away from that practice. Some churches even offer a Saturday night worship service so your Sunday is free.

Since Sunday is a day set aside for worship and rest I appreciate having a Sunday PM worship service to attend. Since this has been my practice all my life I would miss it if it weren't available. Some of the churches in my area that have dropped their PM service are also loosing members. For those people who feel once is enough and twice is too much, you probably won't find them actively participating in the life of the church.


Wes

gotribe

You said: "My question is this: Why include the Wednesday night prayer service? I see no where in Scripture where we are commanded to meet on Wednesday evening for prayer meeting."

I assume you are talking about Wednesday night prayer service in place of Sunday evening. Is that correct?

Though I see some very good reasons for including a Sunday evening prayer service (reasons which have already been stated), I see nothing wrong with having a Wednesday night prayer service as well.
In fact I think it is a great idea, not because we are told to do so in Scripture, but because it is a mid week time to refocus.

Tom

I might agree that this would be the case for a church that has both services, but not necessarily the norm. Most Episcopalians are one service people, yet in my local parish, many people are quite active. However, I would agree that those who make the effort to attend both services would also be the ones who might put forth an extra effort.

Now for my questions;

1) Where is this in scripture?

2) If it isn't, where did it start?

Thanks


God bless,

william

It seems that many churches that hold a sunday evening meeting have gone away from a worship service to a bible study setting. Is that wrong?

I guess it beat the majority of churches that have gone away from any sunday night meeting, except for the youth program.

After speaking <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/chatter.gif" alt="" /> with several of my pastor friends from college, this seems to be happening more within the General Baptist denom. They feel it draws more people, creates a deeper personal bond, and is a bit less formal. Where there are enough youth, the youth groups generally meet seperately. Just my observation. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wow1.gif" alt="" />

I have noticed some Episcopal parishes also moving to add a Sunday night Bible study as well.


God bless,

william

Hi Tom,

Maybe I misunderstood the premise or the intent of the original question. My point was not to question whether Sunday evening services were beneficial and desirable or whether Wednesday night prayer meetings were beneficial or desirable. I thought Marie was questioning the biblical neccesity of the second service on Sunday while she was hanging on to the Wednesday night service. I greatly enjoy and faithfully attend the services of my church, whether that be on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or Wednesday evening or any other gathering together of the church. But I am not aware of any scripture to support the necessity of the traditional Wednesday/Sunday night service.

gotribe,

I think you will find there isn't a "commandment" that regulates how often, the church is to gather together for worship. Nor will you find any direct regulation that governs the time to meet or how long the worship service(s) are to be. Likewise, there is no Scriptural precept for the holding of Bible Studies. These are all "incidentals".

Having said that, there is surely nothing to be found in Scripture that would forbid these meetings. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> In years gone by, there was a decidedly different attitude among Christians than there is today. Worship was formal; i.e., a sober time of coming together to hear the Lord speak through His servants, to partake of the Lord's Supper, etc., Today, however, "church" seems to be something that is scheduled in and is more of a getting together with people who you don't normally see during the week and for the purpose of "fellowship" and singing some upbeat songs. The "sermon" is more of a pep talk or "how to improve your relations with your boss, wife or overcome some adversity in life", or in many cases, it is a festive event where you can just have a good time.

The doctrine of God has been drastically changed. And, this has a profound effect on the spiritual life of people and the worship of God.


In His Grace,

I think if you look up II Hezekiah 13:6 you find "he who doesn't attend the evening worship service is a part-time Christian." <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I'm just kidding!

I'm really not sure where this began but it's a tradition I've been raised up with and continue to practice.


Wes

I've heard that Sunday night services started as a way to get unbelievers to come to church. Sunday pm was a time to have a special speaker or some "entertaining" event to draw crowds...this was before T.V., Internet, etc....so many things to draw people AWAY from church today. Personally, I love my Sunday am and pm services. We have Wed prayer meeting...I wish we had Wed preaching too!!!

I'm not the authority on Sunday Night services but I think a bible study would be a great way of keeping the Lord's day. My church has gone to home fellowships where each household has a different study. However, I think I would like to hear another sermon especially from an elder that doesn't preach on a regular basis.

I have been to some churches that have the assistant pastor speak on Sunday nights. I have also noticed some churches having home meetings on Sunday evening as well. Some other variations I have seen:

SDA-Vespers on Friday night, worship Saturday morning. At least it was this way 25 years ago.

Mormon-Sunday morning worship, Wednesday groups, and monthly visits by a pair of visitation teams, one male, the other female. They also have one Sunday morning "testimony" meeting, where they are asked, but not required to, fast the entire day.

Some pentecostal churches I still know of have gone to a longer service on Sunday morning, Sunday night home-cell groups, and Wednesday age-related groups.

More and more Episcopal churches are going to Sunday evening bible study, though I have seen the day moved around for convenience of the attendees.

I will agree that while there is no scriptural command for such, that this is a proper tradition. I am always for deeper study. I would also enjoy hearing from a variety of qualified speakers, and I think those who are qualified should use their gift on occasion.

This may a bit off topic, <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/ranton.gif" alt="" /> but I would be, and personally I am, more worried about Sunday school. My children have learned some 'odd' things there from time to time. I pay more attention now to what they are taught. That's just me, and now I'm rambling....... <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rantoff.gif" alt="" />


God bless,

william