A Defense of Sunday Night Worship
Yes, I think it is a good idea for congregations to have a “second” worship service on Sunday evening. Before sharing some reasons why, let me make a few very clear introductory statements.
- The Lord’s Church is to meet on the first day of every week (Acts 20:7) to worship.
- The time of day on Sunday is not specified in Scripture, but is left up to the wisdom of the elders, so long as it is on the Lord’s Day.
- Whatever that time is, each member needs to be present (Hebrews 10:25) and actively worshiping in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
- There is no command to worship more than once on Sunday. It is a tradition. But if the elders deem a second worship service worthy of necessity, all members should be present.
Before the pandemic, several congregations began alternatives to the “Sunday morning, Sunday night” model. Since the pandemic, that number has accelerated. In fact, it seems that the Sunday night worship assembly is, if not the minority, it is very close. Some have gone to a “church-eat-church” model, where the evening worship is now in the early afternoon. Others have gone to a longer worship service on Sunday morning with Bible classes on Sunday nights. Still others have changed Sunday nights to groups that meet in various locations. And, of course, some have just stopped Sunday night services altogether.
Again, these decisions are left up to the wisdom of each congregation’s elders. And there are decent arguments to be made for any one of them. I am not writing this to “bash” any eldership or to say that any of those choices is sinful.
However, let me offer the following reason why I believe continuing to meet on Sunday evening for worship is a good decision.
It is wise to have the church gather more and not less often.
This is especially in contrast with small groups or (obviously) with canceling Sunday night services altogether. While that decision can be made by an eldership and the congregation can be faithful to the Lord, that assembly of people is going to struggle to be as unified as they could be when they are now meeting together less often.
Some congregations look at their attendance numbers and see half (or less) of their Sunday morning attendance present on Sunday evenings, so they just throw up their hands and cancel, or they move to a small group model. Again, that’s fine if that is their decision, but I believe those smaller numbers are something else: a challenge.
They challenge us to make our Sunday evening services good. They challenge us to help people grow closer together by being together more often.
Certainly, there is a place for variety. At Central, we do “church-eat-church” on months where there are 5 Sundays. And a lot of congregations do something like that during special times, like the beginning of a Gospel Meeting or the conclusion of a weekend seminar.
But, I personally believe, the more a family is together–all together–the better it is for health and unity. And if we are going to call the church a family, then it is wise to have the family get together more, and not less, often.
Oh, and one other thing for elders to consider before changing from Sunday night services. If you ever change away from them, good luck ever changing back. The decision you have made shows that Sunday nights are basically “no big deal,” so any decision in the future to try to come back together will be met with huge resistance and, likely, even worse “numbers” than were present before.
See you Sunday…night!
AUTHOR: Adam Faughn