Sunday evening service

"Three to Thrive" has as much scriptural support as 'holy underwear' does. Nothing wrong with it as long as that is what the church desires, and nothing wrong with not having a Sunday p.m. or a Wednesday service either.

Nowhere in the Bible is anything other than coming together on the first day of the week commanded.

Forgot to add: for the churches that have dropped the Sunday evening service, I highly doubt that the above-mentioned "drama" had anything to do with it.

 

Most local Baptist churches in this area still have Sunday night service and Wednesday Bible study except some of the larger ones. Most do not have the technology you are talking about, usually just a sound system. Sunday mornings will have the greatest attendance, followed by Sunday night, and the lowest is Wednesday night.

 

We dropped Sunday night services a long time ago. We have some light programming offered but nothing consistent. It works all for us. Families are encouraged to spend time together as they look forward to the week ahead.

I don't know many churches that do Sunday evening services and have measurable success in getting substantial numbers back. As a staff member...you'd have to hold a gun to my head to get me to do Sunday evening services.

 

Our church doesn't offer routine Sunday evening services. Periodically, we'll have a special event or worship service during that time. Often, these provide for greater times of fellowship than the norm for Sunday morning. One of the most memorable and highly attended is "The Little Drummer Boy" service during the Christmas season. Members of our church bring their gifts to Christ. Those may be gifts of song, testimony, prayer and so on as the Holy Spirit leads them to give of themselves.

Instead of a routine Sunday evening service, we have two Wednesday adult Bible studies, led by our pastor. One in the morning for those who don't work daytime 9-5 jobs. The other is in the evening for those who can't attend in the morning. Study undertaken is different for each one. Thus extending the study opportunity to those who can attend both. Being retired, we are fortunate that we can attend both. Wednesday evening also includes a children's study time.

 

There are some who feel a need to fulfill a weekly obligation--some a daily public appearance. Most of our outward worship is conformity to the world. Beware of wolves dressed like sheep.

We live in an age of easy believism and secular humanism.

God does not dwell in temples made with hands.

We spend a "monumental" amount of time and money in LLCs we call churches. Whatever happened to preaching the gospel to every creature.?

Repent and do the first works.

Have a blessed day.

Bro. James

 

Our church does have Sunday evening services. We begin at 5 with AWANA and then evening services at 6:30. We have a good attendance on Sunday evenings with most of our members returning. In the winter months, when it gets darker earlier some of our most senior members choose not to return (they don't like driving after dark).

We also have Wednesday evening services. We focus on word by word, verse by verse Bible study. Wednesday evenings are much less formal, we meet in our fellowship hall around tables.

I don't buy many of the arguments on why churches choose not to have Sunday evening and mid-week services. I think small groups are fine, I believe we should witness to our communities and spend time with our families. Those are noble things, but as Christians our number one priority is to know more about our Lord. We should grab every opportunity we possibly can to hear the truth spoken, to hear God's Word shared, to increase our faith. Faith cometh by HEARING the Word of God, says scripture. I think it's important to have those services and to be faithful to them. YMMV

 

I love Sunday evening services. Most Baptist and Pentecostal churches around here still have them. Methodist and Presbyterian do not.

 

My church does have a Sunday night service but I rarely attend. With two boys in school (Christian school, BTW) and all their activities it seems that Sunday night is the only night we can relax as a family at home.

In this hectic world which we live in I think that more and more families are claiming Sunday night as family night. I suspect that is what is causing the drop off in attendance at the large church in your area, not the multi-media overload.

 

Yep, still have one.

I did live in an area where it was rare to find evening services, but this state has them, which is nice.

This seems to be another area where people say "well, we're FREE, and this isn't LAW, so we don't have to."

Some of the churches in that one place said it was because their pastors were part time, some said it was so people could spend more time with their families.

I don't like the idea of not doing it either. We don't get a lot of chances to be surrounded with like-minded people most of the week, so why on earth would we want to cut down on it? The problem with being around other believers only gets worse as we spend more time at work, as social media advances and we use the excuse that we can do it online or on smart phones, etc.. Total disconnect with our community, imo.

When I move and look for a new church, I rarely bother starting out with a Sunday morning service. Some people say it's judgmental of me, but I feel like going to a Wednesday evening service is the best option, followed by trying a Sunday evening service after. To me, this means I get to meet the "heart and soul" of the church first and get a feel for it. I understand that people do work and such, but if there are 40 people on Wednesday, 60 people on Sunday evening, and 350 on Sunday morning, that tells me the majority of the church isn't all that dedicated. It doesn't mean I won't end up joining, it just lets me know what to expect and to be warned to figure out WHY it drops so much before I join. Is it the people or does it have to do with the leadership? That's important.

We have an AWESOME pastor. We have a lot of people who just don't listen though. That's not his fault. I've noticed that appearances in this area are really important and people like to be able to say they attend church on Sundays. They get dressed up all nice and attend, smile, and do nothing else. It's usually the more casual ones who (not always!) who are more dedicated. Not always, but I can pretty much tell those that are there for appearances and those that aren't.

Sounds backwards, I know, but that's just how it is out in this city.