What do you think about starting a new Sunday evening service at Southpoint? Let me explain why we’d like to try this. First some background: Christians are not required to honor the Saturday Sabbath like the Jewish people did (Col. 2:16). And while every day is a day of worship, Sundays have been honored for 2,000 years as the Christian day to gather (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2). Sunday became known as the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10) since it marks the defining event of our faith-the Resurrection happened on Sunday, & without it, there is no Christianity.
Sunday was a sacred day for much of Christian history. Business ceased on Sundays in many Christian cultures to allow for rest and worship gatherings. I grew up in an America that didn’t require working on Sunday mornings (except for truly essential workers). Restaurants & stores didn’t open till after church. It was unthinkable to have children playing in sports leagues. “Blue laws” even prohibited certain activities on Sundays out of respect. But our culture has certainly changed (at least Chick-fil-A is holding out).
Some Christians aren’t able to worship on Sunday mornings because of work (including my doctor daughter-in-law). It’s not sinful to work on Sunday because we’re not under the law of the Sabbath. But we still need a day to honor as the Lord’s Day. And the principle of a day of rest goes back to the days of Creation in Genesis 1. So I would maintain that as a priority we keep Sunday as the Lord’s Day.
Southpoint for many years held a Saturday evening service as well. We did that for the benefit of those who couldn’t come on Sunday. We viewed Saturday evening as still being the Lord’s Day because in Jewish reckoning, each day began at sundown, not midnight. So in Acts 20:7 when the church gathered on Saturday night simply “to break bread” (have communion) & hear Paul preach, it was still considered the Lord’s Day. Regrettably we ended Sat. service because after COVID-19 hit & attendance decreased, it wasn’t reaching much more than the volunteers showing up to serve. Also regrettably, some people stopped attending church either here or perhaps altogether. We have offered an online “replay” of the service at 7:00pm on Sundays, but it’s not the same as gathering in person.
We’re now at a place where we’d like to try an evening service again. But this time we’d like to try Sunday evenings. Why? For a few reasons. (1) We hate not having an option for Sunday morning workers & even for kids who are pressured to miss church if they want to play sports; (2) Saturdays weren’t really reaching new people-perhaps Sundays will…we’d like to experiment & see; (3) I’d prefer not to do services on weekdays because of 2,000 years of honoring the Lord’s Day. Congregations certainly have liberty to do that, but my concern is that it could eventually incentivize Christians to depart from Sundays out of convenience or preference, & before you know it, the Lord’s Day would be forgotten & relegated to just another day of business & recreation. Some might say, “That would never happen,” but it almost always does. Another day of the week is a great supplement, but not a substitute (unless absolutely necessary).
Back in the day it was common for churches to have Sunday evening services. But they were different from morning services with a different sermon & songs. In my ministry before Southpoint, I would preach on Sunday evenings-but it was definitely not as good as the morning! Whew, they were rough! A minister doesn’t have time to prepare two quality messages per week every week, so the second one got short shrift. Over time nearly all churches got away from having Sunday night services. They’re rare now.
So why bring it back? For 2 years I’ve had in mind a simple service with the same message as Sunday morning. In fact, it would be just the message, prayer, & communion like in Acts 20:7. It wouldn’t be in the big auditorium, but in a smaller venue-the combined meeting rooms at the Trenton campus. No colorful lights, no screens, no cameras, little or no music. We could do an unplugged song or two many weeks. It would be about 45 minutes long. No children’s programming, but they’ll be welcomed to sit with their folks. That allows for them to get home in bed for school, & you could even go out for dinner first (or for dessert after)!
The goal is not to provide a more convenient time for people already attending in the morning. The goal is to reach people who can’t attend or aren’t currently. We’ll start small & see what happens. Let’s try it. What do you think? Would people show up? Would you be willing to invite people?