Ohio Ministry Network

Question of the Week:

Question:  Why does it seem like so many churches are doing away with Sunday evening services?
     --Submitted by an attendee at September 2010's Senior Saints Retreat at Heartland

Answer:  Thanks for the great question.  It is an undeniable fact based on statistical church surveys that fewer churches are holding traditional Sunday evening services as compared to the norm for most churches in past decades.  This is true both in the Assemblies of God and in other evangelical circles.

That being said, it is worth noting that some churches continue to enjoy a strong and meaningful Sunday evening worship service while some who previously cancelled that format have recently enjoyed a return to incorporating Sunday night services, under the intriguing umbrella of "trying something new!"

Answers to the "Why cancel?" question vary:

• A very common scenario experienced by pastors and church leaders has been a congregation that, for years, kept the doors open on Sunday nights despite declining attendance and enthusiasm.  The consensus among the faithful few who remained eventually evolved into questioning why they bothered coming back for another service in the evenings to work in the nursery, the worship team, etc., when relatively few apparently cared enough to attend.
  
  
• Other churches found that different venues and times better served their needs and purposes. 
  
  
• Some senior citizens voiced concern that they could not (legally or physically or both) be driving at night.
  
  
• Many families told their pastors the increasing demands of school and extra curriculars meant their kids needed more weekend time to catch up on homework and they couldn't keep their kids out so late the night before school.

Most came to the conclusion that, right or wrong, the prevailing motivator for having Sunday night services was, more or less, "We have Sunday evening church because we've always had Sunday evening church."  Under heightened assessment of church mission and values, having a service merely for the sake of having a service didn't seem to pass muster in the context of addressing church and church member priorities.

Certainly, there are other reasons and circumstances for the change which are as unique as each local congregation.

A fair follow-up question would be, "What does this mean?"

In statistical terms, some church observers are concerned that, in the United States, there may be a decline in the percentages of individuals receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit during formal church gatherings.  The thinking goes that the elimination of the conducive environment for extended prayer formerly provided by the Sunday night format may be a contributing factor if a decline in spiritual results is experienced.

Whether or not the direct correlation is there, most Spirit-filled church leaders agree that, with or without a Sunday night service, pastors and church leaders must intentionally seek to create and continue fostering a culture in their church circles (corporate gatherings, small groups, Bible studies, etc.) that allows the time necessary for persons to spend ample time in prayer, especially one with another.  As a result:

• Many churches have seen their Wednesday or Mid-Week adult Bible studies turn into a service exclusively focused on prayer and worship.
  
  
• Others have implemented Friday or Saturday night prayer sessions at the church.
  
  
• Some have intentionally re-formatted Sunday morning services to allow for more time spent in prayer.
  
  
• Others have sought to encourage this environment in home groups.

While there is no scriptural mandate for two separate services on Sundays (morning and again in the evening), we see in the New Testament the pattern of Christians regularly and faithfully gathering together for powerful times of preaching and passionate prayer, usually followed by salvations, signs, and wonders.  Assemblies of God Evangelist Tim Enloe even points out that you can make a stronger case in the New Testament for incorporating sessions of prayer into regular church gatherings than you can for incorporating sessions of music and singing.  And yet, in the average church, far more time and effort is typically given to singing choruses on Sunday mornings than on spending time in prayer. 

The answer, of course, is not to de-value song-singing in our worship but to consider ways to upgrade our focus on corporately praying with our Spirit and with our understanding as an integral component of our worship, every time the church comes together!

- John Wootton, NetworkSuperintendent


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